The Last Picture Show and the Legacy of BBS

[@DwRockett]

Won’t lie, I very much was not expecting this cornerstone moment of American cinematic history to all start with “The Monkees” Fantastic analysis, as always

[@gabrieleskenazi9151]

I hold a special place in my heart for The Last Picture Show. When Bogdanovich died I hadn't seen his films (I think only What's Up Doc?) and yet the news hit me hard. As a film student who is strongly devoted to the old masters, I felt very close to Bogdanovich. Read lots of his stuff and watched his presentation on John Ford multiple times. He knew the people I am in love today, people that I can never meet. All I can do is watch their films and read about them, and Peter was well responsible for me to access some of these materials. During the pandemic, as I got to know Bogdanovich more and more, I felt I needed to meet him, if for anything else to say: thank you. Unfortunately I will never get that opportunity. But I will always remember Peter Bogdanovich as someone who I can look up to, as someone who has taught me so much, even though he didn't know. When he died I felt a little part of me grow sadder, he was one of the last great ones, who nowadays are growing more scarce. The Last Picture Show for me was always that memory we shouldn't forget, that Peter helped us never forget. As my love for John Ford, Howard Hawks, Orson Welles and many many other grows as the time goes by, the more thankful I am to Peter. This is not just a homage to Peter Bogdanovich but a thanks to you for making this video, for remembering him and making sure he is still relevant. For as long Peter is relevant, the old masters will endure. That's the power Bogdanovich had. That's the power Bogdanovich has. Thank you Eyebrow Cinema. RIP PETER BOGDANOVICH

[@EyebrowCinema]

Thank you, Gabriel. You're very kind, and you also write about Peter beautifully.

[@benwatson6729]

"The Last Picture Show" is not only BBS' magnum opus, but it's also one of the greatest movies ever made. In all honestly, I wish this movie won the Oscar for "Best Picture".

[@alexsnower5743]

No film better displayed the struggles of growing up in a small dying town then “The Last Picture Show”. Easily one of the great American films of all time.

[@EyebrowCinema]

Well said. It gets better and better for me with every watch.

[@matthewwolfstein2359]

I’m a simple movie buff: I see a notification that a new video from Eyebrow Cinema drops, I immediately click on it. I happen to own the Criterion Collection Blu-ray box set that has all the BBS films, and I definitely clicked with The Last Picture Show when I got around to it; it is without question a great examination of growing up and all its struggles. Excellent work as always 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻

[@EyebrowCinema]

Thanks Matthew. Much appreciated :)

[@TheCountOrlok]

I couldn't properly tell you how happy it made me to see a 40 minutes video on one of my all time favorites in my feed! With many American movies you often get the impression that the industry, especially with those glamourized escapist movies from the Golden Age, truly believes that the stories they tell have this universal kind of appeal, universally human despite how it refuses to represent even the lives of American people. I do love those movies, I do connect with many of them, but when it comes to the New Hollywood, perhaps specifically The Last Picture Show, when we get to see the interior lives of invisible people, from forgotten places and forgotten times (even during the 70s, the 50s seemed to be so idealised, the reality of those times might as well have been lost as soon as the 60s came), everything hits you like they're telling you your own life story. The Last Picture Show hurts me in a way few others, or maybe even no other movie has. I shouldn't have much in common with teenagers from a tiny, Texan town from the 1950s. I'm from Brazil, born in 1997, also in a small town (although, with a population of 30k people, mine is much larger than Anarene), but objectively, the events in these characters' lives do not reflect mine. But that sense of loss and inadequacy, of lost youth and potential, of being trapped in a indifferent reality that you're just realizing has not much meaning to offer, is too real. It all sounds too devastating, and even absurd for a young person to see things like this, but TLPS doesn't shy away from showing us how human it all is. That last scene, with Ruth, is so beautiful, and yet it also feels like Death itself is embracing Sonny, that any and all hope is now forever lost and that Ruth's own tragedy has finally met its pair.

