DVD Movie Guide @ dvdmg.com
.
Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main
CRITERION

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Peter Bogdanovich
Cast:
Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Randy Quaid, Eileen Brennan
Writing Credits:
Larry McMurtry (and novel), Peter Bogdanovich

Synopsis:
A group of 50's high schoolers come of age in a bleak, isolated, atrophied West Texas town that is slowly dying, both economically and culturally.

Box Office:
Budget
$1.3 million.

MPAA:
Rated R

DVD DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 126 min.
Price: $124.95
Release Date: 11/23/2010

Available Only as Part of “America Lost And Found: The BBS Story”

Bonus:
• 1991 Audio Commentary with Director Peter Bogdanovich and Actors Cybill Shepherd, Randy Quaid, Cloris Leachman and Frank Marshall
• 2009 Audio Commentary with Director Peter Bogdanovich
• “The Last Picture Show: A Look Back” Documentary
• “A Discussion with Director Peter Bogdanovich” Featurette
• “Picture This” Documentary
• Screen Tests
• Location Footage
• “Truffaut on the New Hollywood” Featurette
• Trailers


• 112-Page Booklet


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
Panasonic 50" TH-50PZ77U 1080p Plasma Monitor; Sony STR-DG1200 7.1 Channel Receiver; Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player using HDMI outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Kenwood 1050SW 150-watt Subwoofer.

RELATED REVIEWS

[an error occurred while processing this directive]


The Last Picture Show: America Lost and Found - The BBS Story (Criterion Collection) [Blu-Ray] (1971)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (December 8, 2010)

1971’s The Last Picture Show is one of those movies for which I find it hard to encapsulate my thoughts. I found it to be a compelling and unusual film but it's one I almost feel unqualified to evaluate.

Why? Well, although I heard a lot about the picture throughout the years, I'd never seen Show prior to my receipt of the DVD in 1999. After I watched it, I got an understanding why it's remained such an enduring classic, but I don't know if I have much of a grasp on the piece as a whole.

I think it's a movie that can be interpreted a number of different ways, and all of them are probably correct. I saw it as symbolic of the time in which - it was made - the early Seventies - even though it takes place about twenty years earlier. The late Sixties has been a period of great upheaval, and we see some of that patterned in Show. While social issues are almost completely omitted from the film - some mention of the Korean War occurs but without opinion - the occurrences mirror the changes in the US that took place in the Sixties.

Interestingly, the whole house of cards starts to collapse after the sudden, shocking death of one of the town's leaders. The lives of many of the participants really start to unravel after that, and I couldn't help but think that Sam's demise mirrors the assassination of President Kennedy.

Am I reading too much into the film? Perhaps - this could be just so much hot air from me. But that's part of the beauty of Show. It seems to be a film that offers ample room for viewer interpretation about its meaning and intentions. It's not a completely blank slate, but it's certainly more subjective than most films. Take a look at the opinions voiced over on IMDB - few of them seem to see the same things in the movie.

Even without delving into interpretation, Show is a well-made and compelling film. It almost completely lacks a plot and prefers to amble along in a vaguely episodic manner as it follows the lives of a few main characters. Without exception, these roles are well-acted. I can't spotlight any particular standouts since the entire cast is so good, though I suppose Cloris Leachman probably did the most with her role; she delivers a tremendously rich and honest performance that belies her modest screen time.

One interesting thing about the way that director Peter Bogdanovich shoots Show stems from its black and white cinematography. Bogdanovich tries hard to replicate the appearances of older black and white movies and really succeeds in making it look like a film from twenty or thirty years earlier. He uses extremely stylized photography much of the time, especially when shooting women; he often gives them a glamorous appearance very reminiscent of Hurrell's still photography.

It's an effective technique which makes it quite shocking when we see some full-frontal nudity or other sexually explicit material; you get vaguely lulled into feeling like you're watching a movie from the Forties until that happens! (By the way, for those who care, yes, Cybill Shepherd appears nude in the movie, though she doesn't go all the way for full-frontal. Take heart - we do get to see Randy Quaid in all his glory! Woo-hoo!)

The Last Picture Show is undeniably a very unusual but compelling film. I didn't know what to expect going into it, and I still don't know fully what to think about it. I do know, however, that it's a strong movie.


The Blu-ray Grades: Picture B/ Audio C+/ Bonus A

The Last Picture Show appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-Ray Disc. Though not the most dynamic presentation, the transfer appeared to replicate the original material well.

