LAST PICTURE SHOW-- anyone remember initial release in 1971

[DickLindsay]

Hello All:

 

I recently watched TEXASVILLE, the sequel to LAST PICTURE SHOW.  I'm afraid I didn't like it very much.  However, it made me remember some questions I have about the original film back in 1971.

 

I was in Junior High School in 1971, and my English teacher told the class he saw a wonderful film and that we should go to see it, but we "might have to sneak in" because he was unsure of the rating (I thought that was a strange thing to say to a bunch of 12 year old students!).

 

Anyway, I did see the film (I did not sneak in!) and thought it was good.  However, I am fairly certain that at the end of the film there were words that came on the screen  which told the audience what happened to some of the characters.  For example, I remember words that said the character played by Jeff Bridges (Duane Jackson) was killed in action in Korea.

 

So, few years later when they showed the film on network TV (without all the nudity.... not much left of the film), the end titles with all the updates was gone.  ANd they were subsequently gone on all video and dvd prints.

 

So.............. does anyone else remember those end titles or did i imagine them?

 

thanks, and happy new year!

 

 

[drednm]

Annie Potts aside, I did not like Texasville, but I think The Last Picture Show is one of the great American films. Everything about it is near perfection, and the cast is flawless. It evokes a time and place long gone.It's a haunting film about innocence, community, and the American Dream.

[jakeem]

Hello All:

 

I recently watched TEXASVILLE, the sequel to LAST PICTURE SHOW.  I'm afraid I didn't like it very much.  However, it made me remember some questions I have about the original film back in 1971.

 

I was in Junior High School in 1971, and my English teacher told the class he saw a wonderful film and that we should go to see it, but we "might have to sneak in" because he was unsure of the rating (I thought that was a strange thing to say to a bunch of 12 year old students!).

 

Anyway, I did see the film (I did not sneak in!) and thought it was good.  However, I am fairly certain that at the end of the film there were words that came on the screen  which told the audience what happened to some of the characters.  For example, I remember words that said the character played by Jeff Bridges (Duane Jackson) was killed in action in Korea.

 

So, few years later when they showed the film on network TV (without all the nudity.... not much left of the film), the end titles with all the updates was gone.  ANd they were subsequently gone on all video and dvd prints.

 

So.............. does anyone else remember those end titles or did i imagine them?

 

thanks, and happy new year!

 

It's possible you're confusing this movie with George Lucas' "American Graffiti," which was released two years later. 

 

Lucas' ending that revealed the fates of the main characters pretty much set the tone for other films (see: John Landis' "National Lampoon's Animal House"). We discovered that the "Graffiti" character Terry the Toad (Charlie Martin Smith) was reported missing in action in Vietnam. But we found out in B.W.L. Norton's 1979 sequel, "More American Graffiti," that Terry actually split when it was presumed he was dead.

 

[ElCid]

Hello All:

 

I recently watched TEXASVILLE, the sequel to LAST PICTURE SHOW.  I'm afraid I didn't like it very much.  However, it made me remember some questions I have about the original film back in 1971.

 

I was in Junior High School in 1971, and my English teacher told the class he saw a wonderful film and that we should go to see it, but we "might have to sneak in" because he was unsure of the rating (I thought that was a strange thing to say to a bunch of 12 year old students!).

 

Anyway, I did see the film (I did not sneak in!) and thought it was good.  However, I am fairly certain that at the end of the film there were words that came on the screen  which told the audience what happened to some of the characters.  For example, I remember words that said the character played by Jeff Bridges (Duane Jackson) was killed in action in Korea.

 

So, few years later when they showed the film on network TV (without all the nudity.... not much left of the film), the end titles with all the updates was gone.  ANd they were subsequently gone on all video and dvd prints.

 

So.............. does anyone else remember those end titles or did i imagine them?

 

thanks, and happy new year!

When TCM shows it, the nudity is there.  As for end credits, don't remember what they were.  Not sure if I saw it in 71 or not as 7 months in Vietnam and then 5 just getting back home, so missed a lot of movies.

