The Films Of Peter Bogdanovich

Sag Harbor Cinema will follow up its showing of Peter Bogdanovich’s “Saint Jack” and the rare 35 mm screening of “They All Laughed” with screenings of the director’s much-celebrated second feature, “The Last Picture Show” (1971), and its sequel, “Texasville” (1990), running April 15 through 17. Adapted from Larry McMurtry’s series of autobiographical novels, the two films are part of a continuing tribute to the work of Bogdanovich, a renowned Oscar-winning filmmaker, who also left his mark as a curator, writer and historian of American cinema. He died earlier this year at age 82.

Set in the early 1950s in the dusty Texan town of Anarene, “The Last Picture Show” is a coming-of-age story starring newcomers Jeff Bridges, Cybil Shepherd, Randy Quaid and Timothy Bottoms, as well as veterans Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson.

Bogdanovich adapted the screenplay with novelist Larry McMurtry. Inspired by his mentors, John Ford and Howard Hawks, the director set this dark, elegiac story against the backdrop of a dying West, at the beginning of the Korean War, and at the end of movie houses like the Royal, where local teenagers go to kiss, grapple and watch John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in “Red River.” The film uses long, tracking shots and other New Wave techniques, following in Orson Welles’ footsteps, while also ushering in the “New Hollywood.”

Shot in striking black and white, “The Last Picture Show” received a total of eight Academy Awards nominations, including best Picture and Best Director, making Bogdanovich one of the hottest young directors in Hollywood. It won for Best Supporting Actress, Cloris Leachman, and Best Supporting Actor, Ben Johnson.

Thirty years after the events of “The Last Picture Show,” the cast and characters return to Anarene in the sequel, “Texasville,” McMurtry’s second novel of the cycle, published in 1987 and dedicated to Cybil Shepherd, who portrays Jacy in both films. This sequel breaks with the traditional clichés of reunification and nostalgia, going instead for a bittersweet and comedic tone depicting how the oil boom swept Anarane, turning farmers into millionaires and then leaving them in trouble again. Viewers find the characters older, mostly richer, but not necessarily wiser. The old Royal is a burned-down ruin and satellite dishes dot the townscape. At the studio’s insistence, “Texasville” was shot in color (by Nicholas Von Sternberg, son of Joseph), breaking with Bogdanovich’s desire to shoot the films in black and white as to not “prettify” their environment.

We had a memorable screening of ‘The Last Picture Show,’ hosted by Ed Burns, at Bay Street, while our Cinema was still in construction,” said Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, Founding Artistic Director of the Sag Harbor Cinema. “It gives me great pleasure to be able to finally screen it in our finished theater; even more, together with its lesser known and just as poignant sequel, ‘Texasville.’ A film of moving performances, melancholic humor and witty grace that was very much Peter’s.”

Though there was never a follow-up to the two films in the series, the cast expressed interest in returning to the material with Bogdanovich at the helm. In 2010, Jeff Bridges spoke about it at the “TRON: Legacy” premiere, saying, “I was just in Texas with Peter [Bogdanovich] and we’re looking at doing the next installment … there’s actually five books that Larry McMurtry wrote about those characters and so we’ve done two and we wanna do the next thing. I don’t know if that’s ever happened before, every 20 years going back and doin’ that. So that’s something I’m hopin’ will come about.”

Sag Harbor Cinema is at 90 Main Street, Sag Harbor. Tickets for the films are available at sagharborcinema.org.

“The Last Picture Show”

Dir. Peter Bogdanovich, USA, 1971; 118 minutes, in English, Rated R

Based on the autobiographical novel by Larry McMurtry, the film opens on the eve of the Korean War, and the beginning of the end for movie houses like the Royal, where Sonny enviously watches Duane kiss the town beauty, Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd). On the screen are classic films that speak to the small and dusty Texan town, while other locals are hypnotized by their television sets. The three teens wander through life, which occasionally intertwines with the lives of people like Ruth (Cloris Leachman), the 40-ish wife of a football coach, or Sam (Ben Johnson), the owner of the local pool hall; diner; and Royal theater.

“Texasville”

Dir. Peter Bogdanovich, USA, 1990; 123 minutes, in English, Rated R

The people seen in “The Last Picture Show” from the small town of Anarene, Texas, are now 30 years older. Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), the town’s mayor, is a self-confessed failure. His best friend Duane (Jeff Bridges), whose point of view shapes the action, has struck it rich in oil and subsequently run himself millions of dollars into debt while Karla continues to buy condos for their children. Jacy (Cybill Shepherd) returns home after a career as a small-time movie star. Although the film is built around the town’s big centennial celebration; the film’s focus is the complications, readjustments, and discoveries of middle age.