[@AgsmaJustAgsma]

I really wish I stepped into Peter Bogdanovich's filmography sooner. Paper Moon was such a joy to watch the first time. Not only that, but he was also big enough of a chad to shut down the controversy that nearly killed Orson Welles' career and reputation. Rest in power, King.

[@EyebrowCinema]

I also came to Bogdanovich fairly late. Don't think I saw one of his films for the first time until I was an undergrad.

[@dcguevara]

You really are one of the best out there! The exploration and depth poured into this video is staggering and it has really re-shaped my reception/relation to THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. It's interesting to note that while TLPS does have empathetic views towards the stories of the women in the story, that can be heavily attributed to Polly Platt's contributions as Bogdanovich's creative partner. Karina Longworth's "You Must Remember This" podcast has a season focused on her and several episodes focused on the production/creation of The Last Picture Show, which I recommend if you haven't heard it. But I want you to know that thanks to your passion and exploration of this topic, I have influenced my previous conceptions of Peter Bogdanovich's body of work. RIP. 🕊

[@EyebrowCinema]

Thanks DC! I am familiar with Karina Longworth's podcast. I didn't draw on it for this specific video but it's high quality work.

[@danryan1285]

It took me 30 minutes in to realize that this is an exceptional thesis.

[@SnapperChannel]

Watched What’s Up Doc for the first time back in January when Bogdanovich passed away. Having only seen that, Paper Moon and Last Picture Show, he’s an incredible director and will be missed. Great video as always Dan

[@EyebrowCinema]

Thank you, Matt.

[@ZackPaslay]

Dan, thank you for this video. I’ve held The Last Picture Show in such high regard since I saw it a couple years ago (I grew up about an hour and a half from where it was shot, and its portrait of small-town Texas made me think of conversations with my grandparents). You really hit the nail on the head as to how Bogdonavich approaches style, content, and legacy in the film, and you position it in BBS’s canon perfectly. Well done!

[@EyebrowCinema]

My pleasure, Zack. Thank you for your kind words.

[@UBBlifestyle]

Have you seen Hell or High Water? Great rendition of modern north central/west tx

[@ZackPaslay]

@@UBBlifestyle yes, my dad from North Texas pestered me until I did

[@Ray_TheRebel]

I still remember where I was and how shocked i was when Peter died. I watched The Last Picture Show that night in his memory and it deeeply moved me. This video is a gem man, thank for your always excellent work

[@EyebrowCinema]

Thanks for your kind words :)

[@spaceodds1985]

The Last Picture Show IMO is BBS’ masterpiece. Very much the old and new guard be stuck in the same shot and creating pure cinematic magic.

[@jedi794]

Just watched The Last Picture Show and fell in love with it, what timing!

[@EyebrowCinema]

Nice! Glad things lined up so well.

[@andrewklang809]

I've seen all of Bogdanovich's early films, and a couple later ones (The Cat's Meow is solid), as well as Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider. And yet, I never heard of BBS, or put it together that they were in any way associated with one another. Dunno where you got the inspiration to look into it, but thank you for adding another wrinkle in the Hollywood history section of my brain.

[@EyebrowCinema]

Glad you liked it, Andrew!

[@maestroofamore8948]

Never heard of "BBS" either, and he never explains it.

[@ianstratton]

I always found it interesting that in Larry McMurtry's original novel of The Last Picture Show that the final film shown at Sam's movie theatre wasn't Red River at all (in fact, Red River is directly mentioned as an example of a classic film that WASN'T being played, but rather it was some forgettable, Western B-movie that wasn't worthy of being the theatre 's last picture show I think Bogdonovich just couldn't resist not showing Howard Hawks some love.

[@ajwebb4537]

Just saw The Last Picture Show a few weeks ago and haven’t stopped thinking about it since, one of the most powerful movies of all time.

