Runtime: 126 minutes
Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich
Starring: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman
From: Columbia
Months overdue, I can finally give a proper “RIP Peter Bogdanovich”.
Early in January I stated in another review that late in the month I would rate and review one of the late director’s most famous works. Because reasons, that never happened and just last night I went to the Criterion Channel to stream the movie and believe it or not, it was a first-time watch.
Many are likely familiar w/ the story but to be brief: this adaptation of a Larry McMurty novel shows in the early 50’s several high school seniors (along with a few adults) in a fictional town in the northern part of Texas that was once prosperous due to oil but it’s dried up because the oil has dried up. It’s a rather dead little hamlet that just made me feel bad for its residents, a feeling matched by the stark black and white cinematography.
To be honest, the movie was far more HORNY than what I was expecting. There’s both male and female full frontal nudity-I saw more of Randy Quaid than I ever wanted to-a mentally handicapped teen boy who only lasts seconds with the town’s loosest woman, an 18 year old having an affair w/ a lady at least twice his age, Jeff Bridges not being able to perform while trying to deflower Cybill Shepherd… what a surprise this all was. I did laugh, which was needed in an otherwise greatly compelling but still depressing examination of a small hamlet on its inevitable march to extinction.
It's a quality movie featuring a stellar cast (some of whom would become much more famous later) and is one hell of a coming-of-age tale. Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman both won Oscars for their performances-each were noteworthy, despite Johnson having a little less than 10 minutes of screentime. Personally, a major highlight was that this had no traditional score and instead the music was from songs being played on the radio, which unsurprisingly for the region was mainly country in genre. The IMDb has a specific list and the tunes included Hank Snow, Johnnie Ray, Pee Wee King, Tony Bennett and several from Hank Williams, Sr. I enjoyed most of the songs so I am glad there’s YouTube to revisit some of them in the future.
Bogdanovich is a controversial figure and one thing to note is that during filming he had an affair w/ Shepherd… which is not the most questionable relationship he ever had but that’s another topic for another time. His personal life out of the equation, he directed several motion pictures well worth seeing, including The Last Picture Show.
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