The Last Picture Show (1971) Outline

 

1. Production origination

a.Targets
i.Corman
1.2 days that Karloff owed Corman
2.Footage from The Terror
b.BBS (1968-1972)
i.Burt Schneider-Bob Rafelson-Steve Blauner
1.Columbia deal (Schneider’s dad)
ii.Easy Rider/Head/5 Easy Pieces
c.Pre-Production
i.“it (Targets) sucked, but this guy can make movies
ii.“add some nudity to the story & you can do the picture”-Schneider
iii.“1,000,000 budget (21% Net for Peter)
d.Book
i.Sal Mineo handed it to Bagdanovich, Platt read it (Cheyanne Autumn set)
ii.Platt recommended it to Schnieder at dinner party
e.Larry McMurtry
i.Co-Wrote Streets of Larado, epic Western, with Bags.
1.Wayne, Fonda, Stewart, Cybil, Ryan O’Neal, Sam Johnson
2.Turned it into Pulitzer winning Lonesome Dove
ii.Also wrote Hud (’63), Terms of Endearment (’83)
iii.Oscar for Brokeback Mountain (’05)
f.Script
i.‘shaping the book into screenplay form’
1.Omissions/condensing
2.Exteriors vs Interiors
3.Patriarchal structure different from most New Hollywood
g.Design
i.Sense of Time & place
1.Black & White decision (Welles influence)
2.Diegetic Sound (1951-1952)
3.Realism
4.Location
ii.Cinematography
1.Robert Surtees
a.3 Oscars, 14 Noms:  Ben Hur, Summer of ’42, Graduate, Bad & Beautiful
2.Style
a.Lonely Long Shots (Funeral/Lois)-Fordian
b.No establishing/master shots
c.Edited in camera (Fordian)
d.Deep Focus (Only could get in B&W-Welles)
iii.European sense of sexual frankness
1.Rare for rural set film

1. Production

a.9 Weeks Archer, Texas (Substitutes for Anarene)
i.McMurtry’s real hometown
ii.Bagdanovich’s father died during production
b.Bogdanovich almost fired for lack of Master Shots (Rafelson saved him)
c.Father’s Death/Cemetery scene
i.Peter on telephone from funeral w/Cybil
d.Directors Cut
i.Added scene of Jacy/Duane & Sonny singing school fight song
 
 

1. Relationships

a.Bogdanovich/Shepherd
i.First Meeting in NYC (‘lust at first sight’-Cybil)
1.War & Peace/Bikini appearance/stretch marks
2.Casual destruction of flower on table
ii.“I’m not sure who I’m in love with you or Jacy”
iii.“Cybil makes me feel young” (he was 30) to Platt
iv.Platt’s Professionalism
v.Both assumed affair would end with filming
1.“Peter found a milk maid.  It will fade”-Peter’s mom
2.Bags: “you did this to us” (to Platt)
vi.Post Filming
1.Holidays apart/recommitment-didn’t last
2.8 Year Relationship
a.Shepherd affair with Elvis
b.His affair with actress on St. Jack
 
b.Platt/Bogdanovich
i.Square couple-No Pot/No Booze
1.2nd chicl born right before production began
ii.Creatively fed off each other (next to camera)
iii.Platt’s professionalism during production
1.“The only drama happens in front of the camera”-Platt
2.Irony of “grooming” her replacement
iv.Knew she he was in love when he brought cookies for Cybil
v.Post Production
1.Barred Shepherd from What’s Up Doc & Paper Moon sets
2.Ford’s intervention (post production)
a.Bedroom advice for Platt (naked from waist down)
b.Offer to move in with Platt
3.Suggested Tatum O’Neal for Paper moon
 
c.Shepherd/Bridges
i.Initial affair when shooting began.  Left for Coast Guard duty for one wk
d.Bogdanovich/Shepherd/Bottoms
i.Bottoms had crush/conflict with Bogdanovich
ii.Daisy Miller
 
 

1. Film Relationships

a.Jacy/Duane
i.Movie Theater
ii.Dance
1.Sexual manipulation in car to get away to pool party (hand on leg)
iii.Sex
1.First time failure
2.Second time disappointment
b.Sonny/Ruth
i.When you have a name like Ruth Popper it pre-identifies the character
ii.Cold/Depressed initial look-Bloomed through affair
iii.Embarrassment during undressing/Tears in bed
1.Bottoms refusal to be naked/stashed underwear in bed
iv.Eyes opened to ‘ugliness’ around her -wallpaper
 
c.Sam the Lion/Sonny/Billy
i.Protection of Billy after prostitute (Jimmy Sue)
ii.Sentimental for old times
1.Going to Mexico
2.Fishing at water tank/bringing girl there
 
d.Jacy/Lester/Bobby Sheen
i.Wealth, power, indifference
 
e.Lois/Sam the Lion
i.Only pure & equal relationship
ii.True & lasting love
 
f.Lois/Abilene
i.Boredom
ii.Flipped him off when she sees him leering smuggly
 
g.Lois/Jacy
i.8 emotions w/o dialogue for Burstyn with Jacy after Abilene
ii.40 is a ‘nitchey’ age for women
 
