History Film / TheLastPictureShow

* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: On a snooker table.
* {{Melodrama}}: In a lot of ways, the film is a {{Deconstruction}} of the classic melodramas of TheFifties. The ingredients are all there--sexual shenanigans in a small town, a love triangle, a married woman engages in a forbidden romance, more than one tragic death--but it's all played in a very naturalistic, non-sensational way. And in contrast to the Technicolor cinematography of the classic melodramas, this is done in stark monochrome.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: It was something of a TropeMaker for thie artistic use of this after color finally became the Hollywood default. Upon selecting the town of Archer City, Texas, as a filming location, production designer Polly Platt and Bogdanovich decided that the town should have a bleak, colorless look about it. After considering several options, such as painting all the buildings gray, Platt and Bogdanovich consulted close friend Creator/OrsonWelles about the viability of shooting the film in black and white. Welles simply said, "Of COURSE you'll shoot it in black and white!"

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Upon selecting the town of Archer City, Texas, as a filming location, production designer Polly Platt and Bogdanovich decided that the town should have a bleak, colorless look about it. After considering several options, such as painting all the buildings gray, Platt and Bogdanovich consulted close friend Creator/OrsonWelles about the viability of shooting the film in black and white. Welles simply said, "Of COURSE you'll shoot it in black and white!"

* CelebrityParadox: A poster for the film ''WagonMaster'', which starred Ben Johnson, is seen at the theatre. Johnson also worked as a stuntman on ''Film/RedRiver'', which ends up being the actual "last picture show."

* TheFifties: Small Town Texas in the early 1950s where the teenagers listen to pop and country (Rock and Roll wasn't yet mainstream) and where the teenagers watch ''Film/FatherOfTheBride1950'' starring Creator/ElizabethTaylor.

* BittersweetEnding: Pretty close to a DownerEnding. Sonny loses Jacey, who honestly was really not that interested in the first place and used him as a tool to piss off her parents. Duane leaves for the army. The DyingTown gets that much closer to dead as the movie theater closes. And poor Billy is struck and killed in the street by a truck. The only thing that leavens the ending somewhat is the reconciliation between Sonny and Ruth at the end, with her taking his hand and saying "Never you mind."

* CelebrityParadox: A poster for the film ''Film/WagonMaster'', which starred Ben Johnson, is seen at the theatre. Johnson also worked as a stuntman on ''Film/RedRiver'', which ends up being the actual "last picture show."

The film is set in Anarene, a tiny town on the north Texas plains, between November 1951 and October 1952 (the town is called Thalia in the novel). Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) is a high school senior, and leads a typical life for a teenage boy in his town: he plays on the school football team, goes to movies at the town's only theater, which, along with the town pool hall, is run by Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson), and pursues relationships with girls, accompanied by his best friend Duane Jackson (Creator/JeffBridges), the charismatic captain of the football team. Duane is currently dating Jacy Farrow (Creator/CybillShepherd in her film debut), the school's homecoming queen, who is fiercely protected by her mother Lois (Creator/EllenBurstyn) as she grooms her for adulthood.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Averted. Jimmie Sue, the drive-in restaurant owner who moonlights as the town hooker, is probably the single most loathsome character in the film, for her downright rude treatment of Billy.

* TheOneThatGotAway: When he goes fishing with Sonny, Sam the Lion reminisces about an old lover, who he used to go skinny-dipping with, with a tone of regret suggesting she disappeared from his life. [[spoiler:Later, comments made by Lois to Sonny reveal that ''she'' was the woman, and that she gave him the nickname "the Lion"]].

* TheLastTitle: It's called ''The Last Picture Show'' because the movie theater is forced to close due to lack of business.

The film is set in Anarene, a tiny town on the north Texas plains, between November 1951 and October 1952 (the town is called Thalia in the novel). Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) is a high school senior, and leads a typical life for a teenage boy in his town: he plays on the school football team, goes to movies at the town's only theater, plays pool at the pool hall run by the beloved Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson), and pursues relationships with girls.

His best friend is Duane Jackson (Creator/JeffBridges), the charismatic captain of the football team. Duane is dating Jacy Farrow (Creator/CybillShepherd in her film debut), the school's homecoming queen, whose mother Lois (Creator/EllenBurstyn) is fiercely protective of her as she grooms her for adulthood.

But as Anarene's young people get ready to become adults, the town's adults are leading lives of desperation, with unhappy marriages and numerous extramarital affairs. Sonny gets drawn into this when he falls in love with Ruth Popper (Creator/ClorisLeachman), the shy wife of the school's athletic coach. Meanwhile, Jacy's and Duane's relationship gets strained and Jacy and Sonny start seeing each other, which naturally puts a wedge between Sonny and Duane. But as life goes on the relationships between various people in town resolve themselves in unexpected ways.

His best friend is Duane Jackson (Creator/JeffBridges), the charismatic captain of the football team. Duane is dating Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd in her film debut), the school's homecoming queen, whose mother Lois (Creator/EllenBurstyn) is fiercely protective of her as she grooms her for adulthood.

* TheFifties: Small Town Texas in the early 1950s where the teenagers listen to pop and country (Rock and Roll wasn't mainstream) and where the teenagers watch ''Film/FatherOfTheBride1950'' starring Creator/ElizabethTaylor.

The story is set in Anarene, a tiny town on the north Texas plains, between November 1951 and October 1952. Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) is a high school senior, and leads a typical life for a teenage boy in his town: he plays on the school football team, goes to movies at the town's only theater, plays pool at the pool hall run by the beloved Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson), and pursues relationships with girls.

His best friend is Duane Jackson (Creator/JeffBridges), the charismatic captain of the football team. Duane is dating Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd in her film debut), the school's homecoming queen, whose mother Lois (Ellen Burstyn) is fiercely protective of her as she grooms her for adulthood.

With a stellar cast that also included Creator/EileenBrennan, Clu Gulager, Randy Quaid (in his film debut), and John Hillerman, [[DeliberatelyMonochrome it was shot in black and white for aesthetic and technical reasons]], which was unusual for its time.

With a stellar cast that also included Eileen Brennan, Clu Gulager, Randy Quaid (in his film debut), and John Hillerman, [[DeliberatelyMonochrome it was shot in black and white for aesthetic and technical reasons]], which was unusual for its time.

* MrsRobinson: Sonny starts a relationship with Ruth Popper, the 40-year-old wife of the high school football/basketball coach. It's also implied that Jacy's mother Lois might be attracted to him.

But as Anarene's young people get ready to become adults, the town's adults are leading lives of desperation, with unhappy marriages and numerous extramarital affairs. Sonny gets drawn into this when he falls in love with Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman), the shy wife of the school's athletic coach. Meanwhile, Jacy's and Duane's relationship gets strained and Jacy and Sonny start seeing each other, which naturally puts a wedge between Sonny and Duane. But as life goes on the relationships between various people in town resolve themselves in unexpected ways.

* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: [=McMurtry=] was very upfront that Thalia(in the novel)/Anarene (in the film) is a fictionalized version of his hometown Archer City, which is also where the film was made.

''The Last Picture Show'' is a 1971 American drama film directed by Creator/PeterBogdanovich, adapted from a semi-autobiographical 1966 novel of the same name by Larry [=McMurtry=].