A Nice Sleepy Town, by Tyler Smith

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971)

I love stopping in these towns. I like to think about the people that live there. Do they choose to live there, or can they just not get out? Either way, I try to imagine what it must be to live in a small highway town with a population of about five thousand or less.

It might be a very Andy Griffith Show existence, where everybody knows everybody, and they’re content with their uncomplicated lives. However, my guess is that it’s a little closer to the small town in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show.

Taking place in the early 1950s, the film covers a year in the life of several young people that reside in Anarene, Texas. There’s not much to do in this small town, except for go to the movies or shoot pool.

Oh, and have sex. There’s a lot of that.

But it’s not sensual; it’s awkward. A lot of these characters’ sexual exploits seem perfunctory. “Hey, there’s nothin’ else to do; might as well do this.” Then, of course, there’s the town sexpot, who has several of the male characters wrapped around her finger. She’s a spoiled rich girl; easily the most beautiful girl in town. Only in town, though. We get frustrated with her manipulation of others during the film, but it comes with a certain amount of satisfaction that, once she leaves town, she’s going to get her comeuppance as she realizes that she’s got competition. To most people in the outside world, she’s just small town trash.

She’s just one of several memorable characters that populate the town. Each one serves a specific purpose in the film; some drive the story, others help to create the time and place. The primary thing they have in common is how much they dislike being a part of this community. There is only one character who is truly content with his life in Anarene, and he has his fingers in all the parts of town that anybody actually cares about. However, about halfway through the film, this character dies, and it seems as though the town dies with him.

I myself grew up in a town like this. It was built around oil, but, eventually, the reserves started to run dry. As it did, the town itself started to fall apart. I’ve not visited my hometown in several years, but, when I last saw it, it was in a state of semi-disrepair. It was sad to see.

Perhaps that’s why I respond so strongly to this film. Everything feels so authentic and timeless. Granted, the film takes place in the early ’50s, but the events could just as easily have occurred in the ’70s, or could be happening right now. In towns like these, time doesn’t have much of a meaning.

The rest of the world just passes on by, and the characters barely notice.