'The Last Picture Show' by Larry McMurtry
The Last Picture Show (1971) was one of the cinematic triumphs of the “New Hollywood,” the generational cohort that brought new values to an industry that was ossified and out of touch as the ‘60s ended. Director Peter Bogdanovich adapted the film from the novel of the same name, and the novelist had no reason to complain that his book was better than the motion picture. Author Larry McMurtry cowrote the screenplay with Bogdanovich.
The Last Picture Show has been republished in a 60th Anniversary Edition. In his introduction, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (and occasional novelist) Thomas Powers writes that McMurtry’s gift was to show how the setting shaped the characters. Thalia, Texas, 1951, was a thin disguise for McMurtry’s hometown and coming of age, and Bogdanovich’s decision to shoot in black and white was genius. Thalia was almost as desolate as a Dustbowl photograph. Despite (because of?) the Protestant fundamentalist mores, the repression and limited vision expressed itself in unpleasant, self-serving sexuality.
In coauthoring the screenplay, Bogdanovich condensed what was already a compact novel, sometimes for narrative cohesion within a two-hour movie and sometimes from sheer necessity. Many of the sex scenes would have earned the film a Triple X rating and relegated it to the shabby porn houses. Did most boys in towns like Thalia really hump the heifers? Does this help explain the politics of the Lone Star State?
The screenplay retained the emotionally meaningful parts, including the painful loneliness that led 40-year-old Ruth into a sexual relationship with 18-year-old Sonny. He’s untried and ready to learn, even as he lusts for Jacy, the town’s only rich girl (for whom every boy is a steppingstone). Duane, Sonny’s best friend, can’t understand how Jacy used him and casually flung him aside. “It was very confusing to him because he had always thought you were supposed to get whoever you really loved. That was the way it worked in the movies,” McMurtry wrote with sad irony.
McMurtry already found paydirt in the movies when his 1961 debut novel, Horseman, Pass By, was turned into director Martin Ritt’s Paul Newman vehicle, Hud (1963). The Last Picture Show gathered even greater success, earning eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
The Last Picture Show 60th Anniversary Edition is published by Liveright.
