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The Last Picture Show tells the story of a small town in Texas. It contains a few lovely roadside shots of the open plains and a few more explicit shots that took me a bit by surprise. The movie's main characters Buddy, Duane, and Jacy lead very interesting sexual lives at the end of their senior year in high school. Duane loves Jacy, the prettiest girl in school, and is heartbroken when she leaves him for another man. Jacy turns from one man to another, and briefly snares each of them with her beauty and winsome ways. Buddy is a good kid who breaks up with his longtime girlfriend at the beginning of the movie and starts sleeping with the coach's wife. Jacy tempts Buddy away from the older woman and Duane and Buddy fight because of Jacy.

Not having lived in a small town all my life, I cannot verify the accuracy of this movie's depiction of kids in a small town, but it seems to show their antics in a serious manner in keeping with how seriously kids view themselves and their loves. The movie appears to center on Buddy, but as it progresses it shows how Jacy manipulates Duane then Buddy. Even when she goes away to college, it seems all Duane and Buddy can talk about is her. These teenagers continue with their lives even though it seems their town is dying. After Sam the Lion dies, Buddy struggles to keep the pool hall open, and Miss Mosey is unable to keep the movie theater open. A trucker runs over Billy, a slightly retarded boy, and one wonders why Buddy stays in the town after so many of his friends die or move away. The plains aspect of this movie is not focused on, but it is everpresent in the wind that blows and the intensity of the teenagers' emotions.