[@GA-1st]

That was a great retrospective of that new era in American filmmaking. I remember this period well, but I was only in my mid-teens and my serious interest in cinema was just beginning. To be frank, at that time I was more into horror and sci-fi! But then I saw "The Godfather" in 1972, and it changed the way I saw movies forever. It was the first "R-rated" picture I ever saw -without my folks. (Prior to that I had seen the "R" rated "Rosemary's Baby" as a pre-teen with my parents - who covered my eyes during key scenes! LOL!) Can you imagine the first R-rated movie you saw in the theater - that you're able to truly appreciate - being arguably the greatest film ever made? Little did I know how lucky I was - and it kind of distorted my view of what the "restricted" category had to offer! At that point my focus began to shift away from genre movies to such filmmakers as Coppola, Kubrick, Ashby, Zinneman, and then Spielberg. I entered university in the mid-seventies and had a minor in film as an undergraduate, so my taste and exposure to movies expanded even more. And yet, I never gravitated towards BBS. Like you, I only became introduced to Rafelson, etc., in retrospect, with the advent of home video in the early '80s. Anyway, thank you for the education - and the opportunity to reminisce about an exciting time in my life!

[@jamesallard7223]

Thank you so much for this. Last Picture Show is one of my favorites, and Bogdonovich is starting to fade into memory. This whole video was wonderful for me, a nostalgia trip but with depth.

[@EyebrowCinema]

Hey, thank you ,James. Your kind words are much-appreciated.

[@jaybain4337]

San Francisco Public Library has "The Last Picture Show" on blu ray - this is the restored Criterion edition with an extra of "Texasville". The context and research provided here is excellent. Thanks for the great video piece!

[@jerryc5743]

Although it did not come BBS, one movie to take a look at, which also has done back story from its star, Jack Lemmon, is Save The Tiger, made by John Avildsen. Made in 1973, Lemmon felt so compelled to have the movie made and in spite of what he could demand in terms of salary, he took base. Incredible movie.

[@jerryc5743]

7:29 - I find myself rewatching your videos and picking something different with each viewing. In this case, at this point in the video, this clip of “Head” reminds me of a part of Oliver Stones biopic of The Doors in the early 1990’s, specifically the part where Jim Morrison, played by Val Kilmer, meets Andy Warhol. The scene begins in Warhol’s apartment where there is a party with a psychedelic vibe and a film being shown on one wall of footage of B-52’s dropping ordinance on Vietnam.

[@parkerm1635]

Great video once again. I was upset when I heard Bogdanovich passed earlier this year. I'd seen his first 5 films from 1968 to 1973 and watched any interview with him discussing cinema. He was truly passionate for film and always enjoyed listening to what he had to say about the medium. A true legend, in a funny way he sort of became the "Sam the Lion" for cinephiles fawning over the New Hollywood era. Just a thought at least

[@NicholsBlauner]

as a Blauner myself, I have distant relation to Steve Blauner. I have grown up watching the BBS films, and grow to love them more as I get older. They made some truly remarkable films

[@antoinepetrov]

Great essays about great films. When I watch this channel I truly get the full picture of the era the films were made in

[@therealkwin]

Well that ending hit harder than I thought it would. Great essay, thank you.

[@EyebrowCinema]

Thanks for watching :)

[@JeffreyDeCristofaro]

I remember watching TARGETS in my mid-teens on DVD - it remains one of my favorites (in the middle of my Top 200 favorites if not my Top 100), and my personal top favorite Peter Bogdanovich film. I just love how Boris Karloff's character - a horror star that's also one of Karloff's best performances - remarks on the way the horror films he made just can't hold a candle to real-world horrors of the period, and how the Charles Whitman-inspired sniper's killing spree at the drive-in is not only just so reflective not only of those times; it has become shockingly relevant to our own. It's as if the spectre of Bogdanovich's work has come back to haunt us, to remind us of the nightmares that we were warned about that we were surrounded by, but chose instead to ignore in our escapist ventures at the cinema... until it was too late, and the nightmares finally caught up with us and burst out from behind the screen. With the rise of mad-gun assassination incidents like the Sandy Hook and Las Vegas sniper massacres and continuing onward, I can't help but think that this film has become even more timely, prophetic and philosophical than it was over half a century ago.

[@teddyfurstman1997]

BBS was the studio that launched New Hollywood. It was the A24 or Embassy Pictures of its time. The Monkees Head and Easy Rider are my faves. The Last Picture Show looks amazing in B&W.

