THE LAST PICTURE SHOW [1971 / 2022] [Premium Collection] [Director’s Cut] [Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD + Limited Edition Art Cards] ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ That Introduced America To The Forgotten 1950’s!
Released in 1971 to critical acclaim and public controversy, ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ garnered eight Academy Award® nominations (including Best Picture) and was hailed as the most important work by a young American director since ‘Citizen Kane.’
A surprisingly frank, bittersweet drama of social and sexual mores in small-town Texas, the film features a talent-laden cast led by Jeff Bridges (‘The Mirror Has Two Faces’), Cybill Shepherd (‘Taxi Driver’) and Timothy Bottoms (‘The Man In The Iron Mask’). Cloris Leachman (TV’s “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”) and Ben Johnson (Rio Grande) each won Oscars for their work in supporting roles. Available for the first time on Blu-ray disc, this modern classic is a must-have for every movie lover!
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1972 Academy Awards: Nominations: Best Picture. Nominations: Stephen J. Friedman. Win: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Ben Johnson. Nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Jeff Bridges. Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Cloris Leachman. Nominations: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Ellen Burstyn. Nominations: Best Director Peter Bogdanovich. Nominations: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Larry McMurtry and Peter Bogdanovich. Nominations: Best Cinematography for Robert Surtees. 1973 BAFTA Film Awards: Awards and Nominations: Nominations: Best Director Peter Bogdanovich. Nominations: Best Film for ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.’ Win: Best Screenplay for Larry McMurtry and Peter Bogdanovich. Win: Best Supporting Actor for Ben Johnson. Win: Best Supporting Actress for Cloris Leachman. Nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Eileen Brennan.
FILM FACT No.2: ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ was Officially Selected for the New York film Festival in 1971. In 1998, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” After discussing the proposed film with Orson Welles, his houseguest at the time, Peter Bogdanovich agreed with Orson Welles that shooting the film in black-and-white would work aesthetically, which by then was an unusual choice. The film was shot in Larry McMurtry's small hometown of Archer City located in north-central Texas near the Oklahoma state line. Larry McMurtry had renamed the town “Thalia” in his book. Peter Bogdanovich dubbed it “Anarene” (for a ghost town eight miles (13 km) south of Archer City). The similarity to famed Cowtown Abilene, Kansas, in Howard Hawks’ film ‘Red River’ [1948] was intentional. The film ‘Red River’ again is tied in as “The last picture show,” which Sonny Crawford and Duane Jackson watch at the end of the film. After shooting wrapped, Peter Bogdanovich went back to Los Angeles to edit the film footage on a Moviola. Peter Bogdanovich has said that he edited the entire film himself but refused to credit himself as the editor, reasoning that director and co-writer were enough. When informed that the Motion Picture Editors Guild required an editor credit, Peter Bogdanovich suggested Donn Cambern, who had been editing another film, ‘Drive, He Said’ [1971], in the next office and had helped Peter Bogdanovich with some purchasing paperwork concerning the film's opticals. Donn Cambern disputes this, stating that Peter Bogdanovich did do an edit of the film, which he screened for a selection of guests, including Jack Nicholson, Bob Rafelson and himself [who?] The consensus was the film was going to be great, but needed further editing to achieve its full potential. Donn Cambern claims Peter Bogdanovich invited him to do so, during which he made significant contributions to the film's final form. Peter Bogdanovich obtained a rare waiver from the Directors Guild of America to have his name appear only at the end of the film, after the actors’ credits, as he felt it was more meaningful for the audience to see their names after their performances. The film features entirely diegetic music, including many songs of Hank Williams Sr. and other country and western and 1950’s popular music recording artists.
Cast: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, Clu Gulager, Sam Bottoms, Sharon Ullrick, Randy Quaid, Joe Heathcock, Bill Thurman, Barc Doyle, Jessie Lee Fulton, Gary Brockette, Helena Humann, Loyd Catlett, Robert Glenn, John Hillerman , Janice E. O'Malley, Floyd Mahaney, Kimberly Hyde, Noble Willingham, Marjorie Jay, Joye Hash, Pamela Keller, Gordon Hurst, Mike Hosford, Faye Jordan, Charles Seybert, Grover Lewis, Rebecca Ulrick, Merrill Shepherd, Buddy Wood, Kenny Wood, Leon Brown, Bobby McGriff, Jack Mueller, Robert Arnold, Frank Marshall, Tom Martin, Otis Elmore, Charles Salmon, George Gaulden, Will Morris Hannis, The Leon Miller Band, Peter Bogdanovich [DJ voice] (uncredited) and Stuart Spates [Roughneck in Truck] (uncredited)
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Producers: Bert Schneider, Bob Rafelson (uncredited), Harold Schneider and Stephen J. Friedman
Screenplay: Larry McMurtry (screenplay) (based on Larry McMurtry’s novel) and Peter Bogdanovich (screenplay)
Music: Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (archive footage), Hank Thompson (archive footage), Johnny Standley (archive footage) and Phil Harris (archive footage)
Costume Design: Polly Platt (uncredited)
Costume and Wardrobe Department: Mickey Sherrard (wardrobe) and Nancy McArdle (wardrobe)
Cinematography: Robert Surtees, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo
French: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
German: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Italian: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Spanish: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish
Running Time: 126 minutes
Region: Blu-ray: All Regions + DVD: PAL
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Columbia Pictures / SONY Pictures
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ [1971] is a character study in the truest sense of the term: a movie in which the narrative is just a mechanism by which we get to know the men and women inhabiting a small-town Texas community in the early 1950’s. For director Peter Bogdanovich, this represented his third feature film and showed him at the pinnacle of his creative powers and Peter Bogdanovich would go on to make two more successful movies such as ‘What's Up Doc?’ and ‘Paper Moon.’
