Taglines: Anarene, Texas, 1951. Nothing much has changed…
The Last Picture Show movie storyline. It’s 1951 in the small town of Anarene, located in the dust bowl of Texas. Sam the Lion, owner of the local café, pool hall and movie theater, and the unofficial father figure to many of the young men of the town, is one of the few people who seems content with his life in Anarene.
Life in Anarene for the younger generation in particular seems to hold little interest and not much of a future. The sensitive Sonny Crawford and brusque Duane Jackson are high school seniors, co-captains of the hapless high school football team, and best friends. Duane is dating the beautiful Jacy Farrow, the daughter of the town’s oil baron. Jacy’s mother, Lois Farrow, offers Jacy advice for her future: marry the boy who offers the greatest opportunity, especially in escaping Anarene, that boy who isn’t Duane.
Jacy goes on that pursuit for good or bad. Sonny just broke up with his long time girlfriend Charlene Tuggs, the two who dated seemingly since there was nothing better to do. While Sonny dreams of Jacy, as do many of the boys, he ends up in an affair with middle aged Ruth Popper, the unhappy wife of the high school’s football and basketball coach. These encounters and relationships, especially for Sonny, Duane and Jacy, who are just coming to the age of exploring their sexuality, show just what future there is for them in Anarene.
The Last Picture Show is a 1971 American drama film directed and co-written by Peter Bogdanovich, adapted from a semi-autobiographical 1966 novel The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry. Set in a small town in north Texas from November 1951 to October 1952, it is about the coming of age of Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) and his friend Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges).
The cast also includes Cybill Shepherd in her film debut, Ellen Burstyn, Ben Johnson, and Cloris Leachman, and features Eileen Brennan, Clu Gulager, and Randy Quaid. For aesthetic reasons, it was shot in black and white, which was unusual for the time. The film features many songs of Hank Williams Sr. and other recording artists.
The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Ben Johnson and Jeff Bridges for Best Supporting Actor, and Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman for Best Supporting Actress, with Johnson and Leachman winning. In 1998 the film was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
About the Story
In 1951 Sonny Crawford and Duane Jackson are high-school seniors and friends in Anarene, Texas, a small declining northern Texas town. Duane is dating Jacy Farrow, who Sonny considers the prettiest girl in town. Sonny breaks up with his girlfriend Charlene Duggs.
At Christmas time Sonny begins an affair with Ruth Popper, the depressed middle-aged wife of his high-school coach, “Coach” Popper. She is lonely because her husband is a closeted homosexual. At the Christmas dance Jacy is invited by Lester Marlow to a naked indoor pool party at the home of Bobby Sheen, a wealthy young man who seems to be a better prospect than Duane. Bobby tells Jacy that he isn’t interested in virgins and to come back after she’s had sex.
The group of boys take their young, mentally disabled friend, Billy, to a prostitute to lose his virginity, but she hits Billy in the face when he ejaculates prematurely. When Duane and Sonny take Billy back home, Sam “the Lion” tells them that since they cannot even take care of a friend, he is barring them from the pool hall, the movie theater, and the cafe. Duane isn’t seen by Sam because he hides in the backseat. At the cafe, Genevieve, the waitress, tells Sonny she knows that Duane was with the group but agrees not to tell Sam.
During the weekend of New Year’s Eve, Duane and Sonny go on a weekend road trip to Mexico. Before they drive off, Sam, who has forgiven Sonny, chats with them about their trip, wistfully wishing he still had the stamina to join them, and gives them some extra money. When they return from the trip, hung over and tired, they learn that during their absence Sam died of a stroke on New Year’s Eve. In his will, Sam left the movie theater to the woman who ran the concession stand; the café to Genevieve; $1,000 to the preacher’s son, Joe Bob Blanton; and the pool hall to Sonny.
Jacy invites Duane to a motel for sex so that she can date Bobby, but Duane is unable to get an erection. She loses her virginity to Duane on their second attempt and then breaks up with him by telephone. When Bobby marries another girl, Jacy is disappointed. Out of boredom, she has sex with Abilene, her mother’s lover, though he is cold to her afterward. Jacy then sets her sights on Sonny, who drops Ruth without notice. Duane quarrels with Sonny over Jacy, “his” girl, and hits him in the side of the head with a bottle, blinding him in the left eye. Duane then decides to join the army to fight in Korea.
Jacy suggests to Sonny that they elope in Oklahoma. On their way to their honeymoon on Lake Texoma, they are stopped by an Oklahoma state trooper; Jacy left a note telling her parents all about their plan. The couple are brought back to Anarene. On the trip back, Jacy’s mother, Lois, admits to Sonny that she was Sam the Lion’s paramour and tells him that he was much better off with Ruth Popper than with Jacy. The marriage of Sonny and Jacy is annulled.
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich
Starring: imothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ellen Burstyn, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Eileen Brennan, Clu Gulager, Sharon Ullrick, Jessie Lee Fulton, Bill Thurman
Screenplay by: Larry McMurtry, Peter Bogdanovich
Production Design by: Polly Platt
Cinematography by: Robert Surtees
Film Editing by: Donn Cambern
Costume Design by: Polly Platt
Art Direction by: Walter Scott Herndon
Music by: Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Phil Harris, Johnny Standley, Hank Thompson
MPAA Rating: R for sexuality, nudity and language.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: October 22, 1971
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