[@babiegirl526]

very majestic video i was not expecting orson welles to play part in this or the greta garbo story

[@CameronHoug]

Lovely video! Paper Moon has for years been one of my favorite movies and I've always heard The Last Picture Show was a classic but after watching this discussion I finally feel inspired to check it out

[@dwc1964]

I actually read the book first, as a teenager - there was a copy on the bookshelf at home & I was curious. It's worth reading & comparing them. A lot of the choices attributed to the director are directly from the book.

[@jasongill7779]

You're making some truly excellent videos. I have no doubt a larger audience is in your future. Until then, keep it up. This essay was beautiful.

[@philippeh3904]

I watched the film for the first time this year. Definitely a haunting film. As someone who grew up in a small town. It was so realistic in what it depicted. One of the finest films of the past 60 years

[@thomascoughlan5894]

This was an excellent essay. I have love The Last Picture Show for years and you articulated its excellence far better than I could. You made a great observation about how it treats its characters in a non exploitative manner. I think of a show like Euphoria and how it could learn so much from this film Thanks for the essay.

[@williamsnyder5616]

Very good! "The Last Picture Show'' was my choice for Best Picture instead of ''The French Connection.'' Your analysis confirms that I should have been right.

[@DoloresWallin]

Easy Rider and Five Easy pieces were terrific. Last picture show was good. Drive he said and marvin gardens are interesting.

[@SVHAW87]

I was surprised to learn that "The Monkees" won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1967 (beating out "The Andy Griffith Show", "Bewitched", "Get Smart", and "Hogan's Heroes").

[@corbinmarkey466]

Just two totally disconnected thoughts I had which I'd like to share: 1. I recently double featured The Last Picture Show and American Graffiti, and TLPS definitely feels like the depressed older brother of the latter. 2. I also double featured Five Easy Pieces and About Schmidt, and the latter feels like a sequel to FEP, like we're catching up with Bobby Dupea still dealing with the same issues as an old, unfulfilled man.

[@joshportnoy8102]

Yeah so many killer moments in that movie. In the beginning when we first see Cybill Shepherd. When Jeff Bridges character loses her to some rich hot shot. When the kid gets ran over by a truck or when the pool hall owner tells the story of the girl he loved by the lake, and more. Really great filming.

[@digitalpollution]

I always love your content dude. You knocked out of the park on this one. Another great video on my favourite Bogdanovich movie. Thanks

[@keiththorpe9571]

I've always loved this tagline I saw on a movie poster for Easy Rider: "They Went Looking For America...And Couldn't Find It Anywhere." One of the things about Peter Bogdanovich that many people don't know is that in 1980, he was romantically involved with a model named Dorothy Stratton, who was just getting into acting and whom he was directing in a movie. She was brutally murdered by her ex-husband, and many people say he never recovered from that. They say he was truly in love with her, and she with him, and her death practically destroyed him. They may have been overstating a bit, but who knows?

[@angelaarmie5789]

I remember seeing The Last Picture Show on pbs as a kid. Saw it again almost 30 years later last year.

[@alro2434]

Thanks, nice work.

[@roberthayward6499]

Great video, dude.

[@neiljohns245]

Great essay.

[@JesusSavesSinners]

Cybill Shepherd's Nudity in this film is greatly talked about today. The truth though is her Nudity was Not as much as, or as long as the other Nude actress (Kimberly Hyde I think it was from the cast list I found.) that is in the Film. She did Full Frontal Nudity for an extended amount of time. The Pool screen had a large number of men and Women who were completely nude. The amount of Nude people in the Film for several minutes had to be shocking for General Audiences. A High School boy having Sex with a middle aged woman and the whole town knowing about it and Not caring would have been a shock. Cybill Shepherd's character having Sex with a middle aged man... This Movie, Since it was True, Dispelled the Myth of the Moral Superiority of Middle America Small towns. The Last Picture Show was as accurate a True Story as has ever been Filmed. It was Filmed on Location. Larry McMurtry, wrote the Novel and the Screen play. His contribution to the Film was much Greater than Bogdanovich's. McMurtry told Bogdanovich how to Film it and where to Film it. Besides writing the Novel and the Script. The Movie was True. The events in the Movie actually happened. Bogdanovich was a complete Jerk. He was having Sex with Cybill Shepherd during the Filming of the Movie. He was extremely Rude to everyone else. The Film Crew Absolutely Hated him and made sure Bogdanovich knew it. The Actors were all inexperienced so they thought Bogdanovich was behaving the way he did to, some how get better performances out of them. They didn't know what was normal behavior for a Film Director.