Peter Bogdanovich had spent time in film criticism and was heavily influenced by the writers of the French magazine Notebooks on Cinema. Many of those writers would spearhead the great French New Wave movement. Peter Bogdanovich desired to follow the leads of Truffaut, Godard, and Rohmer by stepping outside of criticism and into filmmaking. ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ was the perfect opportunity. It enabled him to not only step behind the camera, but to make a movie that was undeniably his own. It would be a critical success and would go on to earn eight Academy® Award nominations.
Peter Bogdanovich cast is a mix of first-timers, relatively unknowns, and seasoned dependable pros. Set in 1951, Timothy Bottoms (in his second career role) plays Sonny Crawford, a high school senior living in the small dried-up town of Anarene, Texas. Interestingly, Anarene is represented by Larry McMurtry’s hometown of Archer City in northern Texas. Peter Bogdanovich shoots it like a wasteland -dusty and barren minus its handful of residents. You can barely define what they are doing as living. They are existing – going through the motions dictated by their circumstances. You could say Anarene represents the lives of the citizens.
The film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ doesn’t get bogged down in plot because there really isn’t any. It more or less follows the everyday events of Anarene with Sonny Crawford at its centrepiece. Other townsfolk we meet include Sonny Crawford’s rambunctious best friend Duane Jackson played by a young Jeff Bridges. In her film debut Cybill Shepherd plays Jacy Farrow the prettiest girl in town and a bit of a tease. Jacy Farrow uses her good looks (and bad judgement) to get whatever she wants. Peter Bogdanovich cast Cybill Shepherd after seeing her on the cover of Glamour magazine. There’s also Randy Quaid playing Lester Marlow the town goofball in his first movie role.
The young actors are the focus but the adults play a big role as well and are just as misguided as the town’s youth. The one exception is Sam the Lion (played by the always reliable Ben Johnson). Sam the Lion is the beating heart of Anarene and he owns the town’s pool hall, diner, and corner movie house. Sam the Lion supplies the people some semblance of activities but even Sam the Lion seems beaten down by the dying town and life in general. Aside from Sam the Lion, Ellen Burstyn plays Jacy Farrows’s promiscuous and disillusioned mother Lois Farrow. Cloris Leachman plays the lonely, depressed wife Ruth Popper of the town’s high school coach. Clu Gulagar plays Abilene a despicable oil field worker and Eileen Brennan plays Genevieve a weary waitress going through life’s motions.
Peter Bogdanovich and Larry McMurtry take their characters through a cluster of shameful, unscrupulous acts often with little attention to motive or reason. While the characters are fascinating to a degree, the film sometimes lacks the introspection to keep the town from feeling like anything but a cesspool of immorality. This isn’t always the case. There are moments of conviction and internal struggle and some character’s motivations are crystal clear. But other times Peter Bogdanovich’s intent is hard to discern and I routinely found myself wrestling with what felt meaningful and what felt exploitative.
But a true strength of the film is its visual presentation. As I mentioned, the town is shot as isolated and dated. Even the seemingly ever present Hank Williams songs wailing in the background convey a dreary sense of hopelessness. The choice to shoot in black-and-white is also effective (a decision made after Peter Bogdanovich discussed his film with Orson Welles). It sets the right tone while also giving the film a real sense of time. There is rarely a wasted shot by the brilliant Cinematographer Robert Surtees.
‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ has remained a beloved film since its 1971 release. Of its eight Oscar® nominations it won two for Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman, both in Supporting categories. To some degree I get the strong affections many have since there is a lot to admire.
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW MUSIC TRACK LIST
COLD, COLD HEART (uncredited) (Written by Hank Williams Sr.) [Performed by Tony Bennett]
GIVE ME MORE, MORE OF YOUR KISSES (uncredited) (Written by Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price and Jim Beck) [Performed by Lefty Frizzell]
WISH YOU WERE HERE (uncredited) (Written by Harold Rome) [Performed by Eddie Fisher]
SLOW POKE (uncredited) (Written by Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart and Chilton Price) [Performed by Pee Wee King]
BLUE VELVET (uncredited) (Written by Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart and Chilton Price) [Performed by Tony Bennett]
ROSE, ROSE, I LOVE YOU (uncredited) (Written by Wilfrid Thomas and Chris Langdon) [Performed by Frankie Laine]
YOU BELONG TO ME (uncredited) (Written by Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart and Chilton Price) [Performed by Jo Stafford]
A FOOL SUCH AS ME (uncredited) (Written by Bill Trader) [Performed by Hank Snow]
PLEASE MR. SUN (uncredited) (Written by S. Frank and R. Getzov) [Performed by Johnnie Ray]
SOLITAIRE (uncredited) (Written by R. Borek, C. Nutter and K. Guion) [Performed by Tony Bennett]
THE THING (uncredited) (Written by Charles Randolph Grean) [Performed by Phil Harris]
WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME (Like You Used to Do)? (uncredited) (Written by Hank Williams) [Performed by Hank Williams]
HALF AS MUCH (uncredited) (Written by Curly Williams) [Performed by Hank Williams]
SILENT NIGHT (uncredited) (Written by Franz Xaver Gruber and Joseph Mohr) [Performed by the band at the Christmas dance]
TEXAS, OUR TEXAS (uncredited) (Written by William J. Marsh) [Performed by the students at the graduation ceremony]
THE WASHINGTON POST (uncredited) (Written by John Philip Sousa) [Performed by the band at the football game]
WHEEL OF FORTUNE (uncredited) (Written by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss) [Performed by Kay Starr]
LOVESICK BLUES (uncredited) (Written by Cliff Friend and Irving Mills) [Performed by Hank Williams]
I CAN’T HELP IT (If I'm Still in Love with You) (uncredited) (Written by Hank Williams) [Performed by Hank Williams]
KWA-LIGA (uncredited) (Written by Hank Williams and Fred Rose) [Performed by Hank Williams]
