IMDb > The Last Picture Show (1971)
The Last Picture Show
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The Last Picture Show (1971) More at IMDbPro »

Videos (see all 5)
The Last Picture Show (1971) -- HV Trailer
The Last Picture Show (1971) -- The coming of age of a youth named Sonny in a small Texas town in the 1950s.
The Last Picture Show (1971) -- MattTrailer.com - Trailer (Flash)
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Overview

User Rating:
8.1/10   13,653 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 9% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Peter Bogdanovich
Writers:
Larry McMurtry (novel)
Larry McMurtry (screenplay) ...
(more)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Last Picture Show on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
22 October 1971 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama more
Tagline:
Anarene, Texas, 1951. Nothing much has changed... more
Plot:
The coming of age of a youth named Sonny in a small Texas town in the 1950s. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
Won 2 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 16 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(27 articles)
The Trailer for 'Crazy Heart' Starring Jeff Bridges
 (From CinemaSpy. 16 November 2009, 9:25 PM, PST)
Trailer, Poster, and Oscar Buzz for Crazy Heart Starring Jeff Bridges
 (From Collider.com. 16 November 2009, 8:16 PM, PST)
User Comments:
... worthy of its place in the list of great films of the 1970s more (124 total)

Cast

  (in credits order) (verified as complete)

Timothy Bottoms ... Sonny Crawford

Jeff Bridges ... Duane Jackson

Cybill Shepherd ... Jacy Farrow

Ben Johnson ... Sam the Lion

Cloris Leachman ... Ruth Popper

Ellen Burstyn ... Lois Farrow
Eileen Brennan ... Genevieve

Clu Gulager ... Abilene
Sam Bottoms ... Billy

Sharon Ullrick ... Charlene Duggs (as Sharon Taggart)

Randy Quaid ... Lester Marlow
Joe Heathcock ... The Sheriff
Bill Thurman ... Coach Popper
Barc Doyle ... Joe Bob Blanton
Jessie Lee Fulton ... Miss Mosey
Gary Brockette ... Bobby Sheen
Helena Humann ... Jimmie Sue

Loyd Catlett ... Leroy
Robert Glenn ... Gene Farrow
John Hillerman ... Teacher
Janice E. O'Malley ... Mrs. Clarg (as Janice O'Malley)
Floyd Mahaney ... Oklahoma patrolman
Kimberly Hyde ... Annie-Annie Martin
Noble Willingham ... Chester
Marjorie Jay ... Winnie Snips
Joye Hash ... Mrs. Jackson
Pamela Keller ... Jackie Lee French
Gordon Hurst ... Monroe
Mike Hosford ... Johnny
Faye Jordan ... Nurse
Charles Seybert ... Andy Fanner
Grover Lewis ... Mr. Crawford
Rebecca Ulrick ... Marlene
Merrill Shepherd ... Agnes
Buddy Wood ... Bud
Kenny Wood ... Ken
Leon Brown ... Cowboy in cafe
Bobby McGriff ... Truck driver
Jack Mueller ... Oil pumper
Robert Arnold ... Brother Blanton

Frank Marshall ... Tommy Logan
Tom Martin ... Larry
Otis Elmore ... Mechanic #1
Charles Salmon ... Roughneck driver
George Gaulden ... Cowboy
Will Morris Hannis ... Gas station man
The Leon Miller Band ... Themselves
rest of cast listed alphabetically:

Peter Bogdanovich ... DJ (voice)
Tom Tyler ... The Quitter in 'Red River' (archive footage)
Antonia Bogdanovich ... Singer (uncredited)
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Directed by
Peter Bogdanovich 
 
Writing credits
Larry McMurtry (novel)

Larry McMurtry (screenplay) and
Peter Bogdanovich (screenplay)

Produced by
Stephen J. Friedman .... producer
Bert Schneider .... executive producer
Harold Schneider .... associate producer
Bob Rafelson .... producer (uncredited)
 
Original Music by
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (archive footage)
Phil Harris (archive footage)
Johnny Standley (archive footage)
Hank Thompson (archive footage)
 
Cinematography by
Robert Surtees 
 
Film Editing by
Donn Cambern 
 
Casting by
Ross Brown 
 
Production Design by
Polly Platt 
 
Art Direction by
Walter Scott Herndon 
 
Costume Design by
Polly Platt (uncredited)
 
Production Management
Don Guest .... unit production manager
 
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William A. Morrison .... second assistant director (as William Morrison)
Robert Rubin .... assistant director
 
Art Department
Vincent M. Cresciman .... design assistant (as Vincent Cresciman)
Louis Donelan .... props
George Lillie .... painter
Al Litteken .... construction coordinator
Ed Shanley .... construction supervisor
Walter Starkey .... props
 