h.Coach/ Boys & Coach/Ruth
i.Homosexual overtones (book has him accusing teacher)
ii.Football coach never suspected, Ruth knows
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1. Nostalgia

a.Small Town Life
i.Failure of football team tied to pride
1.“You could get a better town”-Abilene
ii.Sexualization of Teenagers
1.Make-out at movies (while watching movie)
2.Rote nature of petting in truck (bra on mirror)
b.Sam the Lion
i.Trapped in Nostalgia
1.Water tank
2.Lois
3.Boys trip to Mexico
c.Movies (Royal Theater)
i.Father of the Bride & Red River Bookends
1.American homelife & American masculinity undermined by story
ii.Many American Masters made their last movies in 70’s
d.Wealth & Poverty
i.Options
ii.Marriage
iii.Happiness
1.you want to know about boredom, marry Duane”
2.“Everything gets boring you do it enough”
 
 

1. Sexuality/Love/Marriage

a.Manipulation
b.Sex, not Sexiness
i.Ruth/Sonny
ii.Sonny/Charlene
iii.Jacy/Duane x 2
iv.Billy/Jimmy Sue
v.Pool Party
c.Pool Party
i.Bags later regretted nudity
ii.Shepard’s trepidation
iii.Sex as currency/position
d.Lois Farrow
i.Farrow Marriage
1.Boredom & alcohol
ii.Abiline
1.Lois’ reaction after Jacy screws him (6 emotions, no words)
2.“Choices I’ve made haven’t turned out so well for me”
iii.Sam the Lion
1.Love lost is the purest love
iv.Sonny
 
 
 
 

1. Peter Bogdanovich (1939-)
   1. Notecards (13-30) 5,100+ movies

b.Early Career
i.Off-Broadway director
ii.Writing:  Esquire & MOMA monographs
c.Style
i.Hawks, Welles, Ford
1.Last Picture Show:  Fordian Film
2.What’s Up Doc:  Hawksian picture
3.Paper Moon
ii.The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was end of classic Hollywood
iii.Connected to direct:  Duck, You Sucker (Leone), The Getaway (McQueen)
 
d.18 months released:  Last Picture Show, What’s up Doc & Paper Moon
i.“I don’t make movies to say anything”
ii.“I like to make movies like I used to see”
e.Aftermath Films
1.Hollywood turned Cybil/Bags rubbed noses in their happiness
2.Bombs (1974-1976) Daisy Miller, At Long Last Love, Nickelodeon
3.Good:  Saint Jack (’79)  Mask (’85)
4.Texasville (’90)
5.The Sopranos-Elliot Cutherberg
f.Dorothy Stratten
 
 

1. Polly Platt (1939-2011)

a.Widow at 19
b.First female production designer in union
c.Last Picture Show
i.Brought up book to Schneider
ii.“He’s the locomotive & I’m the tracks”
iii.McMurtry thought film as much hers as Bogdanovich’s
1.Casting
2.Design
3.Passion for subject matter (her life story)
d.Post Bogdanovich
i.Terms of Endearment Oscar Nom (Prod Design)
ii.Production Design- A Star is Born, Bad News Bears, Witches of Eastwick
iii.Produced-Sy Anything, Broadcast News, War of the Roses
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1. Cast

a.Cybil Shepherd 1950- (Jacy Farrow)
i.Model:  Glamour Covergirl
1.“sexual chip on her shoulder”-Platt
ii.Recklessly self-absorbed (bio later)
b.Jeff Bridges 1949- (Duane Jackson)
c.Timothy Bottoms 1951- (Sonny Crawford)
i.Paper Chase (’73)
d.Cloris Leachman 1926-1921 (Ruth Popper)
i.Recent Death/Career
1.Died on January 27th
ii.Young Frankenstein (Frau Blucher)
iii.5 Noms 1 win for Phyllis
iv.7 total Emmys
e.Ellen Burstyn 1932- (Lois Farrow)
i.Born in Detroit
ii.Auditioned for all 3 female parts (“choose which one you want”)
iii.Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Requim for a Dream, Same Time Next Year
iv.5 films in production
f.Eileen Brennen (1932-2013) (Genevieve)
i.Private Benjamin,
g.Ben Johnson (Sam the Lion)
i.Turned part down 3 times “too many damn words”
1.“You’ll win an Oscar for this role”-Bags
2.Ford intervention
ii.Shane, The Wild Bunch
iii.Won Oscars for farewell scene with boys
h.Clu Galager (Abilene)
i.The Virginian Tv show
 
 

1. Post-Production

a.Editing w/Cybil
 
 
 

1. Reception

a.Newsweek Review
b.Box Office
c.Oscars
i.French Connection
1.Clockwork Orange, Fiddler, Nicholas & Alexander
 
 

1. Resources

a.Easy Riders, Raging Bulls Peter Biskind
b.TCM Podcast “The Plot Thickens”
c.Karina Longworth “You Must Remember This” Polly Platt Series
i.Unpublished memoir
d.Novel
e.Interviews