WILD SIDE OF LIFE (uncredited) (Written by Arlie Carterand William Farren) [Performed by Hank Thompson]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Columbia Pictures and SONY Pictures presents us the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ with a wonderful and beautiful Black-and-White 1080p image and is of course shown with a 1.65:1 aspect ratio and sourced from the 4K master, is an absolute delight. The picture looks astonishing. The filmic veneer is beautiful. Grain is consistent in depth and density. It is very flattering and faithful to the film source perfection. There is zero evidence of unwarranted scrubbing or grain reduction. Details are incredibly crisp and lifelike, revealing facial textures, clothing lines, and a myriad of location and environmental details with screen commanding ease and efficiency. It's rather remarkable just how much complexity and purely filmic excellence this one achieves. The grayscale is spectacular as well. The image captures effortless contrast and definition to the midrange spectrum while blacks are deep and whites are impressively bright and crisp. There are no source blemishes or encode problems to report. This couldn't look any better on Blu-ray.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Columbia Pictures and SONY Pictures brings us the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ with a great 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo experience. The audio is nicely rounded and also gives us a good dynamic range and is also very clear, well-modulated sound with no distortion or age-related surface noise, pops, or crackles. Subtleties, such as the delicate chirping of birds and shuffling of feet, are nicely rendered, while sonic sounds like gunfire, thunder, and the slamming of cell doors provide some good audio presentation. Dialogue is clear and images well to the centre, which takes care of the vast majority of the film's audio spectrum. Musical supports don't dazzle or delight, but they do offer solid foundational characteristics for clarity and front side spacing. The track incorporates little sonic touches and details to bring life to the small Texas town, lacking immersion, of course, but doing well to define the space and gently draw the listener into every shot, scene, and sequence. So in my opinion this is a very good effort on the part of Columbia Pictures and SONY Pictures!
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Audio Commentary with Peter Bogdanovich [2019] [1080p] [1.85:1] [126:12] [Audio only] With this featurette, we get to hear the personal audio commentary with director/screenwriter Peter Bogdanovich and here he introduces himself, and informs us that he directed the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ and also co-wrote the script and is going to sit with us and talk to us about the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ and watch it together with us and also says that he wanted to put the film credits at the end of the picture and says that it was based on his affection for Susan Caine who put all the credits at the end of the picture and the slow pan of the town at the start of the film sort of echoes at the end of the film where they pan back to the closed cinema, so the picture has a beginning and an end the same way. Peter Bogdanovich points out that it is a real town of Archers City in Texas, which is 25 miles [40.2336 kms] from Wichita Falls. Peter Bogdanovich says he set up the fact that Timothy Bottoms radio in his truck we get to hear the song being heard and did not want any composed film score. The saloon we see Timothy Bottoms pulls up to is called Sam’s Place and they filmed it just before it was pulled down and was the real deal, but equally ancient, and there we meet Ben Johnson who plays the character Sam the Lion. When you hear the radio in in the saloon, Peter Bogdanovich informs us that he is the DJ on the radio and loved doing it. When jeff Bridges appears, we are informed it was his first big part in a film and thinks he was the best actor her ever worked with. We then get to see the landscape outside the town and comments it is so desolate and the black-and-white film enhanced the landscape. We then see the only cinema in town and the interior was shot in another cinema location and the interior of this real cinema had caught fire and was very badly damaged. When we see Timothy Bottoms with the young lady in his truck and she takes off her top to expose her bare breasts, and her actual real family not very very pleased with that scene and they really told off her daughter how disgusted they were with that scene. With Timothy Bottoms in the Café scene, was not in the original release of the film and of course was in the re-release of the film where he talks about his father, because originally they insisted Peter Bogdanovich release the film under two hours, because the critics wanted to know where the young man lived, and where the parents were. Next we are in the classroom with the students and you see they were trying to secretly passing the paper book “I, the Jury” to the other students because the male teenager students was their favourite hot book as it mentions a sex scene at the end of the novel and the teacher in the film was John Hillerman and it was his first major film appearance and was from Texas, but eventually went onto other top box movies, but made his biggest success in the TV series “Magnum P.I” with Tom Seleck, and behind the teacher is the balckboard and written on it in white chalk is November 14, 1952, so to make folks pay attention when the film was set in. Peter Bogdanovich informs us that most of the film they use wild angled lenses and feels they did not make the actors look good, but one bonus is that it had a tremendous depth of field. When you see Cybil Shepherd talking to Ellen Burstyn who plays her mother in the bedroom we are informed that Cybil Shepherd was about 19 or 20 years old and felt the actress look very glamorous in this film. When you see all the TV shows or hearing the records played on the radio, they had to pay the rights to have them included in the film, and were all hits in the 1950’s era, and says it did not cost a lot of money to have those songs included in the film. Next we move on to the naked pool scene and Peter Bogdanovich says it was a very controversial scene in the film and was filmed in a private house in Wichita Falls and when they are all together and ready to shoot the scene, they then all took their clothes off and they had a great time, and Peter Bogdanovich says while shooting the naked pool party, he kept starring at the ceiling because he was very embarrassed. When Cybil Shepherd had to take off all of her clothes, everyone had to leave and all was left was the director, director of photography, camera operator and the sound man and they were also all really naked as well in the scene they were in and we were informed that Cybil Shepherd was completely nervous taking all of her clothes off, and Peter Bogdanovich says the actor Steve McQueen watched that part of the film and loved all what he saw, but other people were shocked by the whole naked pool party, especially seeing Cybil Shepherd naked, because they had seen her picture on the cover of the GLAMOUR magazine and Cybil Shepherd would never do such a thing taking all of her clothes off, but Peter Bogdanovich felt very nervous for Cybil Shepherd doing the naked pool party scene in the film. When we see Timothy Bottoms and Cloris Leachman in the intimate bedroom scene together where we watch them taking off their clothes, Peter Bogdanovich says, a particular funny thing happened when ABC Television showed the film only once and got a huge audience rating and the problem was how to deal with the this very sensitive scene, and Peter Bogdanovich decided that two actors did not take off their clothes and instead they would get into bed and then take off the last of their clothing underneath the bed cover and sheet, which he felt was the natural way to shoot that scene and the television version of the film was very funny