Last Picture Show, The

Bringing Larry McMurtry's elegiac novel to the screen, Peter Bogdanovich wrote the script with the author and filmed in black-and-white, turning out a film that became an instant classic, made stars of its youthful cast, and demonstrated an amazing maturity that hadn't been much in evidence with other "New Hollywood" directors. Set in a dying Texas town in 1951, it centered on two buddies about to graduate high school (Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges), the girl they both lust after (Cybill Shepherd), and the various adults who affect their lives, among them Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson, the latter two veterans walking away with well-deserved Oscars® (the film received eight nominations in all). Randy Quaid, Sam Bottoms and Clu Gulager also appeared, and Robert Surtees was the cinematographer. In 1990, Bogdanovich reunited most of the cast for a sequel, TEXASVILLE.