PICTURE SHOW follows the lives of the key members of the town of Anarene over the course of a single year, though given its insular nature, it sometimes feels like the entire community is on display. Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) finds his love life boring, and after dumping a girlfriend who won't let him touch her for fear of a finger-induced pregnancy, discovers a connection with Mrs. Popper (Cloris Leachman), the wife of the school's gym teacher. The gorgeous Jacy (Cybill Shepherd) is dating Duane (Jeff Bridges), but feels equally stifled, and the love life advice she gets from her mother, played by a terrific Ellen Burstyn, instructs her to sleep around to demystify the allure of sex and stave off a dead marriage that ruins your life. The only thing for people to do other than sleep around in Anarene is go to one of Sam the Lion's (Ben Johnson) establishments: the cafe, the pool hall, or the picture show.

Shot in stark black and white, allegedly to keep the film from looking beautiful and thus nostalgic, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW has a remarkable, consistent tone of loneliness and isolation despite its fixation on sexual practices, and more than its share of naked flesh. Here is a movie consumed with the act of sex, and with plenty of nudity to back it up. Though the movie is now over thirty years old, its frankness seems edgy in the our world of Super Bowl nipple hysteria. The FCC would probably debate giving this film an NC-17 today.

Yet despite its pervasive gloom, PICTURE SHOW is not depressing or dreary as many movies with these themes are. Perhaps that is because of the outstanding performances by the cast; Leachman and Johnson won Oscars, and the young trio of Bottoms, Bridges, and Shepherd imbue their roles with such a sense of reality that the film borders on becoming a documentary. Perhaps its because anyone who grew up in a suburb can relate to the story while simultaneously feeling gratified that their own home town was better than Anarene.

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW was the best and worst thing that could happen to Bogdanovich. He'd already directed one picture; 1968's TARGETS, which was buried because of its scary content in the wake up the Kennedy and King assassinations. If he expected much of a career in Hollywood, he'd need a hit, and he got one with THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. But if there is such a thing as a movie being too big, too successful, PICTURE SHOW was it. Audiences loved it, and critics raved. Newsweek famously proclaimed it the most important film by a young American director since CITIZEN KANE. Here's where the trouble started. Suddenly, Bogdanovich was hailed as a genius and after a couple more big hits (1972's WHAT'S UP DOC? and 1973's PAPER MOON), he began to believe his own hype. On a brief but revealing DVD extra, Bogdanovich talks about PICTURE SHOW in 1973, at the height of his power. He couldn't possibly come off more arrogantly. Believing he could do no wrong, Bogdanovich quickly did. His career never fully recovered; after a string of flops (and some devastating personal tragedies) he's today reduced to directing TV movies about Pete Rose for ESPN.