MovieChat Forums > The Last Picture Show (1971) Discussion > only good because of its time and not re...

only good because of its time and not really that good


a movie about rape and pedophilia

I really don't see what was so great, considering A Clockwork Orange already pushed the limits of shock and awe 9 months before this one. Sure it has some taboo topics like rape, molestation and pedophilia but aside from that this movie is a slow, drawn out snoozefest. I can see how some people would like it but it is a little inflated on ratings to me.

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Totally agree, except that the script is great. And the performances. And the b&w cinematography, the production design, the lovely naked bodies...and the dusty feel of a North Central Texas backwater that the movie captures perfectly...and Tim Bottoms' shattering scene where he drags his real-life brother off the road...and Cloris Leachman's heartbreaking last lines...and a hundred other beautiful moments. Other than all that, yeah it's a bomb all right. I recommend you watch it once a year like I do just to make sure.

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Nice to see that you too, see the greatness of Atlantic City. I probably watch it six or eight times a year. I've been trying to put together a list of my favorite American films of the last half century ( give or take ). So far ( in no particular order ), I've got The Last Picture Show, Midnight Cowboy, Atlantic City, The Apartment, Fail Safe, In the Heat of the Night, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The Last Detail, Raisin in the Sun, The Flight of the Phoenix, Matewan, The Iceman Cometh, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Lone Star, Testament, The Sting, Paper Moon, Mississippi Burning, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Nickel Ride, A Thousand Clowns, Requiem For a Heavyweight, Fat City, Five Easy Pieces, Charley Varrick, Badlands, In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke, Being There, Mean Streets and To Kill a Mockingbird ( my favorite American film ) . I probably missed a couple. I ask you, because it appears that you have pretty good taste. Got any other suggestions? Got any criticisms of my list?

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OP gives Twelve Monkeys, Animal House and The Last Picture Show a 1 and Mother, Jugs & Speed a 10. Judgement speaks volumes.

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Ha ha ha... GOLD!

B-)

Anyone who gives ratings of 1 - to ANY movie, though especially to any 'A' films - is an idiot. If a movie is THAT bad then you don't watch it all the way through and you can't rate a movie you haven't fully seen? I'm even dubious about ratings of 10 though obviously there are exceptions to that 'rule'. Giving a 1 to Twelve Monkeys - which, if it isn't the best time travel movie, is certainly in the top 3 - is especially ludicrous. Yet here we are, feeding the troll??? They're so annoying the way they drag us in...

:-(

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The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.

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"The Last Picture Show" wasn't intended to "push the limits of shock and awe", so you are comparing apples and oranges. Speaking of oranges, your favorite, "A Clockwork Orange", is a nearly forgotten oddity, while "The Last Picture Show" has become a classic. You need to develop a more mature attention span.

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