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The Last Picture Show (1971)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
AFI100 The penultimate movie I haven't seen. Released in 1971, it is not too old, but it is a black and white film. Hey, what a pity the beauty in the film.
The film is about life in a small western town. The male protagonist shares a truck with a friend. The truck is a vehicle for the two to date their girlfriends, and in the car they can have unbridled intimacy. Friends always occupy the truck, making the hero lose his girlfriend. When the male protagonist assists the teacher's wife to see a doctor, he finds the old woman very attractive. The following Christmas Eve, the actor kisses the old woman, and they meet to continue dating next week. At the same time, the friend's girl dumped her friend under the persuasion of her mother and went to a nude party with the rich man's stupid son. All this made the friend very angry, so he and the other boys played tricks on the mentally handicapped child. This behavior angered the most revered and wealthy old cowboy in town, who refused to let the kids watch movies, play billiards, and drink coffee. A week later, the male protagonist has sex with the old woman, both are happy and they want to continue. After a period of time, the old cowboy forgave the hero and went fishing with the mentally handicapped and the hero. While fishing, the old cowboy told stories about how he loved a woman when he was young. The hero and his friends get bored and go to Mexico to play. When he came back, he found that the old cowboy was dead, leaving the billiard hall for the hero. My friend's girl wanted to get rid of her virginity, so she took the initiative to go to bed with her friend, only to find that he couldn't. After barely finishing it, she immediately found a new man. The girlfriend went with someone else, and the friend left the town angrily. At this time, the girl was abandoned by her new boyfriend, and she had to find her mother's lover. Then, she found the male protagonist again. After the friend found out about this, he returned to the town to confront the hero and injured the hero's eyes. After being discharged from the hospital, the girl encourages the male protagonist to run away with her. Not long after the elopement, the girl regretted it, deliberately let the police catch her, and stayed away from the male protagonist. In the conversation with the girl's mother, the male protagonist knows that the girl the old cowboy likes is her. After the friend joined the army, he was going to North Korea. After the two reconciled, they watched the last movie in the town. The friend left, but the hero found that the mentally handicapped child was killed by a car. The sad hero goes to the old woman for comfort, but the old woman refuses to forgive the hero for abandoning herself. The movie ends with the two staring at each other.
The plot of the film is disjointed and it is difficult to find a unifying theme. According to the thinking of the director, the film should show a state of life, showing the numbness, indifference, indulgence, etc. of people in small town life. From the story of the movie, we can see that the lives of men and women, young and old, and people from all walks of life in small towns are unprincipled. Old women have lovers, young people live indulgent and blind, girls hook up with men at will, and boys change at will. Girlfriend, wait. There was only one good, principled man in town, the old cowboy with a lot of business. When he died, the whole town completely degenerated and fell. The departure of the old cowboy took away the only hope in the town, and the town life lacked a pillar, so there was the last movie.
There are many characters in the film, but the main character is only the male protagonist. The male protagonist is an ignorant young man. He has the most authentic things of human nature. With it, the male protagonist does not want to sink into the life of the small town. If he knows how to protect the mentally handicapped, he knows right and wrong. But the male protagonist is powerless, unable to change the status quo, and he does not have the courage to leave the town like a friend. All of these make the male protagonist only accept all this silently, and gradually assimilated by the deadly life. It is the sadness of his life that he lives in such an environment.
For the name of the film "The Last Movie" and the plot in the film, this film can also be understood as a farewell to the cowboy era. The departure of the last good guy, the old cowboy, marked the end of the cowboy era, as evidenced by the last movie screening of "Red River Valley". However, the end of the era is not directly related to the disordered and cold life in the town, which makes the theme and plot of the film not particularly complete and unified, just a little bit. Therefore, I cannot understand that this film can be selected for the AFI100. What is so good about it?
Let’s talk about the pros and cons of the movie, let’s talk about the movie’s highlights. The biggest attraction of this film is that there are many passionate scenes with dew points in the film. Nude swimming, sex scenes, and intimacy scenes are numerous, and when I watch it, I suspect it's a teen movie - there are too many sex scenes! Moreover, there is a scene in the movie where a girl and a man have sex on a billiard table. The director made this scene very lewd. Although there is no dew point, it makes people imagine. The director wanted to use these passionate scenes to express the indulgence and debauchery of the people in the town, but it was a bit too much. In addition, the plot in the film does not match the period. In the 1950s, mothers were accustomed to their daughters getting pregnant out of wedlock? Naked swimming back then? Then young people just go to bed casually? Isn't the United States a very conservative country, these are not in line with American propaganda.
Other aspects of the movie are mediocre and didn't impress me. The most unacceptable thing for me is that the color of the movie is black and white! There are many beauties in the film, and most of them are blonde, and so many stunners are wasted in vain. The director wanted to express nostalgia in black and white, and the intention was good, but it was a pity that the passionate performances of many beauties were a waste of money!
Among the actors in this film, there are many familiar faces, and some of them are still active in the TV series. Timothy Bottoms, the actor who plays the leading role, is average in appearance, and his acting skills in this film are also very young. It is inevitable that there will be no big hits after this film. Friend's actor Jeff Bridges needless to say, is now popular. At that time, he was handsome and handsome, so young! Cybill Shepherd, who plays the girl, is a big beauty, but she has never been popular. I saw her in "Last Words" some time ago. Ellen Burstyn was not too young when she made this film, but she still had her charm. Her character that impressed me the most was the old lady in Requiem for a Dream, and her acting skills were superb. Cloris Leachman is the most beautiful old woman in the film, very attractive. Now I can still see her in the American TV series "Happy Family", but the role she plays is so disgusting - that old lady, this character often does some disgusting things, which I can't accept.
Overall, a bad movie about the boring life of a small western town in the 1950s. Probably because the theme and content are so boring, the movie itself is boring.
Cybill Shepherd
Cloris Leachman
Ellen Burstyn
Sequence: 0614
The Last Movie.The.Last.Picture.Show.1971.HDTV.MiniSD-TLF
2011-11-01
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