Friday 22 October 2021

the last picture show

The cinematic adaptation of the Larry McMurtry (previously) semi-autobiographical Bildungsroman that traces the final academic year of two high school seniors was released on this day in 1971. With the ensemble cast of Cloris Leachman, Cybil Shepherd, Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottoms under the direction of Peter Bogdanovich, the ultimately highly acclaimed narrative follows the complicated friendship and trials of two on the cusp of adulthood in a declining, depopulated town in northern Texas, Anarene a real boom-town since made into a ghost town and filmed in Archer City, McMurtry’s home town, just a few kilometres away—torn between inheritance and bequest and moving on.