and never happened again, and let them get to the very intimate scene and cut to the commercial break and keep the film running and that is what ABC Television did, but they got 3,000 letters protesting about that particular incident, and when the commercial break finished the next scene viewers saw was Timothy Bottoms ending what intimate thing he was doing with Cloris Leachman and actually won an Oscar® for her part in the film. When we see Jeff bridges enters into the Cactus Motel room where Cybil Shepherd is waiting for him in a night dress to be made love by Jeff Bridges and was a very complicated scene to shoot and when Jeff Bridges lays Cybil Shepherd onto the bed, you see Jeff Bridges frantically taking off his clothes, and Peter Bogdanovich felt Cybil Shepherd was very funny in that scene, and for some unknown reason Jeff Bridges frantic response to make love to Cybil Shepherd and is unfortunately let down by something that happens to the male specious and Cybil Shepherd says, “I don’t like to be tickled” and then says, “Go ahead and do it and what is the matter with you,” and of course Jeff Bridges response is he does not understand what is happening with his libido and Cybil Shepherd gets really mad, because she no longer wants to be a virgin, and when Jeff bridges comes out of the motel, there were a load of girls looking at him and it got a big laugh from the audiences in the cinema, and two of the girls come into the room of the hotel where Cybil Shepherd is on the bed and the two girls ask her what it was like and Cybil Shepherd replies back to them and says, “I just can’t describe it, I just can’t describe it in words,” and Peter Bogdanovich though personally that was such prophetic words and made me laugh out loud. When we see the scene where Cybil Shepherd is driving the car with Timothy Bottoms as the passenger, and it was extremely cold shooting these scenes with the close-ups of the two people in the car and getting near the end of that year. They took 10 week and 60 days to shoot the film in Archer City they all stayed in Wichita Falls which is about 25 minutes from Archer City, because there were no rooms available in Archer City, Cybil Shepherd and Timothy Bottoms were going to get married without the parents’ consent and you see the police stop their car and Cybil Shepherd’s character was pleased, as she had changed her mind, but does bit tell Timothy Bottoms’s character and so you see them following the police car back to Archer City, and the Oklahoma Patrolman actor, who stops them, Peter Bogdanovich says that he found that particular actor really good and he was used again as a Sherriff’s Deputy in the film ‘Paper Moon’ that Peter Bogdanovich directed, and when confronted by Cybil Shepherd’s angry parents, that is the last time we see the actress Cybil Shepherd in the film. When we see Jeff Bridges all in his uniform as he is going off to fight in Korea and Timothy Bottom’s slightly awkward, as it is a long time since Jeff Bridges character smashed a bottle in the face of Timothy Bottom’s character and for the final time, Timothy Bottom’s character offers to see the film ‘Red River,’ as the cinema is showing that film for the last time, as it is closing down, and Peter Bogdanovich says that is where he got the idea to call the picture ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW,’ and Peter Bogdanovich had to get permission from John Wayne and Howard Hawks to be allowed to have a clip of the film ‘Red River’ shown in the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.’ As we are nearing the end of the film, we see Timothy Bottoms arriving outside Cloris Leachman’s home and is a long time since Timothy Bottoms had that particular sex scene with the actress, because he thought he was going to marry Cybil Shepherd, and of course Timothy Bottoms is slightly embarrassed to have not seen this actress in a very long time and basically is sort of apologising for ignoring the actress, and we are about to witness a very dramatic and angry scene with Cloris Leachman against Timothy Bottoms and when the two actors come face to face, Peter Bogdanovich thought this was a really dramatic and emotional scene between these two actors, and when they sit down at the table, this is when Cloris Leachman goes into a massive angry moment against Timothy Bottom’s character and throws all the cups and saucers and the coffee pot at the kitchen wall and Peter Bogdanovich tells Cloris Leachman because of this very dramatic scene, the actress would win an Oscar® for her performance and Cloris Leachman actually won an Oscar® and also Cloris Leachman was totally shaken and could hardly breath in being so angry against Timothy Bottoms and of course it was a totally brilliant scene and also very dramatic and you feel the emotional anger towards Timothy Bottoms and eventually puts his hands on Cloris Leachman hands to emotionally say sorry for being so selfish towards her, and eventually Cloris Leachman responds emotionally towards Timothy Bottoms and his kindness and tenderness towards Cloris Leachman, and Peter Bogdanovich felt the actress Cloris Leachman played the scene brilliantly, and mentions we come to the last line in the picture where Cloris Leachman says, “Never you mind, never you mind,” and these words are actually said in the last line in the book, and in that scene in the film, they do a long dissolve into the desolate street of Archer City and Peter Bogdanovich felt it was very effective put together and of course ends like the scene at the start of the film where they pan the full length of the street and the buildings and of course with the last shot of the buildings, everything is closed and empty and again totally deserted of literally no one, as people were leaving Archer City, and Peter Bogdanovich felt it was such a sad ending to the picture and a very moving end to the film and was moved to tears to himself and of course he decided reprise the main cast of actors at the end of the film, and with scenes from the film and the actors name with their character’s name to not make the end of the film a tragic ending, and for the audiences to blow their noses and recover from the film and most of the audiences were moved to tears, and also mentions that some of the actors after this picture, went onto have a good acting career and felt we had so good luck with the picture and Peter Bogdanovich finally says, “It was a pleasure talking to you and I hope you enjoyed the picture and see you later.” At that point the very personal Peter Bogdanovich audio commentary for the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ finishes, and for me personally it was a totally fascinating how the director Peter Bogdanovich informed us how he wanted to direct the film and especially all of his in-depth information on how he wanted each shot to be filmed and also a lot of very interesting background information about the film and it was very enjoyable experience, but because it was a film over two hours long, I have only been able to give you the best highlights of this totally brilliant audio commentary and I hope I have given you a flavour of what I have heard with the director Peter Bogdanovich audio commentary and I can definitely give this audio commentary a top five star rating.
