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AFI Movie Club: THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW stars Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd and is ranked as one of the greatest American films of all time on AFI’s 100 YEARS…100 MOVIES – 10th anniversary edition.
Watch Sofia Coppola announce the film:
Movie Trivia about THE LAST PICTURE SHOW:
–DID YOU KNOW Loyd Catlett – who plays Leroy in the film – also served as a dialogue coach, helping Jeff Bridges, Ellen Burstyn and the other cast members with their accents?
–DID YOU KNOW after meeting on THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, Loyd Catlett became Jeff Bridges’ longtime stand-in? They have since done more than 60 films together.
-DID YOU KNOW THE LAST PICTURE SHOW was the feature film debut of Cybill Shepherd? Peter Bogdanovich cast Shepherd after seeing her on the cover of Glamour magazine.
–DID YOU KNOW the film does not have a traditional music score and instead features only songs from the film’s time period or earlier? The songs are only heard on jukeboxes, record players and radios and frequently only in snippets.
–DID YOU KNOW the movie was banned from drive-ins in Phoenix, Arizona in 1973 for being obscene? It took a federal court to declare it safe for viewing.
–DID YOU KNOW to be able to get the feel of the movie that he wanted, director Peter Bogdanovich took the advice of Orson Welles, who suggested that he shoot the film in black and white?
–DID YOU KNOW prolific producer Frank Marshall first started his career as an assistant to Peter Bogdanovich and served as the location manager for THE LAST PICTURE SHOW? He also acted in the movie, playing the football team’s quarterback.
Learn more at the AFI Catalog.
The movie doesn’t end at the credits: Family-friendly Discussion Questions
Join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram now using #AFIMovieClub. Or post your responses in the comment section below.
-How does THE LAST PICTURE SHOW depict small town life in Texas?
-What are some differences between coming of age during the period of the film and today? What remains true of adolescence, regardless of the era?
-How has technology changed the way young people face the world? Would the film have been different if its characters had social media?
-The movie was considered risqué when it was first released. Do you think its depictions were gratuitous or true to the experience of growing up in a small town?
-How would the story have been different if it had been set in a big city?
-After almost 50 years, does the film still resonate today?
-How would you rate THE LAST PICTURE SHOW?
In this exclusive AFI Archive clip, Peter Bogdanovich talks about directing THE LAST PICTURE SHOW:
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Dick McKay
This film, The Last Picture Show, along with One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Five Easy Pieces and The Manchurian Candidate were the films I watched as a mid-teen that took me from film watcher, to cinema obsessive. The Last Picture Show’s often awkwardly blunt realism and it’s retro use of B&W film makes it stand out in a room full of amazing films of it’s time. The soundtrack almost followed the guidelines of a Dogme 95 film years and years before Trier and Co invented it. And lastly, Leachman gives probably one of the most memorable scenes of any film of this era. You can literally feel her anger through the screen. It’s amazing how Bogdanovich could take something so low key and make it feel so epic and important to American life. A true masterwork.