I have talked before about my slight unfamiliarity with Peter Bogdanovich's work during my review of his great film Paper Moon. Now having seen what is considered by many as his quintessential work The Last Picture Show (1971) I think I have a much better understanding of Bogdanovich as a director and storyteller.
The Last Picture Show takes place in a run down, nothing to do town in texas in the "innocent" 1950s. The interesting thing about nothing to do towns is that is where people tend to do more to make up for their self proclaimed boring existence. The film starts out quaint enough, being filmed in black and white with deep focus, really adds to the authenticity and the nostalgia of the 1950's. We meet the young high school seniors whom we find out early aren't good at football, and the older towns people try and shame them on this, but they don't seem to care. We meet Sam the Lion the purest representation of old time texas, he seems to be straight out of a John Ford movie and we will come to know him as the moral anchor of an other wise morally confused town. In the beginning Bogdanovich is pushing our expectations in one direction so that when the layers of affairs, sex, death, teen angst, the Korean War and loss start pilling up, they hit us hard.
Timothy Bottoms plays Sonny, the eyes and ears of the audience. He goes through his everyday life trying to figure out what to make of his time hear on earth, and what to do with the relationships he makes along the way. All the characters seem to be searching for something deeper and in their reaching out for that only find broken relationships, sex, war and alcohol. It seemed like only Sam the Lion knew how to make this town work, and once he was gone all was lost.
As I mentioned in my review of Paper Moon, Bogdanovich's style is minimalist but at the same time very self assured. With no wide shots, and many deep focus close ups, we get a sense of being trapped with the characters. He is not afraid to hang on someone face, and in doing so he really produces a great sense of longing in that character.
At the time of its release much had been made of the acting in this film. After all it got four acting nominations and two wins from the Academy. It introduced the likes of Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepard, and was the first of six Oscar nominations for Ellen Burstyn. All of these performances are deserving of their recognition and I would have even added Timothy Bottoms name to that Oscar list.
I can see how when The Last Picture Show first came out it was sort of shocking to audiences. It was about an era that had not long since past, it came on the heals of many films like Easy Rider and The Graduate where consequences where second thoughts to freedoms. In a weird way it almost works in that same vein now. The early seventies were long enough ago to watch a film like this in black and white and not be off put by it, maybe even think its normal, and in evoking a time long since gone, we only have the memories of films and television of that time, which makes The Last Picture Show still shocking to our expectations.
This is a great film and maybe deserves five stars, but what it does in style and substance it lacks in personal connection. I liked Paper Moon better only because I liked that relationship better than any in The Last Picture Show, but the film still deserves praise and recognition for its achievements.
****
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