Special Feature: A Discussion with Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich [2009] [1080p] [1.78:1] [12:51] With this featurette, and as we view this featurette, we get headlines and the first one says, Who was Peter Bogdanovich when he was making ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ and then we meet the director and starts to inform us what the question was asked, and starts to inform us what been asked about the film he directed and tells about his early career as a director and mentions the film ‘Targets’ he made and also published a couple of books, and was known in the film world for other film stuff, but with the books he did a subject on Alfred Hitchcock, Howard hawks and Orson Welles, and also did some writings for the Esquire publication for about 10 years, that also brought him a lot of attention in the Underground Art Movement, but says the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ changed all that. The next headline we get to view says, Did You Always Wanted To Direct? Peter Bogdanovich informs us that he started out as an actor when he was 15 years of age and did acting mainly in theatre and some live TV in New York and thought acting was going to be his future career, but at a certain point in his career at the age of 20, he directed his first play in New York and there he then decided that directing is the career he wanted to pursue, as opposed to acting, and directing now dominated his lifes ambition. The next head line says, What Did You Learn From The Directors You Knew And Admired? And says he learnt a great deal from other well know directors, like Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock, as well as Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger, and also John Ford. Another thing Peter Bogdanovich learnt is to cut in camera, just shoot what you need in a scene, don’t shoot a scene more that you need, so prepare the scene you want to shoot by writing it down on a piece of paper before you shoot the scene, on top of all that, Howard Hawks told him, “Always cut on a move, then nobody will see the cut,” and that sort of line and advice resonated for Peter Bogdanovich throughout his directing career, The next headline says, How Did You Decide To Make ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ and informs us that the film came out of nowhere, but was distracted when the director Don Segal recommended him to direct a film from the 1968 novel “The Looters” written by novelist John Reese and did get round to writing a screenplay and wanted to make a genre film of the novel, but then his friend the actor Sal Mineo gave him the novel “The Last Picture Show” and Sal Mineo always wanted to make the movie, but was now too old, and Peter Bogdanovich read the novel and found it very interesting, but had no idea how to direct the picture, or even a master plan, but in the meantime started doing other projects which he likes to pursue, but when he did get round to directing ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ found the experience really good and especially showing the sex scenes and especially the nudity, which had not been done before. The next headline says, How Did You Approach Casting? And says casting iv very critical, and that is what it is all about, and tends to follow his instincts, and has made some mistakes, here and there, and he has fortunately found people like Cybil Shepherd, Ellen Burstyn, Timothy Bottom and Jeff Bridges, as well as Cloris Leachman, and none of the actors had big parts in the film and that was the idea of casting these actors for the film, in not have any big names and the picture did not cost a lot of money. The next headline says, Why Was ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ Shot Entirely On Location? and Peter Bogdanovich says he did not want to shoot the film in a studio setting, and was influenced to a degree by Otto Preminger and his film ‘Anatomy Of A Murder’ which was shot entirely on location and had a gritty type of feeling and shooting a film on location, you get some kind of atmosphere and the actors bond, especially with the setting in a very Hicksville type of location compared to some big metropolitan environment, and found the setting of the film totally ideal in the film he wanted to make. Next headline says, What Is Peter Bogdanovich Like When He Is Directing? and Peter Bogdanovich feels he gets more focused when directing a film and he also feels he is being very creative and especially doing it on a daily basis, and especially when directing a movie, and feels in a better mood and also feels it is a great deal of fun to be around, also when on the set, the actors are not very quiet, and I don’t tell people to be quiet or stop talking, and it is not that kind of set, but Peter Bogdanovich like to tell a lot of jokes and tries to keep it a lively atmosphere on set and keep it fun, even with a dramatic scene he is about to shoot, but generally he likes to keep the atmosphere fun for the actors. Next headline says, What Is Your Favourite Part Of The Filmmaking Process? and Peter Bogdanovich says to be honest my favourite part of making a movie is the actual shooting of the movie, and pre-production is essential, but finds it not that exciting to process, and finds it a bit of a grind, also editing the film is the least interesting aspect of filmmaking, because I have already edited the film when I am directing, because previous films he has directed like ‘What’s Up Doc?’ and ‘Paper Moon’ where we showed those films to the studio executives three weeks after finishing those films, so that means we were cutting while shooting those films, and feels very creative on the set while shooting the film. The next heading says, In Your Opinion, Is A Film Ever Finished? and Peter Bogdanovich says that his father was a painter by profession and always said, “No painting is finished” and Robert Graves also said, “No poem is ever perfect,” so that is probably true, and feels to be the decision when I am on the set when directing a film. Frank Capra said to Peter Bogdanovich in the past, “The most important thing about being a director, is to make a decision,” and also said, “It doesn’t matter if it is right or wrong, because 50% of the time it is wrong.” Then sometimes when Peter Bogdanovich walks onto the set and says, “What are we going to do today,” but it is always a joke, I just like sometime to fool around. The next heading says, Should Reviews Be Important To The Filmmaking Process? and of course Peter Bogdanovich says you can’t ignore reviews, and I try not to read them, and I have an assistant who I ask to read all the reviews and to just read out the good ones, because he does not like to read negative comments, unfortunately early on in his career, he did read everything and it was far too exhausting and far too depressing, and Orson Welles would say, “You always remember all the bad reviews and never remember the good reviews,” and Peter Bogdanovich feels the bad review always sticks with you, and I try to not let them get to me if I can. The next heading says, Is ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ Your Favourite Film You’ve Made? and Peter Bogdanovich says that it was the first film of mine that really connected to me and especially a big movie audience and he was thrilled with that and still seems to work with audiences and does not seem to have dated with yellow antiquity and still seems to be fresh, but it is not my most favourite movie of mine, but it certainly became an iconic film of mine and I didn’t think that way when we were making the film, so the reaction to the film, is that people came up to him and they really said they really loved the film and certain scenes in the film and it is very highly regarded to them, and has been life altering experiencing to then personally, on so many, many levels, but says that at the time it destroyed my private life, because my father died while making the film, but it created a career for himself, and it was an epic making film for himself, but also has a warm spot in my heart for myself and at that point this personal interview finishes and I personally found it totally fascinating and very interesting hearing director Peter Bogdanovich revealing such intimate and personal details about his life and his times as a director especially, and it is a definite must watch featurette.
