drinking alcohol
How were Sonny and Duane able to drink beer if they were in high school?
shareWell that's a good point and a good question; they were clearly doing it illegally and of course this still goes on today.
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MovieChat Forums > The Last Picture Show (1971) Discussion > drinking alcohol
In the early 50's it would be very easy for them to get alcohol. Remember that everyone then drank a lot. Most parents had alcohol openly around the house. It was common for people to drink at work. Store clerks paid little attention to your age then. Even when I was 18 in 1975 few clerks cared if you were under age when buying beer, wine or rum.
shareIt was common for people to drink at work? Interesting part of the country you came from.
shareNot drink at work, but not unusual to have a drink or two during lunch.
shareIn 1952-54, it was quite possible but still difficult to buy beer or wine when under 21, but that was in San Jose, California.
I suspect that a small Texas town around that time would be quite openly tolerant of teens drinking.
Life, every now and then, behaves as though it had seen too many bad movies
Until at least 1958, New York State had a minimum drinking age of 18.
Sometime after that, the neighboring states forced NY to raise it to 21. Seems like their teens were driving to NY to get liquored up and then killing themselves on the roads coming home. Odd that teens would do that!
Jack, the drinking age in New York was 18 until 1982, when it was raised to 19, then to 21 in 1985. It was not due to other states' input. The Federal government wanted to crack down on DUIs in all states( which had become epidemic) so they passed a law saying any state not complying to the 21 rule would lose 10% of its Federal highway funding. This equals millions of dollars, which is why every state that wasn't at 21 went there in the 80s.
The feds still apply such pressure; in Georgia, they withhold over $50 million dollars in Highway improvement funds every year because Georgia refused to create mandatory seatbelt laws for all vehicles (pickups are exempt).
1. Being moody.
2. Being bad at maths.
3. Being sad.
OK, thanks for the info. I left NY state in 1961. But, I do remember reading and hearing of NJ and Conn. officials complaining to NY officials about NY's low drinking age and the problems that it caused neighboring states. Sound like NY just ignored it until feds stepped in. NY was always hungry for as much tax money as it could get.
shareOne of the things I Don't like about Reagan and America - the anti-youth culture.
share1950's small town texas, I dont think highschool football players drinking alcohol would be a big deal
share"1950's small town texas, I dont think highschool football players drinking alcohol would be a big deal"
Yes, I think we were asked to accept that in this small close-knit town (where the sheriff plays pool with some of the characters) that this sort of behaviour was accepted, whilst perhaps not being openly condoned.
Hank Williams was reportedly already an alcoholic in high school.
shareLol, that was common and it still pretty much is. Only thing that raised somewhat of an eyebrow for me was the older adults in the movie serving, or encouraging the teens to drink. Attitudes toward drinking have obviously come a long way.
I should add that this was also a town where older adults were sleeping with teenagers, so the serving alcohol thing isn't such a stretch after all.
And the adults helping the kids roll their cigarettes.
and they could always go to Mexico for booze and crabs.
It wasn't addressed so much in the movie as in the novel, but Duane was working fulltime while still in HS. I forget the circumstances, but Sonny was on his own as well. Even though his dad was in town, Sonny wasn't living with him. I seem to remember something about the dad having caused a fatal traffic accident, maybe he had an alcohol problem. Anyway they were semi-grown up and treated that way.
shareIt was a small Texas town, and they were local football heroes. They could get away with anything. It was a much different time back then.
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