The Last Picture Show

1971 119 min ★ 7.6 Drama, Romance

High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.

▶ Watch Trailer

Cast

Timothy Bottoms

Sonny Crawford

Cybill Shepherd

Jacy Farrow

Jeff Bridges

Duane Jackson

Cloris Leachman

Ruth Popper

Ellen Burstyn

Lois Farrow

Ben Johnson

Sam the Lion

Randy Quaid

Lester Marlow

Clu Gulager

Abilene

Eileen Brennan

Genevieve

Sam Bottoms

Billy

Details

Director

Peter Bogdanovich

Screenplay

Larry McMurtry

Tagline

"Anarene, Texas, 1951. Nothing much has changed…"

Status

Released

Original Language

EN

Budget

$1,300,000

Revenue

$29,133,000

Production

BBS Productions, Columbia Pictures

Reviews

W

Wuchak

October 29, 2018

★ 7/10

***Bleak, trashy B&W drama of life in a fading Texas town in the early 50s with several strong points*** Released in 1971, “The Last Picture Show” is a B&W drama of several teens and adults in a dying Texas town on the windy plains in 1951. Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd play the main high shoolers while Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman and Ellen Burstyn appear as the adults. Ra...

P

Peter McGinn

February 13, 2021

★ 7/10

I must have watched this movie a few years after it came out, but I had no specific memory of it, no feeling of deja vu of having seen a scene before. It is a good film in many ways, certainly achieving its apparent goal of portraying a bleak landscape of a dying town. The dialogue, which I notice since I write novels that feature a lot of dialogue, is excellent, just what you expect from Larry...

C

CinemaSerf

January 9, 2025

★ 7/10

"Sonny" (Timothy Bottoms) and "Duane" (Jeff Bridges) are best pals in a remote Texan town that offers them little by way of prospects. They both vie for the love interest of "Jacy" (Cybill Shepherd) although she is supposed to be dating "Duane". She comes from the family that passes for wealth in "Anarene" and her mother (Ellen Burstyn) has essentially told her to keep her options open and see whi...