[@UBBlifestyle]

The Archer City town square where this was filmed has had a nice start at revitalization in recent years.

[@HorrorMetalMaestroRedrusty66]

What a phenomenal film, and I absolutely adore it's sequel Texasville as well. Watching them back to back is a great experience. And PS, I adore the Monkees... Have all their CDs and have HEAD on bluray..lol I have tio say Head is one , if not the, strangest films I've ever seen..lol

[@EyebrowCinema]

Head's grown on me a lot. I was initially dismissive of it but it really sticks with you.

[@johnmulvey5121]

That little sing song upward jerky inflection in the narrators speech? hear it a lot now. Never used to.

[@johnmulvey5121]

That was great Thanks!

[@richardmcleod1930]

Sadly, most people today don't even remember any of these pictures today (as great a film as it is) including "The Last Picture Show" and primarily because it is photographed in Black and White! People today seem to think that somehow they are denied a real motion picture if it is not filmed in color. Peter Bogdanovich was successful with "The Last Picture Show" primarily because he sought the advice of older Hollywood Director's (such as Orson Welles and John Ford) which he mentions oftentimes in his later interviews.

[@haydenb2409]

Some irony here

[@hollytooker507]

I really enjoy your smart analyses. Very interesting. However Cloris Leachman and Ellen Burstyn in The Last Picture Show were not “elderly.” Older yes but hardly elderly.

[@EyebrowCinema]

Fair. I use the phrase here in a relative, loose way. 40 isn't really elderly but it is when most of the rest of the characters are 17/18.

[@jerryc5743]

Loved your OHMSS video essay. Just starting to watch this one. Love your work. Have you reviewed King of Marvin Gardens? (Although I was just five years old when that was released, i liked it because AC was my hometown)

[@EyebrowCinema]

Thanks man! I do talk Marvin Gardens on this video a bit. I quite like it.

[@thevfxmancolorizationvfxex4051]

Head is such a great film

[@yupkyle]

why I get a monopoly ad after Peter Fonda explained the gas line lol

[@EyebrowCinema]

@@yupkyle holy shit lmao

[@DwRockett]

Damn, that last moment there was moving

[@EyebrowCinema]

Thank you. I was a bit worried about getting that sentimental but I'm glad I did.

[@colonelweird]

After watching this, I deeply regret never having seen The Last Picture Show, something I intend to change today. Your discussion of the way it depicts sexuality is fascinating. I've been frustrated by the way Hollywood (and if I'm honest, most of Europe & Asia) depicts sex for my whole life. At the height of Hollywood's use of more-or-less explicit sex from the 70s to the 90s, these scenes were usually filmed in that air-brushed, smoky-lensed romantic style, or, in the 90s, with a kind of high-gloss pseudo-realism. And in almost every case, these scenes are meant to appeal only to the lowest-common-denominator of the male gaze. These days Hollywood generally minimizes sex so they can keep the PG-13 rating, but when it's there, sex in movies is still done very badly in most cases. I've been wishing for years I knew about more movies that deal with sex in a normal way. I've always assumed that, to Hollywood, dealing with sex this way would just be too radical, and would not happen for many decades to come, if ever. But here you are, describing how Bogdanovich just casually did it at the very beginning of the era when sex was permitted in film. Amazing -- and all the more is it a judgment on Hollywood: they've had a classic model for how to do sex the right way all this time, in a film that everyone agrees is a classic. And yet, when someone wants to put sex in their movie, they just ignore The Last Picture Show completely. Someone should tie Adrian Lyne to a chair and force him to watch this movie a hundred times straight through, as punishment for his sins. If you want a great topic for a video essay, this is surely one that will attract viewers (though you may not be able to monetize it, lol) -- a video about movies that deal with sex as it actually is in the lives of normal human beings. I'm surprised no one else has done that before (as least as far as I know). EDIT: I watched it tonight. Probably the saddest movie I've ever seen, but truly gorgeous. Now I understand why Hollywood never treated sex this way again -- they didn't want their audiences going away depressed, lol. This movie will stick with me for a very long time. Cloris Leachman, god damn.

