The Last Picture Show, 1971 (dir. Peter Bogdonavich)
SYNOPSIS: Bridges plays Duane JACKson. His best friend is Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and his girlfriend is Jacy (Cybill Shepard). If you went to high school in a small Texas town between WWII and the Korean conflict, this movie is basically your life. They are all graduating from high school and horny and reckless and confused. Duane & Sonny are football studs who share a truck (?) while Jacy is stuck up and complicated but also sorta slutty. Everybody is moving on and getting their last laughs/digs in. Then the betrayals and the hurting followed by the reconciliations and personal growth. Plus it’s in black and white so you feel like you’re learning. Sonny breaks up with his girlfriend and has the best cup of coffee in the world with Cloris Leachman (!)
Yeah, so there’s how The Last Picture Show ends… spoiler alert.
FILM: 9/10
BRIDGES: 8/10
BOTTOM LINE: Bad Company + Thunderbolt & Lightfoot = The Last Picture Show
This is one of the rare exceptions where the film actually trumps Bridges’ performance. But this is mostly due to Bridges not being in the film nearly enough, and also – it’s the first great American film of the 70′s. Character driven, cynical, heartbreaking and beautifully framed. I saw this at a place called The Duke’s in Northern England where I was in grad school and avoiding work and trying to impress a gorgeous woman from Manchester. She said I sounded like like someone from the movie and the deal was pretty much sealed. Awesome.
The drawing is from a scene where Duane, Sonny and Jacy are riding in Jacy’s car but I just drew Duane first then stopped because I was worried about messing the rest of it up.