Special Feature: ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ – A Look Back Documentary [1999] [480i] [1.37:1] [64:40] With this featurette, we get to hear from Peter Bogdanovich [Director/Screenplay] and say, that he was in a particular Drug Store buying some toothpaste, and I happen to look at the rack of paperbacks and happen to be looking at what they were selling and there was this particular paperback of Larry McMurtry’s “The Last Picture Show” and personally thought that it was a very interesting title, and got hold of the book and looked at the back of the paperback, and it said “Set in small town Texas it tells the story of a group of teenagers there growing up as they contend with all the usual problems faced with adolescence and the threat of adulthood looming large. With an eye for detail, it focuses on the seemingly mundane in this small and sleepy town, as it revolves around a central group examining their lives and their loves. Whilst there may already be a cast number of coming of age stories, this acted as a precursor to many with its frank and realistic depictions of teenagers talking and dealing with issues such as sex and hormones.” Then a couple of months later actor and friend Sal Mineo gave me a copy of the book and says you ought to read and also said he always wanted to appear in that film if it was ever made, but now feels he is a little too old for a character in the film, but still feels it would make a great movie, and so Peter Bogdanovich looked at it again later on, but before that the book sat by his bedside for quite a while and then asked his wife instead to read the book and his wife did read it, but said I have no idea how you are going to make the movie, but it is a really good book, and that is the beginning of my long journey to make the picture. Peter Bogdanovich says that writing the screenplay which was not a problem, instead he had to keep reading the book and deciding what parts of the book to put in the movie, because the basic construction of the book and directing the movie was one year away from one American football season to another season, in the light of this small Hicksville town in Texas and that was the basic construction of the book. One aspect of the book was about the teacher, and there was a good deal about a preachers son and there were other characters he took out of the book, and it was a question what were we going to keep, and then he added a few extra stuff that was not in the original book, like the graduation and graduating from High School of the pupils. Peter Bogdanovich wrote one scene in the screenplay with Sonny Crawford and his father and it was based on something he had observed between Jerry Lewis and his father. All the basic dialogue was basically written in the book, and they tried other stuff from scratch, but Peter Bogdanovich said that what was written in the book was much better. The book was not very precise of the period it was set in the book, and with his collaborator with the screenplay, they decided it would be set in November 1951 until October 1952 and so of course the music and the songs were chosen for that period the film was set, and Peter Bogdanovich also decided that he would not get someone to compose the film score, but to use popular song titles in 1951 to 1952 that were very popular in America in that period of time. Peter Bogdanovich happen to be in a supermarket and saw the magazine GLAMOUR and had a picture of Cybill Shepherd and was intrigued and found out if she was a model, and felt Cybill Shepherd would be ideal to the character of Jacy Farrow and asked people to find out about Cybill Shepherd and where this young lady lived, and when Peter Bogdanovich was in New York and asked Cybill Shepherd to come and have an interview and Cybill Shepherd came with her manager and Peter Bogdanovich liked the clothes Cybill Shepherd was wearing and Cybill Shepherd told Peter Bogdanovich that she was very interested to go to college, but also liked the script and found the part of her character very interesting. So after an extensive interview, Peter Bogdanovich flew back to California and informed people he wanted Cybill Shepherd in his film, but they said to him, “How do you know she can act,” and replied back that he thought Cybill Shepherd can act. Peter Bogdanovich was also keen to have the actor Ben Johnson to play the part of Sam the Lion as another actor was suggested for the part, but Peter Bogdanovich was insistent on having Ben Johnson for the part, but Ben Johnson was reluctant to say certain words in the script, especially all the really “dirty” words, but after some blackmail persuasion, convinced Ben Johnson to be in the film, and he was nominated for an Oscar in that film. Peter Bogdanovich was very keen to have Timothy Bottom, Jeff Bridges, Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman in the film and Peter Bogdanovich was even keener to have two actresses to be in the film, because they did a wonderful reading of their parts in the film. Another person that Peter Bogdanovich was keen be part of his team was Frank marshall who was also a filmmaker and worked with Peter Bogdanovich on his film ‘Targets’ in 1967. Peter Bogdanovich comments on the actual location for the film and it was called Archer City in Texas where the author Larry McMutry of “The Last Picture Show” wrote about it set in a small, dusty Texas town. One thing Frank Marshall says that the people in Archer City in Texas were not very keen for all the movie people making the film there and exposing all their little “dirty secrets” and affairs. But Peter Bogdanovich was really keen to do the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ in black-and-white and something Orson Welles suggested to him and at first he thought people would not allow him to make the film in black-and-white and when he spoke to Orson Welles so the reason why he wanted to make the film in black-and-white and also told him that if you film the film in colour you will not achieve the effect you want to the film to look and when Peter Bogdanovich spoke to an executive about filming in black-and-white and wanted to know his reason not to film in black-and-white, and felt the period of the film that is set in the 1950’s period would be totally perfect and