Sharpness was generally pretty good, with a relatively crisp picture for most of the film. A general softness tended to intrude upon the proceedings from time to time, but it usually wasn't problematic due to the stylized form of photography in use. Some softness that didn’t seem to be related to cinematography also occurred, but those shots remained modest distractions.

I saw no concerns with jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes weren’t present. No worries with digital noise reduction appeared here, as the film came with all its intended grain. I admit that the movie’s graininess could make the image a bit messy, but I understood that this fit with the film’s design, so it didn’t bother me.

As for other flaws, I noticed a couple of small specks and a tiny blotch or two, but nothing significant showed up here. Black levels were quite deep, and shadow detail usually seemed strong. Some nighttime shots could be a bit dim, but most of the low-light sequences displayed nice clarity. Overall, I felt pleased with this satisfying presentation.

Don’t expect a lot of fireworks from the film’s monaural soundtrack, but it reproduced the material with reasonable efficiency. Dialogue dominated the mix, and initially, I thought the lines seemed broad and indistinct. However, they cleared up pretty quickly and delivered good clarity the rest of the way.

Effects played a minor part, as they stayed with ambience the majority of the time; we got nothing more involving than vehicles and wind. These elements showed decent reproduction, as they appeared acceptably clear. No score showed up here; all of the film’s music came from country songs played on radios. That essentially made them effects, so don’t expect much vivacity from them; the tunes sounded like they should, given that they were intended to come across as though they emanated from cheap radios. All in all, this was a competent track.

When we shift to the disc’s extras, we find two separate audio commentaries. The first comes from the 1991 laserdisc and features director Peter Bogdanovich and actors Cybill Shepherd, Randy Quaid, Cloris Leachman and Frank Marshall. Each recorded their screen-specific comments separately for this edited piece. They cover sets and locations, cast and performances, cinematography and shooting in black and white, story and the adaptation of the source book, music, the depiction of sex and nudity, and changes made for this longer “special edition” cut.

For all intents and purposes, this is a solo Bogdanovich track embellished with the remarks of the others. The director delivers the vast majority of the information, and that’s fine with me. When Bogdanovich discusses films directed by others, he tends to be a fatuous bore, but he does a good job with his own flicks. That means we discover plenty of nice notes about the film and learn a lot across this useful piece.

One perplexing remark comes from Leachman. She claims that the film’s four main female actors – herself, Shepherd, Ellen Burstyn and Eileen Brennan – could’ve played any of the others’ parts. This is probably true – except for Shepherd’s role. The other three parts are all roughly the same age, but Jacy is supposed to be about 17. That was fine for the then-21-year-old Shepherd, but there’s no way any of the others – all between 39 and 45 – could’ve pulled off the part. Maybe Leachman meant to say that Bogdanovich would’ve let any of the three older actresses play their various roles, but there’s no way he would’ve cast them as Jacy – or let Shepherd take on their roles.

By the way, I mentioned Marshall because he’s listed on the disc’s credits. However, I maintain no memory of any comments he offered for the movie. Perhaps he popped up briefly and I mistook Bogdanovich for him, but if Marshall provided any info, I didn’t hear it.

For the second commentary, we get a 2009 track with director Peter Bogdanovich all on his own. He discusses sets and locations, the use of music, cinematography, cast and performances, the script and the adaptation of the source book, changes for the extended cut, and a few other production areas.

On its own, this track works well, but it loses some points due to redundancy. Quite a few of Bogdanovich’s notes already appear in the first commentary, so we don’t get as much fresh info here as I’d like. Oh, and Bogdanovich’s frequent references to bits that got a “big laugh” gets old; those appear throughout both tracks, so by the fourth hour of commentary, they make me want to punch someone. Again, this is a pretty nice piece in isolation, but it feels repetitive after the other track.

Originally found on the 1999 DVD, The Last Picture Show: A Look Back runs one hour, four minutes, and 39 seconds. It provides notes from Bogdanovich, Leachman, Shepherd, Marshall, and actors Timothy Bottoms, Ellen Burstyn and Jeff Bridges. They cover how Bogdanovich came to the project and its adaptation, the use of music, cast, characters and performances, locations and cinematography, editing and the film’s reception.