[jakeem]

This is pretty much the only ending I've ever seen:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFvfbcP0QRI

 

The end credits were like the first 25 seconds of this video:

 

 

[Dargo]

It's possible you're confusing this movie with George Lucas' "American Graffiti," which was released two years later. 

 

Lucas' ending that revealed the fates of the main characters pretty much set the tone for other films (see: John Landis' "National Lampoon's Animal House"). We discovered that the "Graffiti" character Terry the Toad (Charlie Martin Smith) was reported missing in action in Vietnam. But we found out in B.W.L. Norton's 1979 sequel, "More American Graffiti," that Terry actually split when it was presumed he was dead.

 

 

Exactly what I was going to suggest to the OP here, jakeem.

 

Nope, I don't recall any "what eventually became of" kind of epilogues in TLPS.

 

(...but I DO remember it making me slightly depressed and haunting my thoughts for a few days after watching it back then, though...great film)

[jakeem]

Exactly what I was going to suggest to the OP here, jakeem.

 

Nope, I don't recall any "what eventually became of" kind of epilogues in TLPS.

 

(...but I DO remember it making me slightly depressed and haunting my thoughts for a few days after watching it back then, though...great film)

 

I've always remembered how stunning Ellen Burstyn was as Cybill Shepherd's mother (their familial relationship in the movie is a classic example of how the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree).

 

We've all come to know Burstyn as an award-winning grande dame of films, television and the theater. But maybe we tend to forget how sexy she was 40-plus years ago.

 

[ChristineHoard]

I was fortunate enough to see LAST PICTURE SHOW when it came out originally and it became one of my very favorites, and still is.  The performances are all amazing.  I don't recall any epilogue as to what became of the characters; I think the creators wanted us to imagine it for ourselves.

[twharry42]

I saw it in 1971 at an Army base theater in Bremerhaven Germany. Loved it, but dont remember any epilogue stating what happened to the characters. I also think of American Graffiti as having done it.

[DickLindsay]

hello all, and thanks for responding to my question.

 

Well, I guess I was wrong on this.  For the record, I could not have been thinking about AMERICAN GRAFFITI because (i know this is terrible) I have not seen it.  Does it pop up on  TCM ever?

 

Believe it or not, I was riding on the NYC subway about 6 or 7 years ago, and standing right in front of me was Peter Bogdanovich (wearing his iconic scarf around his neck).  Didn't say anything to him but was amazed to see him on the subway!  You'd be surprised, actually, who appears on the subway every so often.  Don't live in NYC anymore though.

[jakeem]

hello all, and thanks for responding to my question.

 

Well, I guess I was wrong on this.  For the record, I could not have been thinking about AMERICAN GRAFFITI because (i know this is terrible) I have not seen it.  Does it pop up on  TCM ever?

 

Wasn't Duane alive and well in the sequel "Texasville"?

[Dargo]

Wasn't Duane alive and well in the sequel "Texasville"?

 

Hmmmm...now I THOUGHT Duane died after his yellow Deuce Coupe(you don't know what I got) was creamed by a drunk driver???

 

Wait! GEEEZ, now you guys have got ME confusin' this flick with that Lucas one!

 

(...never mind)

 

[Sepiatone]

Actually the movie ends much like CITIZEN KANE in that the cast is shown with their names superimposed on the screen.  While one of my favorite Hank Williams' songs  is playing.

 

One of my favorite films as well.  I didn't get around to seeing it though, until it came on TV a couple of years after it was at the theaters.

 

Sepiatone

[AndreaDoria]

"The Last Picture show," had such an impact on me.  I read the book first and Larry McMurtry has been one of my favorite authors ever since.  The film didn't disappoint and it was at the top of my list of favorites for years. 

 

I always liked the story of Peter Bogdanavitch  seeing  Cybill Shepherd on the cover of Glamour and falling in love with her, casting her in the role, and marrying her -- maybe not in that order. When I first read that, I knew the Glamour cover he was talking about, because Cybill was wearing a beige trench coat and had a blue chiffon scarf around her head.  I was so taken with her look I went out and bought the same outfit.