the performances of the actors would benefit being shot in black-and-white and after a week, the studio gave Peter Bogdanovich 100% approval to make the film in black-and-white, so Orson Welles was also 100% right. But there is one thing we find out, is that the crew hated Peter Bogdanovich as the director, because the director only eat with the actors and of course the director could not care less about their anger, because the director was 100% focused on the actors. They talk about the nude party scene and they found a private pool in Witchita Falls and built large scenery around the private pool and Cybill Shepherd was a bit reluctant and had a short document drawn up that no private photos would be taken or published anywhere and so they agreed to the document and that is how Cybill Shepherd agreed to be filmed naked, but unknown to Cybill Shepherd she found out that certain naked photos ended up in the Playboy publication and was also very angry with the scene of the funeral, because it was very poignant, because while Peter Bogdanovich was directing the film, the very sad news that his father had died and had to fly to Phoenix and attend the funeral, and then had to fly back to carry on directing the film and of course had to get on with the job, and despite feeling very depressed at what had happened that time in his life. Peter Bogdanovich says the part of ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ where Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottoms goes to see the last film to be shown in the cinema, because it was closing down because of the lack of people left in the town and it was a John Wayne cowboy film ‘Red River’ and of course it is nearly at the end of the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ itself ends. Peter Bogdanovich says that there were two scenes in the picture that he felt was very moving and the first one was where Cloris Leachman loses her temper with Timothy Bottoms, where she throws all the china at the wall and smashes them all to pieces, and the other moving scene in the film was where Timothy Bottoms has to pick up the young boy’s dead body where the older men are just standing around and looking at the dead body on the road and of course Timothy Bottoms has to move the dead body and you can see the actor is very emotionally upset and Peter Bogdanovich wanted this scene to be done in a one long take and have no mistakes, because it would be like filming a bridge being blown up and refers to the scene in the film ‘The Bridge On The River Kwai,’ because you can only do that scene once. Peter Bogdanovich says that the whole of the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ was edited solely by himself late into the night, as he knew where to edit the scenes, and felt he had done a really perfect job, which took over six months, and for some unknown reason did not want the edit credit to Peter Bogdanovich in the film and the Film Guild said he had to have his name in the film credits, so instead did a favour for Donn Cambern who did the optical dissolves in the film, and that is why you see his name in the film credits as the editor. On top of all that, the actual length of this filmed featurette was 2 hours and 25 minutes and the executives said this film featurette had to be exactly 2 hours in length and Peter Bogdanovich was not very happy about this situation, but they came to a compromise and edited it to just over 126 minutes, and Peter Bogdanovich was proved 100% right, as it was announced in the Newsweek magazine that ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ is “One Of The Year’s Best” by 14 leading U.S. Film Critics. It also got Eight Accademy Award Nominations for that year’s Oscar® ceremony. Another lovely thing about this special featurette, is that we get to view lots of clips from the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.’
Contributors: Peter Bogdanovich [Director/Screenplay], Eileen Brennan, Jeff Bridges, Ellen Burstyn, Cloris Leachman, Frank Marahall and Cybill Shepherd
Director: Laurent Bouzereau
Producer: Laurent Bouzereau
Screenplay: Laurent Bouzereau
Music: Michael Clemens
Cinematography: Michael Clemens
Special Feature: Theatrical Re-Release Featurette [1999] [480i] [1.37:1] [6:03] With this featurette, Peter Bogdanovich talks in-depth about the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ and especially why he wanted it to film it in black-and-white and also talks a lot of information about the making of the film, that you of course would of read in the previous featurette.
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DVD Special Features and Extras:
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW [1971] [1080i] [1.85:1] [121:09] ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ That Introduced America To The Forgotten 1950’s!
Special Feature: ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ – A Look Back Documentary [1999] [480i] [1.37:1] [64:40] With this featurette, we get to view the same documentary that is featured on the Blu-ray disc.
Special Feature: Theatrical Re-Release Featurette [1999] [480i] [1.37:1] [6:03] With this featurette, we get to view the same documentary that is featured on the Blu-ray disc.
Special Feature: Bonus Trailers: With this featurette, we get to view three Original Theatrical Trailers and they are as follows:
‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ [1971] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:54]
‘Starman’ [1984] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:10]
‘Chances Are’ [1989] [1080i] [1.37:1] [1:55]
Special Feature: Filmographies: With this featurette, we get a lot of in-depth information about people connected to ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ and they are as follows:
Peter Bogdanovich [Director] Here we get a list of films that Peter Bogdanovich has directed and they include: ‘A Saintly Switch’ [1999]; ‘The Price of Heaven’ [1997]; ‘Noises Off. . . [1992]; ‘Texasville’ [1990]; ‘Illegally Yours’ [1988]; ‘Mask’ [1985]; ‘They All Laughed’ [1981]; ‘Saint Jack’ [1979]; ‘Nickelodeon’ [1976]; ‘At Long Last Love’ [1975]; ‘Daisy Miller’ [1974]’ ‘Paper Moon’ [1973]; ‘What’s Up Doc’ [1972]; ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ [1971] and ‘Targets’ [1968].
