Much like the black and white movies of the 40s and 50s that the characters of "The Last Picture Show" attend, the film itself is one of shadows and the ever-present contrast between light and dark. In this film about adolescent sexual awakening, it is only appropriate that the first sexual encounter in the film take place in a darkened movie theatre. It is a sad piece of irony that the teenagers of this dead-end town, seem not to care, or are oblivious to, the escapism movies can provide. Instead, they utilize the cinema as merely another alternative to the backseat. The characters here are so confined to their homes, they seem unaware of the bigger world out there, even in the context of motion pictures. One of them, Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd in her film debut), will escape off to college, so we later understand why she is the quickest to embrace more worldly pastimes, such as the film's now-notorious salacious pool party.
If the film gets off to a slow start, we forgive it. Surely it is less tedious for the viewers than it is for the residents of the town, who have been forced to endure its monotony for the better part of most of their lives. Particularly saddening is Jacy's mother (Ellen Burstyn), a woman who allows herself to remain trapped by a failed romance and uses alcohol as her escape. It is Cloris Leachman, however, who gives the film's best performance as Ruth Popper, wife of the high school football coach. The resurgence of her sexuality, in the context of an illicit affair with high school athlete Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms), is in a way purer than any of the couplings of the film's adolescent characters. The most heart wrenching moment occurs in a quiet shot of Ruth alone on her bed, all dressed up, but sitting in the knowledge that her lover has abandoned her to become the latest conquest of high school vixen, Jacy.
"The Last Picture Show" is one of those films where we care less about what happens, as opposed to how it happens. Very, very honestly is the manner in which events transpire here. Director Peter Bogdanovich skillfully avoids melodramatic elements that would have resulted in a Texas-set "Peyton Place." When the film ended, I felt at though not a great deal had really happened. Perhaps that's the point. In one sequence near the end of the film, while Sonny Crawford is watching an athletic practice at his former high school, an old man approaches and remarks on how much better the team has become since Sonny graduated. Sonny remarks that he graduated one year ago. He too, like us, knows that not much has changed in that year. Anarene is a town that time just happens to. It will always have its Sonny's and Jacy's. Only now, it won't have a picture show for them to go to on Friday nights. Does this really matter? They never seemed to watch it anyway.
If the film gets off to a slow start, we forgive it. Surely it is less tedious for the viewers than it is for the residents of the town, who have been forced to endure its monotony for the better part of most of their lives. Particularly saddening is Jacy's mother (Ellen Burstyn), a woman who allows herself to remain trapped by a failed romance and uses alcohol as her escape. It is Cloris Leachman, however, who gives the film's best performance as Ruth Popper, wife of the high school football coach. The resurgence of her sexuality, in the context of an illicit affair with high school athlete Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms), is in a way purer than any of the couplings of the film's adolescent characters. The most heart wrenching moment occurs in a quiet shot of Ruth alone on her bed, all dressed up, but sitting in the knowledge that her lover has abandoned her to become the latest conquest of high school vixen, Jacy.
"The Last Picture Show" is one of those films where we care less about what happens, as opposed to how it happens. Very, very honestly is the manner in which events transpire here. Director Peter Bogdanovich skillfully avoids melodramatic elements that would have resulted in a Texas-set "Peyton Place." When the film ended, I felt at though not a great deal had really happened. Perhaps that's the point. In one sequence near the end of the film, while Sonny Crawford is watching an athletic practice at his former high school, an old man approaches and remarks on how much better the team has become since Sonny graduated. Sonny remarks that he graduated one year ago. He too, like us, knows that not much has changed in that year. Anarene is a town that time just happens to. It will always have its Sonny's and Jacy's. Only now, it won't have a picture show for them to go to on Friday nights. Does this really matter? They never seemed to watch it anyway.