(Peter Bogdanovich, US 1971, 118 min.)

New Dryden. “Anarene, Texas, 1951: Nothing much has changed.” Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges anchor a formidable cast as a pair of high school seniors struggling to come of age in small-town Texas amidst sexual confusion, adult betrayal, and an ever-increasing loss of innocence. Shot in luminous black and white and starring John Ford regular Ben Johnson as the movie theater-owning town elder “Sam the Lion,” The Last Picture Show announced Bogdanovich as one of the premier directors of his generation, as intent on moving the art forward as he was devoted to honoring its past.

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