Best Shot Index: The act of looking in 'The Last Picture Show'
by Nathaniel R
The power of Peter Bogdanovich's unassuming breakout feature, The Last Picture Show (1971) sneaks up on you. It's often called a coming-of-age film which is not inaccurate but... coming to what? and of which age? It's mosaic of characters ranges in age from teenagers to senior citizens and at times it feels like they're not so much coming into something as never leaving it; They're lost souls in a ghost town. If you've never seen the film you might assume that a movie theater is a main character but not really. The theater is just one of the haunts that the central trio of high school seniors (Jeff Bridgess, Cybill Shepherd, and Timothy Bottoms) kill time at. They're less interested in the movie than in making out in the back row, anyway...