The Last Picture Show is a 1971 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and co-written by Bogdanovich and Larry McMurtry, adapted from the 1966 semi-autobiographical novel by McMurtry. The film’s ensemble cast includes Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Ellen Burstyn, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Cybill Shepherd, Eileen Brennan, and Randy Quaid. Set in a small town in northern Texas from November 1951 to October 1952, it is a story of two high school seniors and longtime best friends, Sonny Crawford (Bottoms) and Duane Jackson (Bridges).
The Last Picture Show was theatrically released on October 22, 1971, by Columbia Pictures. It was a critical and commercial success, grossing $29 million on a $1.3 million budget, and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Johnson and Bridges, and Best Supporting Actress for Burstyn and
The Last Picture Show – 1971 Columbia Pictures
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
Academy Award Winner 1972: Best Supporting Actor – Ben Johnson
Best Supporting Actress – Cloris Leachman
July 16th 2026, 6:00 pm Blue Mouse Theater
Event screening hosted by UWT Film Professor, David Coons P.hD.
David R. Coon, Ph.D., is a Professor of Media Studies. And the Culture, Arts and
Communication division vice chair at the University of Washington Tacoma. He holds a P.hD. in
Communication and Culture from Indiana University. And a MA in Popular Culture from Bowling
Green University
Leachman, with Johnson and Leachman winning.
Bogdanovich directed a 1990 sequel, Texasville, based on McMurtry’s 1987 novel of the same name and featuring much of the original film’s cast reprising their roles; Texasville failed to match the critical or commercial success of its predecessor. In 1998, the Library of Congress selected The Last Picture Show for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.[2][3]