The Last Picture Show

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, framed in gorgeous black & white cinematography, is one of the well-deserved classics of cinema. Directed by a 31-year-old Peter Bogdanovich in 1971, it captures with bittersweet heart the cruel desolation of a dying West Texas town and its lonesome inhabitants. The film made stars of its brilliant cast – Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cloris Leachman, Cybill Shepherd, Randy Quaid and Ellen Burstyn – but it was Ben Johnson’s Oscar-winning performance as Sam the Lion that breathed unredeeming life into the fictional Anarene, Texas. Shepherd’s turn as the beautiful, manipulative Jacy Farrow would prove to be one of the most explosive screen debuts in cinema history. The film won Academy Awards for Cloris Leachman and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Jeff Bridges), Best Supporting Actress (Ellen Burstyn), Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay. Thirty-five years after it was adapted from Larry McMurtry’s novel, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW remains a definitive film about the Lone Star state, brittle and relentless as the dry West Texas wind.

Cybill Shepherd

CYBILL SHEPHERD transformed from cover girl to fil star when Peter Bogdanovich cast her as the town tease in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. Martin Scorsese chose her to star opposite Robert DeNiro in 1976's TAXI DRIVER. Her career on big and small screens includes the hit TV shows Moonlighting and Cybill.