Wouldn't Hurt To Have A Better Home Town

The Last Picture Show
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
The eighth punch on my Thursday Thread-Up card was an American classic from 1971 that was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

The Last Picture Show is another one of those movies that I have only ever been vaguely aware of prior to the announcement that it would be shown at the Mahoning, and even that is an overstatement.  I had heard the title before, but I don't think I even realized that it was a movie, let alone who was in it or what it was about.

I've been going to see just about everything this season so I had every intention of coming out to this show too.  If I was on the fence about it, Rob's comment that it was the best movie on the Mahoning calendar this season would have swayed me to come out to see it.  He and I don't have the exact same taste, but he knows a hell of a lot about movies and he doesn't heap praise on a film lightly.  Additionally, he spoke in a similar way about Night Of The Hunter a couple of years ago.  That was another movie I had never heard of prior to seeing at the Mahoning, and seeing it for the first time on the lot ended up being one of my favorite movie-going experiences in recent memory.

In the weeks leading up to this screening, I deliberately avoided this movie.  I didn't want to know who was in it or what it was about, or any other details about the film.  Movies are best when you let it speak for itself.  Get comfortable in your seat, turn out the lights, turn off all distractions, and let the film tell you a story.

Chuck Workman's short film, Precious Images, was shown in place of trailers prior to The Last Picture Show.  It features nearly 500 movie clips which span the history of cinema.  They have been compiled and edited and set to music in such a way to make the experience feel like you're reading a love letter to Hollywood.  It's also a reminder to the audience of just how special of an experience that it is to go see a movie.

The original 1986 cut of Precious Images won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.  It was updated ten years later to include clips of more recent films as a way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of films.  This later 1996 cut was the version that we got to see screened on 35mm on Thursday night, and it was an incredible and moving experience.  FT Depot has uploaded it to YouTube, and it you like movies at all, I highly recommend clicking play on the video above to see it.

 

I am rarely alone when watching a movie at the Mahoning.  My wife comes with me to most screenings, but even when she doesn't, there's almost always a friend on the lot who brings their chair up to join me for the night.  While I enjoy their company, I'm not the kind of person who needs to have other people around to enjoy an experience.  I'd never want to live a life in which I had no choice other than solitude, but having moments and experiences that you enjoy alone can be a very enjoyable and relaxing experience, and that's what this screening was for me.

The Last Picture Show is a gut punch about small town life in the United States.  It strips away the mirage of a wholesome 1950's America that only ever really existed on television and shows our culture, and the human species in genera, for what it really is.  We are hostile, fragile, and confused, and we're all just trying to carve out a piece of happiness as best we can, and we sometimes cut others in the process.  Sometimes those cuts are deliberate, and sometimes they're not, but we've all been cut and we have all cut others... even the folks who are clever or lucky enough to keep enough of themselves private to be looked upon as a "good person".  That's my takeaway from the film anyway.  You may disagree and walk away from this picture with a completely different idea, and that's ok.  In fact, it's great.  That's what makes cinema so special in the first place.

I'm not going to say anything else about the movie because if you're like me and you've never heard of this movie, I don't want to be the reason why you don't have the opportunity to experience it for the first time as a clean slate.  It's not available as a part of any streaming subscription that I'm aware of, but it is absolutely worth going out of your way to see.