AFI 95 - The Last Picture Show

I was born in 1970.  Growing up we had four channels on our TV.  ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS.  That's it.  Cable didn't exist and neither did the internet.  There were really only two ways to see movies: go to the movie theater or watch the edited, commerical-filled versions they showed on network TV.

In 1983 we got a VCR.  Holy shit what a world changing invention this was.  Now there was a way to watch movies whenever we wanted!  Whee!  My life was forever altered and I suddenly had a lot of catching up to do.

One of the first movies I remember watching on VHS was The Sting.  I loved it.  It is the first con movie I remember seeing and it blew me away.  It was all so fresh and new and I was in awe.  I honestly thought that at the end (spoilers, I guess, on a movie that is over 40 years old) that Paul Newman was actually dead and not only, you know, faking his death to con Robert Shaw out of his money.  Years later I showed The Sting to a friend, but he had already seen several con movies and thus was not impressed with this relic from the 70's, having a good idea that the death was faked from the get-go.

Throughout my life of watching movies I have run into this problem time and time again.  Most recently in my virginal viewing of The Last Picture Show.

A coming of age movie made in 1971 and set in 1951 and I watched for the first time in 2015.  Since my own coming of age was in the 80's, we can safely assume that I am familiar with the films of a certain John Wilden Hughes, Jr.  We can therefore assume that I have seen many coming of age films.  We can further assume that by the time I get around to seeing The Last Picture Show, I should, in the immortal words of Lieutenant Frank Drebin, "Please disperse.  Nothing to see here.  Keep Moving.  Please."

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this movie.  I thought there were some pacing issues, but nothing huge.  I thought the acting was fine and the writing was really quite good and the cast was awesome and the choice of being filmed in black and white was appropriate but there was simply nothing new to see.  I've seen the ripped off, stolen from, borrowed against and paid-homage-to results in a ton of other movies and while that's not the fault of anyone who had anything to do with this movie, it made for a slightly boring watch.

(Also, I get the feeling that this movie is the victim of Baby Boomers over-inflating things from their generation, just as I do with stuff from my own generation.  If this is actually, truly the 95th best movie ever made, well then, color me underwhelmed.  But for folks who were born during the depression, came of age in the late 40's and early 50's and got to watch their youth displayed on film in 1971 they probably got over-excited and...yeah, I think they over valued this one a bit.  I daresay that anyone born in 1971 and beyond would not rate this film so highly.)

Anyway, despite all of the grumbling I've just grumbled, it is a solid movie and an overall enjoyable experience, if a bit dull because I've seen it all before.  Maybe that's on me for not being objective enough.  C+.