Sound Department
Tom Overton .... sound mixer
Dean Salmon .... boom operator
 
Camera and Electrical Department
Alan Goldenhar .... gaffer
Leonard Lookabaugh .... dolly grip
Carl Manoogian .... key grip
Terry Meade .... camera operator
 
Costume and Wardrobe Department
Nancy McArdle .... wardrobe
Mickey Sherrard .... wardrobe
 
Other crew
Gary Chason .... assistant to director
Marilyn La Salandra .... production coordinator
Frank Marshall .... location manager
Elly Mitchell .... production secretary
Marshall Schlom .... script supervisor
Mae Woods .... production assistant
 
Crew believed to be complete


Production CompaniesDistributorsOther Companies
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Additional Details

MPAA:
Rated R for sexuality, nudity and language.
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
118 min | 126 min (director's cut)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
UK:15 (video rating) (1992) | UK:X (original rating) | Iceland:L | Singapore:M18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | West Germany:16 (f) | Brazil:14 | New Zealand:M | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Italy:T | Sweden:11 | USA:R | Argentina:Atp | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18
Filming Locations:
115 East Main Street, Archer City, Texas, USA more
Company:
Columbia Pictures Corporation more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Morgan Fairchild and Sissy Spacek were both considered for the role of Jacy Farrow. more
Goofs:
Anachronisms: The movie is set in the early 1950s, but at 50 minutes and 19 seconds in, when Sonny is driving through town at night just after he first has sex with Mrs. Popper, a car from the mid-1960s or later is briefly visible. more
Quotes:
Lois Farrow: I guess if it wasn't for Sam, I'd have missed it, whatever it is. I'd have been one of them amity types that thinks that playin' bridge is about the best thing that life has to offer. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003) more
Soundtrack:
Slow Poke more

FAQ

Why did Sam the Lion leave the preacher's boy $1000?
more

User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
65 out of 78 people found the following comment useful.
... worthy of its place in the list of great films of the 1970s, 10 January 2005
Author: jiminyglick from santa monica, ca

Perhaps the greatest tragedy to befall any artist is to have their life become more compelling than their work; such is the sad case with Peter Bogdanovich whose meteoric rise to fame was matched only by a truly famous fall from favor and a bewildering journey through tabloid hell. (Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers mined the not inconsiderable drama of the first act of his life to sporadically great comic effect in 1984's Irreconcilable Differences. And his tragic love affair with Playboy model turned actress Dorothy Stratten is fictionalized in Bob Fosse's astonishing, horrifying Star 80 (1983). How many directors become characters in films?)

Bogdanovich's love affair with film is undeniable, though it has, in the past three decades, yielded far more perplexing misfires (The Cat's Meow, At Long Last Love, Nickelodeon) than unqualified successes. That said, The Last Picture Show is an extraordinary accomplishment and worthy of its place in the list of great films of the 1970s.

1971's other important films (Friedkin's The French Connection, Pakula's Klute, Kubrick's Clockwork Orange) are loud, angry, violent and contemporary – in-your-face reflections of a society in which rage and nihilism, engendered by Vietnam and the growing discontent over government corruption, is the currency of communication. The uncertainty coursing through the veins of American pop culture also begat in equal, if not equally graphic, measure a palpable sense of sorrow at the destruction of a simpler way of life (no matter how "true" that memory may be).

Like Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof and Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Last Picture Show is a powerful and poignant evocation of the death of a community and a way of life. Thematically rich and imbued with Bogdanovich's remarkable knowledge and passion for film, the movie works on a dazzling number of levels; and Bogdanovich's use of nostalgia and traditional, archetypal genre conventions both enriches the movie and compounds the heartbreaking loss at the heart of the story.

His deft handling of a cast comprised of then (largely) unknowns (Bridges, Bottoms, Shepherd) is first-rate and he draws forth superb, often sublime performances from everyone (in particular, Johnson, Burstyn and Leachman). There isn't a false note or a misstep in the movie and there is a naturalness here that is not easily achieved or earned. The great production design (by Bogdanovich's then wife and partner Polly Platt whose contributions to his work and her subsequent involvement in the best works of James L. Brooks should not go underestimated) and the achingly beautiful cinematography by the late Robert Surtees are vital to the success (emotionally, intellectually, thematically) of the film.

The Last Picture Show is a truly rare work of surprising depth and emotional resonance; and the heartache for a time and place forever gone and the desperate and quiet struggles of its very real, very human denizens is matched only by the sorrow found in contemplation of Bogdanovich's Icarus-like fall from such exalted heights.

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