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Nov 22, 2023 Web Exclusive By Kaveh Jalinous

Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show is a heartbreaking look at several aimless characters in a dying Texas town.

Set in 1951, Bogdanovich’s film sticks closest to Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), a high school senior with no idea of what he wants to do in the future. Making little impact at school, Sonny spends most of his days hanging out with his best friend Duane (Jeff Bridges), fooling around with his girlfriend and shooting pool at the local pool hall, run by the well-liked-by-all Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson). He’s a quiet character – partially by choice, partially because he’s disconnected from his emotions and the emotions of those around him. The major event of his senior year: he begins having an affair with his football coach’s wife, Ruth (Cloris Leachman).

While Sonny may be the film’s central focus, The Last Picture Show simultaneously functions as a portrait of a town and its citizens, dedicating various narratives to alternate characters and perspectives. The most notable is that of Jacy (Cybill Shepherd), Duane’s girlfriend who desperately wants to lose her virginity. Her interactions with Sonny create conflict in his and Duane’s friendship, producing most of the film’s direct drama. But, in a film like The Last Picture Show, the most impactful drama doesn’t stem as much from character interactions as it does from their conditions.

The Last Picture Show may be one of the saddest American films ever made. The film is shot in gorgeous black-and-white, and Bogdanovich’s blocking and lighting consistently frame the Texan town melancholically. There’s even something off-putting about the streets themselves. Not only are the stores boarded up, whether they’re open or closed; other townsfolk are never anywhere to be found. Even the characters that Sonny interacts with – Sam the Lion, Sam’s son Billy, or café waitress Genevieve – operate in their own spheres, wading around their empty businesses and conversing with Sonny while they take care of him. The film’s conversations are shattering in their realism. Characters rarely provide direct commentary on their mental conditions, aimless futures or past regrets. When they do – in scattered instances, usually during the final act – the uncovered revelations are heartbreaking.

At its core, The Last Picture Show is about the passing of time and our collective unpreparedness for the change and progress that the future brings. This idea manifests most clearly in Sonny and Duane’s friendship, and the two’s aimlessness when it comes to moving on from their hometown, no matter how much they may want to. But, perhaps more effectively, it arises when Sonny passively listens to the older people around him, who highlight Sonny’s inability to understand the real problems that people go through. As Sonny moves forward, with the end of his high school experience looming and the realization that he’s headed nowhere settling in, the film’s narrative melancholia begins to settle in as well, crafting an experience that is simultaneously beautiful and brutal to watch.

The Criterion Collection’s 4K restoration of the film is incredible. Watching the film in pristine 4K UHD elevates its crisp black-and-white compositions and its harrowing extreme long shots of the dying town. The new physical edition also comes with many noteworthy supplements. Perhaps the grandest is Texasville – the film’s 1990 sequel, which follows Duane 33 years after the original film – in both its theatrical and director’s cuts. The edition also includes audio commentaries with Bogdanovich and cast members and three documentaries exploring the film’s production process.

(www.criterion.com/films/27533-the-last-picture-show)