[@jamesdrynan]

What was last movie shown in theater of The Last Picture Show?

[@johnmulvey5121]

Excellent

[@phangkuanhoong7967]

Great vid. I'd also recommend AdequateEmily's video on Head and the Monkees.

[@EyebrowCinema]

Thank you! AdequateEmily's video is indeed excellent.

[@artirony410]

what a coincidence lol, I just got the Criterion BBS box set and keep getting recommended The Last Picture Show

[@artirony410]

ok I finally watched The Last Picture Show and it was amazing

[@SavagesInMyTown]

cybill shepherd in her prime was one of the most beautiful women to ever exist

[@derekmatzek9551]

As much as I love A Clockwork Orange and enjoy The French Connection and Fiddler on the Roof, The Last Picture Show should’ve won Best Picture

[@EyebrowCinema]

It would have been my choice as well. 1971 was an amazing year though. In addition to the movies you mentioned, you've also got McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Walkabout, A Touch of Zen, Klute, Harold and Maude, and Macbeth. What a time to go to the movies.

[@mikeballard8404]

You can go shoot The Last Picture Show 2 in one of the Rust Belt towns of Mid-West, say Gary Indiana. I wonder if Hitchcock ever saw any of Bogdanavich's movies?

[@jaewok5G]

job well done

[@almukhtarbassim3734]

Do u remember dolly bell by amir , have the same pattern about growing up

[@snoopsq.527]

Ah, yes. The cinematic equivalent of the emotional journey that occurs walking across an empty mall parking lot.

[@charlesheck6812]

I first saw Last Picture in high school when it was first aired on television… It felt like an important and absorbing film at the time. I just watched it again last night and I wasn’t impressed with it at all. It got better during the second half starting with the great scene with Ben Johnson at the tank. I also watched the hour long special feature documentary after I watched the film which I felt was over celebratory and reverent of the film which I don’t think deserves it. In fact, I don’t think any of Bogdanovich’s films stand up well on the second viewing. I would rate Five Easy Pieces as by far the best of the BBS films. It’s a classic that stands up after multiple viewings…from those same high school years to the present (2024) and beyond. Always enjoy your work, however.

[@andyhynesvideography]

RIP Bob Rafelson.

[@jakejonescomedy]

RIP Bob Rafelson too. That dude just died.

[@JerryBanks572]

3 interesting women and some guys. Going a little crazy over a women like her is always the right thing to do.

[@MrOctober44]

What is BBS?

[@_scabs6669]

12:04 this is why filmmakers don't say the meanings of their films anymore lol

[@kostajovanovic3711]

And Bob Rafelson died, tight timing

[@maestroofamore8948]

Whatever you do, make sure you don't bother to tell us what the hell "BBS" is... Thanks.

[@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm]

Must this blessing shield you from the wrath of the Holy Ones & Zeros.

[@p_nk7279]

I don’t think these are ‘youth’ films - they are about adults and for adults. I don’t see any ‘ youths’ being enamored of Last Picture Show or any Bogdonavich film (aside from Mask) so this premise falls flat.

[@peterplotts1238]

The "anti-war movement" of the sixties was not heroic; it wasn't really even anti-war.

[@hojoinhisarcher]

hud

[@NagasakiBladers]

please don't do your "60s Hippie" impression again

[@EyebrowCinema]

Just for that I'm writing it into my next script.

[@ocelot15]

How come this movie has only 5,5K views?! WTF is wrong with you people, it's a great movie!