What’s this? I have a review going up for a movie that is A) not a new release and B) not part of the Stacker Challenge? I haven’t done one of these in a while. Simple reason really: I haven’t really had the time. Between my regular job, other things on my plate, and the amount of time it takes to actually watch a movie, I haven’t had a lot of time to see anything else. And, quite frankly, I was hoping to finally see The Last Picture show for quite some time. Since it’s on The Criterion Channel right now, and I am holding onto that service at least until the Stacker Challenge is over, I figured I could take advantage of that during my two week staycation.
Hey, remember when I sometimes did book reviews here? Yeah, I don’t foresee those returning any time soon.
It’s 1951, and there isn’t much going on in Anarene, Texas. The oil wells are drying up, and there isn’t much going on in town. Meanwhile, three teens are getting ready to graduate from high school to a future of, well, maybe not much. Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) just broke up with his girlfriend, possibly because she won’t go all the way, and possibly because he doesn’t see a future with her. His best friend Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges) is a star basketball player and already working in the oilfields. Meanwhile, Duane’s girlfriend Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd in her film debut) comes from a rich family, and she may have an out in the form of college in Dallas. Sonny is smitten with Jacy, and Jacy, well, she may be looking for better than Duane, and Sonny isn’t really it. But these are three kids looking for something, their hormones are buzzing, and they’re itching for adulthood even if there isn’t anything worth doing while they’re still in Anarene.
That seems to be something going around. None of the characters in this movie seem all that happy for very long, or at the least they aren’t going anywhere. Sonny starts a sexual relationship with his basketball coach’s lonely wife (Oscar winner Cloris Leachman), despite the fact that Sonny only seems to go see her when he has a problem. Jacy wants sex, and if she can’t get it from Duane, she’ll get it somewhere else. And the Jacy thing will drive a wedge between Sonny and Duane. Is there a way out for these kids?
Apparently, director/co-writer Peter Bogdonovich filmed this movie in his co-writer Larry McMurtry’s hometown. As the story was based off McMurty’s own book, that makes sense. But given this movie was shot in 1971, the choice to film it in black-and-white, to say nothing about audio that doesn’t always sound that good, actually works to make the movie itself reflect the town that seemed to have maybe three roads was dying with no way out. Even the movie itself look poor and shoddy.
But there’s a lot going on here I really liked. Beyond the actors mentioned, this is a really stacked cast full of actors that would go on to bigger things like Randy Quaid, Eileen Brennan, and Ellen Burstyn. But the highlight for me may be longtime Western actor Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion, the owner of the pool hall, diner, and movie theater the kids all love to hang out at. He’s the moral voice of the movie, taking time out to lecture the kids who tried to arrange for a mentally stunted boy to lose his virginity to a prostitute before banning most of them from his diner, and then giving a rather sweet speech about how he himself carried a torch for a rich girl that he would never marry, but also wouldn’t forget. Said woman turned out to be Jacy’s mother, and I will say, I think Johnson earned that Oscar he got for this movie. But really, this is a great movie about growing up for people who really have nowhere else to go as their town dies around them. That doesn’t make the people in the movie any less of a human being, and performances like Johnson’s and Leachman’s help emphasize that.
Grade: A
0 Comments