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Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry Last Picture Show the film is set in a declining town in the early 1950's. It tells the story of two high-school seniors, Sonny and his friend Duane, who is upset over the closing of the towns theater due to the invasion of television. Due to the slow decline of the town there are few things to break the monotony, mostly sex and drinking. The boys mentor Sam the Lion gets through life by living in the past, most often by telling stories of events that happened years before. One of my favorite scenes, and the most poignant, were when Sam takes Sonny and his handicapped friend Billy, fishing at the "Tank" a small pond outside of town where according to Sonny there arent any fish but only turtles, to which Sam replies that is fine because he doesnt like anything about fish, he just fishes for the scenery.
This film reminded me alot of my home town. The townspeople seem to either be young people struggling to grow up, or old people struggling to stay young. Due to the fact their isnt much to do in town the most common distractions are the gossip about who seems to be cheating on their wife now or drinking. I thought it was ironic how some of the films that were played at the Royal Theater were some of the movies we were supposed to watch for this class because they tell the legends of Texas that in the film seem to be a era long past. The black and white filming of this movie and the constantly barren and windswept streets of the town depict the plains as Webb would have liked arid, level, and treeless and the fact that the town is barely alive and stagnant is a depressing look at alot of small towns in the plains that seems to tell me change and keep with the times or get blown away by the wind.