The Last Picture Show, 2/9/13, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, 1971
The Last Picture Show is based on a novel by Larry McMurtry, which I have not read. There isn’t any big event that is the focal point of the movie, no asteroid about to strike, no battle, no championship at stake, just life happening in small town Texas in the 1950s. The director, Peter Bogdanovich , filmed the movie in black and white, and it really works and adds this air of authenticity and atmosphere to the story. Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) are friends and seniors in high school. Their mentor/father figure, Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson, winner of the Best Supporting Actor) owns the café, the movie theater and the local pool hall. He’s gruff and tough, but has a soft spot for the boys and the younger, Billy, who never speaks and has the role of the town ‘mascot’. Duane is dating Jacy, played by Cybill Sheperd in her first movie role. Jacy is well above Duane’s social level and that becomes a problem for the young couple. Jacy is quite, um, less than virtuous and honorable and isn’t very likeable at all. Sonny embarks on a relationship/affair with the wife of the football coach, played by Cloris Leachman, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. If you are familiar with Leachman’s work on Mary Tyler Moore or several Mel Brooks movies, you may be very surprised by this performance. You can feel her pain and anguish at her life and it’s a touching portrayal. Ellen Burstyn and Eileen Brennan round out the very strong female roles. You have to be patient with the movie and let it unfold and kind of draw you into the characters and the setting, but it pays off. You won’t always like the characters, in fact you might really hate one or two, but that’s life sometimes, I suppose. I think it’s definitely worth a watch. The DVD I borrowed from the library contained a documentary on the making of the movie which was almost as interesting as the movie itself. It had interviews with most of the cast (except Timothy Bottoms, which I thought was odd) and Bogdanovich; he talked about his choice to film in black and white and some of the other scenes.
The Hours, 2/16/13, Best Actress, 2002
First let me say that I think this movie had a great cast, most films would kill to have a cast like this one: Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman and Ed Harris. Second let me say that I am probably in the minority, but I hated this movie. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that I just didn’t care. There were about three places in the movie that I almost just turned it off. By the time it got sort of interesting, it was too late. I would have preferred to watch a movie on the life of Virginia Woolf and learn more about her and her husband, Leonard Woolf and her struggle with mental illness and her writing. However, that’s not what this was, and I was so depressed afterwards, I had to lighten it up with The Last Boy Scout with Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans. Seriously. Nicole Kidman won the Best Actress award for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf, and she is virtually unrecognizable under the makeup, which seemed quite drastic. I don’t even want to write anymore. Save yourselves and watch The Last Picture Show instead. It may not make you laugh out loud, but I don’t think it will make you consider walking into oncoming traffic.
