The Last Picture Show (1971)

Summary: In the early 1950s, small-town Texas was safe between wars. In Anarene, Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), Jacy (Cybill Shepherd), and Duane (Jeff Bridges) are floating through their last year of high school, blissfully unaware that there is more to life that high school football games and constant gossip (or is there?). Sonny soon begins an affair with their coach's wife, Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman), and Duane and Jacy's relationship begins to reach its breaking point.

Here's what I thought the movie was about:
Duane and Jacy are dating, and she cheats on him with Sonny, his best friend.

That's what you get when you rely on Dawson's Creek for your film synopses.

Here's what it's really about:
Sonny is an allegorical figure that represents the difficulties of growing up, that chasm between childhood and adulthood, and the disillusionment that inevitably follows when you graduate from that microcosm of social activity and anxiety that is high school.

Which is well enough because Bottoms does a superb job. The real knockouts, though, are Leachman and Ben Johnson (Sam), who very justly won Academy Awards for their performances here. It was Johnson who really stole the show. His performance is so nuanced and understated that you just might miss it.

Peter Bogdanovich (director and co-screenwriter) and Larry McMurtry (co-screenwriter, based on his novel) are credited with crafting a "great American movie," a" classic" for the ages. For life of me, I didn't see what critics apparently have seen for years in this movie. Although lauded with excessive superlatives, I saw a movie that was much more sexual and, well, naked that I would have liked. Maybe it's just my disappointment.

All in all, aside from the three performances I mentioned above, and the fact that I believe Bridges to be one of the top 5 underrated American actors of the 20th-21st centuries, I don't think I would have made it all the way through this one.

Alright, I'll give you cinematography, too. Excellent work, Robert Surtees. B