After two audio commentaries, should you expect to learn much fresh information here? Nope – there’s an awful lot of repetition, especially since Bogdanovich continues to dominate the proceedings. Still, “Look Back” does have more than a few good moments that we don’t get elsewhere. If you can tolerate hearing some of the same stories for a second or third time, you’ll enjoy this quality documentary; really, it’s only sin is the fact the two commentaries covered so much of the same territory.

More fun with potentially erroneous credits: the disc’s menu claims that author Larry McMurtry pops up in “Look Back”, but if this happened, I blacked out during his appearance. If so, this was the second time that occurred; I didn’t mention McMurtry in my review of the 1999 DVD.

We get even more from the director in A Discussion with Filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. A 2009 chat between Bogdanovich and documentarian Laurent Bouzereau, the 12-minute, 51-second piece involves notes about the director’s life/career pre-Last Picture Show and how he became a director, influences and what led him to the movie, casting and shooting on location, his behavior on the set, what he likes about the filmmaking process, his feelings about reviews and where Show stands in his filmography.

To the relief of many – well, me – “Discussion” largely avoids repetition with the prior programs. Thank God for that – I don’t know if I could’ve tolerated another telling of some of those stories! Bogdanovich manages to reveal a lot of good new info here.

Picture This comes from the set of the 1990 sequel Texasville and runs 41 minutes, 59 seconds. It features Bogdanovich, Shepherd, Bridges, Bottoms, Quaid, Leachman, Burstyn, author Larry McMurtry, McMurtry’s mother Hazel, production designer Polly Platt, casting director Gary Chason, actors Ben Johnson and Sam Bottoms, McMurtry’s classmates Ceil Slack Cleveland, Sean Alsup, Bobby Stubbs, and Junior Wakefield, and Archer City residents Reverend Deerinwater. The show takes us to Archer City, Texas, the town that inspired Show, and looks back at Show. It also lets us know about McMurtry’s life in Archer City and a smidgen related to Texasville.

Inevitably, some of the same old stories reappear here, but we get a nice mix of additional topics, and the visit to Archer City offers a welcome touch. I expected this to be a promotional exercise but it turns out to be much better than that.

Exercises in Erratic Memory: Bogdanovich 2009 does contradict Bogdanovich 1999, though. In “Look Back”, he claims he came across the novel on a paperback rack, while in “Discussion”, he tells us that Sal Mineo told him about the novel. 1990 Bogdanovich states that “three or four people” let him know about the book, but he includes Mineo as one of them, so I’d guess this is the most accurate version. It does seem weird that Bogdanovich cited Mineo in 1990 and 2009 but forgot him in 1999.

Next we get Screen Tests for a number of actors. These fill two minutes, 14 seconds and feature a mix of mostly unnamed participants. The tests lack original audio or text, which robs them of much utility; we just see quick snippets in this montage. The lack of context makes it a disappointment.

In the same vein, we find six minutes, 27 seconds of Location Footage. We see more silent footage as we travel through the Texas setting. Again, this feature loses points because it lacks any form of commentary, but it offers some value as a way to look at the locations.

From 1972, we get Truffaut on the New Hollywood. During the four-minute, 36-second clip, filmmaker Francois Truffaut discusses his appreciation for Show. This isn’t the most fascinating program, but it’s a decent piece, as it’s good to hear thoughts from a legendary director.

Two trailers finish the disc. We get the film’s original theatrical ad as well as a re-release promo.

A big old 112-page booklet covers all seven films in the “America Lost and Found” boxed set. It includes essays on five of the seven flicks: Head, Easy Rider, The King of Marvin Gardens, Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture Show. It also delivers an essay about BBS, credits and photos. Criterion usually produces excellent booklets, and this one delivers another terrific companion to the movies.

The Last Picture Show launched some careers and capped others. Almost 40 years after its release, it remains an insightful, indelible glimpse of small town American that continues to resonate. The Blu-ray provides quite good picture, perfectly acceptable audio, and a strong set of supplements. This becomes the best rendition to date of a fascinating movie.

Note that as of November 2010, this Blu-ray version of Last Picture Show can be found only in a seven-movie boxed set called “America Lost and Found: The BBS Story”. This package also includes Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The King of Marvin Gardens, Head, Drive, He Said and A Safe Place.

Viewer Film Ratings: 4.8571 Stars Number of Votes: 7
65:
14:
0 3:
02:
01:
View Averages for all rated titles.

.
Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main