THE LAST PICTURE SHOW

Original Review from 1998:

1972, 125 minutes, B&W
CAV, Digital Mono, 3 discs
1:85:1, Unrated
The Criterion Collection, $125
Manufactured by DADC USA.

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW starts out as a sort of goofy coming of age film, but somewhere along the way it changes into a film about the loss of innocence, and the pain of "growing up". The story is constructed so that you could also make a case that it is also about the loss of innocence for America as well.  The young characters we meet represent innocence in the same way that the small town represents traditional ways of life in America.  This old fashioned way of life is itself changing, and is only now reaching the town. The film was directed by Peter Bogdanovich and stars Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybil Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, Randy Quaid and Ben Johnson. Leachman and Johnson won Academy Awards, but the film is uncommonly well-acted by all involved. This laserdisc features a commentary track that includes Bogdanovich, Shepherd, Quaid and Leachman.

From a stylistic viewpoint the film owes much to the work of Orson Welles, for like CITIZEN KANE the film is photographed with a deep depth of field, and like THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, there are numerous long dialog scenes that are presented in one take. In fact, the emotional starkness of LAST PICTURE SHOW most closely mirrors the penultimate scene in AMBERSONS involving Agnes Moorehead talking about the boarding house. PICTURE SHOW is a sad film, but it works on such a high level of artistry it transcends being merely depressing and is, ultimately, heartbreaking.

This is a new version of the film as prepared by director Peter Bogdanovich in 1990. This cut restores seven minutes that were edited out of the original theatrical release at the distributor's insistence. All of the scenes restored provide more insight into the main characters, and are a welcome addition. A rough chronological listing of restored/altered footage follows:

• A scene of Sonny, Jaycee and Duane singing their school song in a car on the way to the drive. It follows the last scene at school and bridges the scene of them at the drive-in eating french fries. It is an important scene because it establishes the three leads as being close friends.
• A brief snippet of dialog has been restored to the drive-in scene that identifies the man coming out of the building as Abilene. This was done to make it clearer that he is the man that Jaycee's mother is having the affair with. In the theatrical version, this point is considerably more obscure.
• A brief scene between Ruth and Sonny as he drives her home from the doctor's office. It makes clear that she is not seriously ill, but does not elaborate on her illness specifically.
• According to Bogdanovich, the nude pool scene has been altered, though he does not say how and I was unable to determine a difference.
• The scene where Billy is sent to the town whore has been altered. Several instances of the word "fuck" have been looped out. Bogdanovich claims that he did this because the profainity was excessive.
• After the boys return Billy to Sam's place, and Sam bans them from his businesses, a short scene showing that Duane has snuck out of being in trouble has been restored.
• After Sonny leaves Ruth he drives through the town looking at all the places he can no longer go to. He then parks on the outskirts of town and sits looking sad. The drive-by scenes are all restored, and makes it clearer that Sonny is sad because of his situation with Sam rather than with Ruth.
• A short scene of Sonny and Duane in the diner complaining about how unhappy they are has been restored. It directly precedes their trip to Mexico and shows that they are going to Mexico because they are so unhappy.
• After the funeral, a sequence showing the class trip has been restored. As they drive past the water hole Sonny starts to cry as he remembers Sam. In the originally released film the funeral cut directly to Duane and Jaycee at the Motel. This sequence makes it clear that this is happening on the school trip, which explains why Jaycee's friends are there. A small snippet of the beginning of the motel scene has been restored showing that it is the girls who got the motel room, and not the boys.
• Although Bogdanovich does not note it, he deleted a quick shot of Shepherd's breasts in the motel scene.
• A scene showing the consummation of Jaycee and Abilene's affair has been restored. The sound for the scene was lost, so it had to be relooped by Shepherd while she was filming TEXASVILLE. The scene shows that Jaycee enjoyed the experience, and that she only becomes distraught when Abilene is mean to her as he drops her off.
• Three shots have been added to the scene where the sheriff is told about the possible molestation. The shots simply show everyone leaving the pool hall.
• The scene where Sonny leaves Ruth for Jaycee has been redited. The order of the scenes have been reshuffled so that we see Ruth getting ready for her date with Sonny as he is getting picked up by Jaycee. By the end of the scene, where Jaycee has seduced Sonny, the sequence ends with Ruth back at her house, alone.
• One shot has been replaced at the final football scene, giving us a better shot of the football players.

This new version of the film is greatly improved over the original theatrical release as it leaves less unexplained, and flows more smoothly from scene to scene. Bogdanovich explains in the commentary that the distributor insisted that the film be a certain length and this is the only reason the film was cut to begin with. This new version only enhances what was there to begin and makes no drastic changes. One might quibble about the deletion of some profanity and nudity, but the film isn't really harmed by these deletions.

Bogdanovich does most of the talking on the commentary, and his talk is informative and very specific. He gives the listener a good picture of what it was like to make the and also of his direction methods. The actors are spliced in whenever the film focuses on them; Quaid has little of note to say, but both Leachman and Shepherd and quite enthusiastic about the film and their experience working on it. Original and re-release trailers are also provided. The rest of the extras are limited in scope (and appeal), consisting of location scouting film, lobby cards, and some screen tests, mostly of people that did not make the cast. The most pointless supplemental features are script excerpts for both this film and its sequel, TEXASVILLE. Only a few pages are presented from each, even though there is plenty of room for the complete scripts.

The movie was filmed in black and white by Robert Surtees, and as mentioned above utilizes deep focus throughout. This enhanced clarity serves to highlight the desolation felt by the characters, as the landscapes take on a barren look that constantly frames the people. This Criterion disc replicates the film perfectly, letterboxed to about 1.85:1, with a sharp image and deep, pure blacks. While the letterboxing simply mattes off the top and bottom the framing is nevertheless highly effective. I have not seen the Columbia/Tri-Star version, but since it is not letterboxed this is the disc to have. I am not sure that the film needed to be in CAV, but I am not complaining. The side breaks are not intrusive. The sound is clear and full of old country songs. Surprisingly, this is a DADC America pressing, proving at least to me that they can put out good product.

***

2024 Update:

The film was released by Columbia Home Video on DVD in Criterion ended up releasing the film on Blu-Ray in 2010 (as part of the America Lost and Found collection) and finally UHD in 2023.  In between the film was also released on UHD by Sony Pictures in the Columbia Classics Collection: Volume 3 in 2022.  The Blu-Ray edition was a substantial upgrade from the DVD version, which itself was a substantial upgrade from the laser disc.  

The Sony UHD release includes the original theatrical version as well as the revised director's cut.  To date, this is the only way to get the theatrical version aside from going back to the Columbia Home Video DVD (I think).  The Criterion UHD release also includes the sequel Texasville in HD and a special black and white version.

Having the original theatrical version makes the Sony version worthwhile, although to be honest the director's revised version is the better film.