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The Last Picture Show

Play trailer Poster for The Last Picture Show R 1971 1h 58m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
98% Tomatometer 115 Reviews 89% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
High school seniors and best friends, Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges), live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating local beauty, Jacy (Cybill Shepherd), while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife, Ruth (Cloris Leachman). As graduation nears, both boys contemplate their futures. While Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business, each boy struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.

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The Last Picture Show

The Last Picture Show

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Critics Consensus

Making excellent use of its period and setting, Peter Bogdanovich's small town coming-of-age story is a sad but moving classic filled with impressive performances.

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Critics Reviews

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Paul D. Zimmerman Newsweek 10/26/2023
The Last Picture Show is a masterpiece. It is not merely the best American movie of a rather dreary year; it is the most impressive work by a young American director since Citizen Kane. Go to Full Review Elston Brooks Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com 10/26/2023
Clearly, the outstanding performance comes from Cloris Leachman, as the dowdy, pathetic coach's wife, who will settle for love -- any kind of love... She is tremendous, and totally unforgettable. Go to Full Review Jan Dawson Sight & Sound 10/26/2023
Bogdanovich, keeping his audience in a suspended state of compassionate amusement, illuminates boredom from within and without and makes it entertaining. Go to Full Review Kathy Fennessy Video Librarian Magazine 04/17/2024
4.5/5
If the sequel is a mixed success, The Last Picture Show, particularly in this restored version, holds up like gangbusters. It's truly one of the finest films ever made about small-town America. Go to Full Review Scott Nye Battleship Pretension 11/28/2023
The key arc that all three of its young protagonists – Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), Jacy (Cybill Shepherd), and Duane (Jeff Bridges) – go through is the realization that they have the power to hurt other people. Go to Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy 11/19/2023
4/4
An American classic in every sense. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Lorenz L @Lorenz1060 20h Watching this in 2026, I can’t remember having ever seen it, maybe because nothing happens in the two-hour-plus "director’s edition". The music is a grating, non-stop parade of hits from the 1940s/1950s, and way too much Hank Williams. The highly-lauded cinematography is a cipher: Texas is very flat, and there is not much you can do with that in black-and-white for more than 20 minutes. Where it does succeed is lighting its very young trio of stars. Gosh, they were all so young and beautiful … and inexperienced. There is zero chemistry to be found anywhere in this overpopulated experiment, and the jumpy editing and unrelenting close-ups do it no favours. I assume the point of the film was to show the death of small town America, and in that it succeeds within its first 40 minutes, at which point I began checking the clock. After about 90 minutes, the DVD was in the trash can. Did Bogdanovich ever make a truly great film or was he just good when he talked about those made by others? See more Elon Z. @elonziadi May 2 A very good movie in a dead city. See more Bryan M @RT97114384 Apr 24 Great cast, good story about a small town and several kids coming of age. Love that they shot it in Black and White. For me it makes it feel more authentic. but I am a sucker for a good old b&w classic film. See more Ketemama B. @Ketemama Apr 4 It's slow at times, but then some interesting scenes. The real stand outs are Cybill Shepherd (1st acting part) and Ben Johnson. See more Jack F @MovieFan111 Nov 17 Interesting movie. A rare type of movie with edgy content especially for how old it is. Could NEVER be made today. See more Laurian D @Laurian Aug 26 I can tell this is a good movie but this kind of small town portrayal doesn't resonate as much with me as an European as it does with Americans. See more Read all reviews
The Last Picture Show

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Cast & Crew

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Peter Bogdanovich

Director

Timothy Bottoms

Sonny Crawford

Jeff Bridges

Duane Jackson

Cybill Shepherd

Jacy Farrow

Ben Johnson

Sam the Lion

Cloris Leachman

Ruth Popper

Movie Clips

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The Last Picture Show

The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Never You Mind, Honey The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Never You Mind, Honey 2:13 The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Broken Bottle The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Broken Bottle 2:11 The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - The Death of Sam the Lion The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - The Death of Sam the Lion 2:03 The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Going to Mexico The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Going to Mexico 2:06 The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Jacy the Virgin The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Jacy the Virgin 2:12 The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Sam the Lion The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Sam the Lion 2:09 The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - School Spirit The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - School Spirit 2:00 The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Billy's Bloody Nose The Last Picture Show: Official Clip - Billy's Bloody Nose 2:00 View more videos

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The Last Picture Show

A scene from the Columbia Pictures release "The Last Picture Show." A scene from the Columbia Pictures release "The Last Picture Show." A scene from the Columbia Pictures release "The Last Picture Show." A scene from the Columbia Pictures release "The Last Picture Show." A scene from the Columbia Pictures release "The Last Picture Show." A scene from the Columbia Pictures release "The Last Picture Show." A scene from the Columbia Pictures release "The Last Picture Show." A scene from the Columbia Pictures release "The Last Picture Show." A scene from the Columbia Pictures release "The Last Picture Show." A scene from the Columbia Pictures release "The Last Picture Show." View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis High school seniors and best friends, Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges), live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating local beauty, Jacy (Cybill Shepherd), while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife, Ruth (Cloris Leachman). As graduation nears, both boys contemplate their futures. While Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business, each boy struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.
Director
Peter Bogdanovich
Producer
Stephen Friedman
Screenwriter
Peter Bogdanovich, Larry McMurtry, Larry McMurtry
Distributor
Columbia Pictures
Production Co
BBS Productions, Columbia Pictures
Rating
R (Nudity|Language|Sexuality)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 1, 1971, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
May 25, 2010
Runtime
1h 58m
Sound Mix
Mono