Timothy Bottoms [Sonny Crawford] Here we get a list of films the actor Timothy Bottoms has appeared in and they include: ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ [1998]; ‘Uncle Sam’ [1996]; ‘Top Dog’ [1995]; ‘Texasville’ [1990]; ‘Return from the River Kwai’ [1989]; ‘Invaders from Mars’ [1986]; ‘ Hambone and Hillie’ [1983] ‘Hurricane’ [1979]; ‘The Other Side of the Mountain: Part II’ [1978]; ‘Rollercoaster’ [1977]; ‘A Small Town in Texas’ [1976]; ‘The White Dawn’ [1974]; ‘The Paper Chase’ [1973]; ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ [1971] and ‘Johnny Got His Gun’ [1971].
Jeff Bridges [Duane Jackson] Here we get a list of films the actor Jeff Bridges has appeared in and they include: ‘Arlington Road’ [1999]; ‘The Big Lebowski’ [1998]; ‘The Mirror Has Two Faces’ [1996]; ‘Blown Away’ [1994]; ‘Fearless’ [1993]; ‘The Fisher King’ [1991]; ‘Texasville’ [1990]; ‘The Fabulous Baker Boys’ [1989]; ‘Tucker: The Man and His Dream’ [1988]; ‘8 Million Ways to Die’ [1986]; ‘Jagged Edge’ [1985]; ‘Against All Odds’ [1984]; ‘Starman’ [1984]; ‘Heaven's Gate’ [1980]; ‘Hearts of the West’ [1975]; ‘Thunderbolt and Lightfoot’ [1974] and ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ [1971].
Ellen Burstyn [Lois Farrow] Here we get a list of films the actress Ellen Burstyn has appeared in and they include: ‘The Yards’ [2000]; ‘The Spitfire Grill’ [1996]; ‘How to Make an American Quilt’ [1995]; ‘The Baby-Sitters Club’ [1995]; ‘The Cemetery Club’ [1993]; ‘Dying Young’ [1991]; ‘Silence of the North’ [1981]; ‘Resurrection’ [1980]; ‘Same Time, Next Year’ [1978]; ‘Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore’ [1974]; ‘Harry and Tonto’ [1974]; ‘The Exorcist’ [1973]; ‘The King of Marvin Gardens’ [1972]; ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ [1971] and ‘Tropic of Cancer’ [1970].
Ben Johnson [Sam the Lion] Here we get a list of films the actor Ben Johnson has appeared in and they include: ‘Cherry 2000’ [1987]; ‘Breakheart Pass’ [1975]; ‘Bite the Bullet’ [1975]; ‘The Sugarland Express’ [1974]; ‘Dillinger’ [1973]; ‘The Getaway’ [1972]; ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ [1971]; ‘The Wild Bunch’ [1969]; ‘Major Dundee’ [1965]; ‘One-Eyed Jacks’ [1961]; ‘Shane’ [1953]; ‘Rio Grande’ [1950]; ‘Wagon Master’ [1950]; ‘She Wore a Yellow Ribbon’ [1949] and ‘Mighty Joe Young’ [1949].
Cloris Leachman [Ruth Popper] Here we get a list of films the actress Cloris Leachman has appeared in and they include: ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ [1993]; ‘History of the World: Part I’ [1981]; ‘S.O.S. Titanic’ [1980]; ‘The Muppet Movie’ [1979]; ‘High Anxiety’ [1977]; ‘Young Frankenstein’ [1974] and ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ [1971].
Cybill Shepherd [Jacy Farrow] Here we get a list of films the actress Cybill Shepherd has appeared in and they include: ‘Once Upon a Crime’ [1992]; ‘Texasville’ [1990]; ‘Alice’ [1990]; ‘Chances Are’ [1989]; ‘The Return’ [1980]; ‘The Lady Vanishes’ [1979]; ‘Silver Bears’ [1977]; ‘Special Delivery’ [1976]; ‘Taxi Driver’ [1976]; ‘At Long Last Love’ [1975]; ‘Daisy Miller’ [1974]; ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ [1972] and ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ [1971].
Please Note: Playback PAL DVD: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
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BONUS: Four beautiful black-and-white 5” by 7” Limited Edition Art Cards related to the film ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.’
Finally, it's easy to forget that ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ [1971] was filmed in 1971, not 1951. Set design and strong direction help the illusion, but no move on Peter Bogdanovich's part was more critical than the decision to shoot the movie in black-and-white. That one simple stylistic decision transforms the film. With the exception of the nudity (which the Hays Code would have banned from a 1950’s production), it doesn't require much of stretch to believe that ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ is a contemporary drama made in 1951 about characters living in a rural Texas town during that year. Viewers in 1971 were transported back two decades. Viewers in 2006 are taken back five and one-half decades and modern viewers are taken back even further from reality. The year 1971 in which the movie is seen is irrelevant; once the film starts, the time is 1951. Lovers of dramas featuring richly developed characters and impeccably crafted settings will most appreciate what ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ has to offer. It's a slow, thoughtful piece with great emotional resonance but not a lot of plot. It's a little sad to consider that this was the director's Citizen Kane – a movie he would forever try without success to equal. The tale of Peter Bogdanovich's life, from the highs of ‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’ and ‘Paper Moon’ to the low of lover Dorothy Stratton's murder, would make for lurid, tragic cinema. During his later years, all Peter Bogdonavich had to offer were occasional appearances on the TV series “The Sopranos” but in 1971 he gave us one of the most accomplished views ever of a slice of America that otherwise would have been lost in the mists of time. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
