The Last Picture Show: The Definitive Director's Cut (Special Edition)
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Actor: Ellen Burstyn, Timothy BottomsBrand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Georgian (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-11-30
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of The Last Picture Show: The Definitive Director's Cut (Special Edition)
DVD Review: The last film you ever need to see...
Summary: 5 Stars
Recently I've been working hard to compile my `Top 100 Films of All Time', a list that is completely subjective (I know) but one that is really important I think to any film lover. We all have our favorite films, those that reach us, move us and emotionally complete us. When constructing that list, one film made it fairly high; `The Last Picture Show'. The first time I saw this film I was stunned. I think a better way to say that is that I felt emotionally crippled. It was a polarizing film that spoke to me in ways I wasn't prepared for. The second time I saw this film I started to put a few things together and found myself moved to tears as apposed to merely frozen in the emotional shock of it all. I've now seen this film a few handfuls of times and have grown to appreciate it more and more for it's each and every perfected cranny.
There are not many films that I can say this about, but `The Last Picture Show' is utterly perfect. It's not `nearly perfect' or `perfectly flawed' but this is absolutely PERFECT.
`The Last Picture Show' is a delicately yet extremely precise telling of small town life through the eyes of a group of lost souls. At the center of the group is young Sonny Crawford. It seems as if everyone around Sonny is pulling at him, trying to absorb him in order to sustain their own survival. Whether it is a subtle drain, from the likes of Sam (who treats Sonny like a son) and Lois Farrow (who seeps into Sonny through her daughter), or a significant one, like that from the likes of Ruth Popper (who needs Sonny to escape her marriage) and Jacy Farrow (who craves attention so much she'd use Sonny to get it), the fact remains that Sonny is not his own person but a prop used by those around him at their convenience.
One of my friends mentioned his one grip with this film is that he felt it was `a bit too calculated to offer the perfect combo of nostalgia + criticism of a time' but I think I have to counter that with the thought that it is within that `calculation' that the nostalgia and criticism's can truly coexist. Without that slight calculation (at times I admit it is stronger than others) I feel that the film might have come across rather uneven. You have the warm feeling of `home' mixed with that cold feeling of `alienation' that needs to be read as sincere and earnest. With the calculation comes a sharp sense of detachment that actually creates within itself a beautiful sense of emotional collapse that helps breathe a life into both of these aspects of the film.
We understand the desperate desire to flee from the claustrophobic surroundings that trap and suffocate, but we also see and feel the fear of leaving such a place, for it is all these individuals know and, believe it or not, love.
To me, the best example of this is found within Lois Farrow (beautifully played by Ellen Burstyn). There is a scene where she speaks to Sonny about Sam, and you can see in that one scene very real layers of grief stripped away from her as she reminisces of the good times, with tears and smiles. It is such a natural and genuine performance (best in show and clearly should have won the Oscar) that sums up the soul of the film for me.
This is a story of the need to break free from all the binds, yet the need to remember all that kept one alive.
Across the board, the acting is fantastic. Aside from Burstyn there is Ben Johnson, who delivers such a beautifully sincere portrait of small town life. He is the powerful presence that reaches all whom he touches. Jeff Bridges is wonderfully used here, exhibiting all sorts of star-making bravado without ever once appearing to be an actor. Cybill Shepherd is not just a pretty face here, as some have claimed. Her quiet agony over the lack of love she receives from her family is seen in many scenes, and the joyous expression she wears when she seems to feel their love is just outstanding. A quiet and often overlooked performance is Eileen Brennan, who is just beautifully honest as Genevieve, and of course Cloris Leachman's Oscar winning performance is THAT GOOD (even if Burstyn was better). Her complete reclusion into her sadness is emotionally battering, and the way she controls such a dramatic presence is astounding for such a comedic firehouse.
Timothy Bottoms is the center of the film, and sadly because of that he becomes more of a canvas than a substantial force. He delivers beautifully, but he is more an observer and thus makes less of an impression than the supporting cast that engulfs him. His performance for me is reminiscent of Brad Pitt's in `The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' in that respect, but he gives a fuller and more memorable performance than Pitt.
In the end, I have to urge you to see this film if you have not already. There are few films that can capture so much with such ease. Every time I watch this masterpiece I am brought to another place and time and given something new to chew on. The more I see it, the better it gets, and that's impressive for a film that really can't get much better!
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Description of The Last Picture Show: The Definitive Director's Cut (Special Edition)
LAST PICTURE SHOW - DVD MovieLike Easy Rider, Bonnie and Clyde, The Wild Bunch, and The Graduate, The Last Picture Show is one of the signature films of the "New Hollywood" that emerged in the late 1960s and early '70s. Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry and lovingly directed by Peter Bogdanovich (who cowrote the script with McMurtry), this 1971 drama has been interpreted as an affectionate tribute to classic Hollywood filmmaking and the great directors (such as John Ford) that Bogdanovich so deeply admired. It's also a eulogy for lost innocence and small-town life, so accurately rendered that critic Roger Ebert called it "the best film of 1951," referring to the movie's one-year time frame, its black-and-white cinematography (by Robert Surtees), and its sparse but evocative visual style. The story is set in the tiny, dying town of Anarene, Texas, where the main-street movie house is about to close for good, and where a pair of high-school football players are coming of age and struggling to define their uncertain futures. There's little to do in Anarene, and while Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) engages in a passionless fling with his football coach's wife (Cloris Leachman), his best friend Duane (Jeff Bridges) enlists for service in the Korean War. Both boys fall for a manipulative high-school beauty (Cybill Shepherd) who's well aware of her sexual allure. But it's not so much what happens in The Last Picture show as how it happens--and how Bogdanovich and his excellent cast so effectively capture the melancholy mood of a ghost town in the making. As Hank Williams sings on the film's evocative soundtrack, The Last Picture Show looks, feels, and sounds like a sad but unforgettably precious moment out of time. --Jeff Shannon
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