Texasville

Good sequel to the superb The Last Picture Show, also directed by Peter Bogdanovich, 19 years earlier. Whereas The Last Picture Show dealt with the decline of small-town America, Texasville shows it still exists, but barely. Focuses on the lives of several middle- aged people, mostly the main characters from The Last Picture Show, and how their hopes and dreams have faded and reality is less pleasant. The feeling of nostalgia, of tedium, of lives going nowhere, yet hope within that emptiness, is tangible. Among this drama, there is great humour, however. Superb performances all round. This role was probably the one that turned Jeff Bridges into the downtrodden, bedraggled anti-hero, and launched countless roles for home. Cybill Shepherd is solid as Jacy. Next to Bridges, the star turn belongs to Annie Potts who is simultaneously beautiful, funny, sassy and intelligent as Karla. Ultimately doesn't really make as big an impression as The Last Picture Show, and sort of fizzles out towards the end. The destination is quite tame, but the journey is worth taking.

I have to say, I was so disappointed with this movie that I actually didn't finish it. Now, I will have to admit that it is a lot easier, for me, to not finish a movie than it is to not finish a novel, nevertheless, I just couldn't get thru this movie. And, I have just this very moment of writing this review that I think I know what it was like for me. It was like watching an extremely long 'Coming Attraction', i.e., a long series of vignettes without really ever knowing what was really going on. Let me say here that I read the trilogy ("Last Picture Show", "Texasville" and "Duane's Depressed") and will admit that I found "Texasville", the novel, frivilous but, the cinematic version took that particular novel to a new level of?, of?, apathetic boredom. I think what I am trying to say is that, while the novel was frivolus, at least I became acquainted with the persona of the characters. I thought that while I might have wished something else was happening *for* them, at least I had a sense of who they were and what their reason d'etres were. The movie was a total disappointment. It is sad that it is very unlikely that "Duane's Depressed" will never make it to the screen but then again, if the treatment were to be similar to the treatment of "Texasville" I think I am glad. "Duane's Depressed" was by far, the most masterfully crafted of the triology.

Imagine that someone wrote a 1-hour dialoque for each of 10-20 characters and had them recite each part separately; but then edited it all together. Sound like a bad play? Yup. This is really about wallowing in the self-pity of middle age. The characters talk at each other but rarely connect or even interact. It's all about mouthing cheap lines. Bridges and all of his kids and all of his grandkids are horrible. His wife (Annie Potts) is the only slightly bright spot in the movie (actress and character). All of the main characters are in the midst of a crisis. Bridges teenage son is banging some of the married women - wives of his dad's friends. One wants to marry him; another is pregnant; another (or one of these two buys him a Porsche. Part way through the son he elopes and marries his trashy girlfriend; then he files for divorce after fighting with her. I think that Bogdanovich wanted this to be an examination of the pain of living: birth, death, disappointment, craziness, losing wealth - all the big issues. Instead it's just a poorly storied and acted soap opera. Don't waste your time.

I'm not a fellow who has any position to take on sequels or remakes; some are good, some are not -- simple as that. So when I express profound disappointment at this, it's not out of reactionary indignation that the film doesn't meet whatever needs or expectancies I have; it's simply a lousy movie. It's difficult to believe that TEXASVILLE shares the same pedigree as THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. Where PICTURE SHOW is humane, this is almost nihilistic; the humans are props on which cardboard foibles are hung. (For further insult, we are expected to ride along and laugh at the various infidelities and episodes of arrested adolescence, as if these things were charming and acceptable.) The story whiffs of the first draft, desperately needing revision and clearer thinking; that "more more more" means everyone in the film has their schtick, and no one ever gets fleshed out beyond that. And some of it is awfully bad. Larry... Peter... what in the world were you thinking of wrote Timothy Bottoms' character like so? No doubt, he could have had problems, but this is as bad as junior high school poetry.

Although I like Annie Potts, I think she was miscast, even though she did a good job as Karla. Karla should have been a tall, Texas blonde-type. Annie got Karla's personality down, but after the book, a petite brunette just didn't fit the bill. Overall, though--Texasville was a disappointment. Movies are rarely as good as books--this I realize--but Texasville was a huge disappointment. Part of it was the period made--the late 80's and early 90's produced few good films. And Texasville, to me, felt more like an average sitcom than a movie. To return again to the book vs movie them--I do believe a great movie can be made from a great book, especially most of Larry McMurtry's. Lonesome Dove was superb, as of course was The Last Picture Show. Perhaps the problem was that Texasville is funny, as opposed to heavy, like Picture Show. And funny is harder to do without being sitcom-like. Texasville seemed to me to be lacking balance (as a picture--the book was plenty balanced).

With the exception of Timothy Bottoms and Cloris Leachman, and the addition of Annie Potts, the acting fell far short of its predecessor, The Last Picture Show. I felt as if fading legends returned for one last curtain call, leaning upon greying memories of better times rather than reaching in and dusting off their talents. Bottoms and Leachman were, again, superb. Quaid was immediately tiresome. Another note: the sound (not soundtrack) left something to be desired - many scenes had background levels that over-rode the centerpiece of attention. I watched it twice and still was distracted by it. Reviewing the Soundman's credits (over 300 items), I was unable to discern if this film was a fluke or if it was his trademark - because none of the listed items had I ever had the inclination to watch. So, overall, this is a 3 of 10, unless you catch it for Bottoms, Leachman and Potts.. then an 8.

Some worthwhile performances here. The film does suffer from comparisons to "The Last Picture Show". That film was astonishing in its originality and has become iconic. "Texasville" neither aims so high, nor lands so hard. Nonetheless, the whole atmosphere of sadness calls to mind TLPS, as does the lack of a musical score, the only background being radios or whatever that the characters also hear. The adult characters, who were teen-agers in TLPS never seem to have grown up. At all. As Ebert said, I wonder what Sam the Lion would think of all these people. I seem to have missed all the sex going on in the '50's (OK wasn't born yet) and missed it again in the 80's. Maybe I'll catch that train SOMEDAY. Jeff Bridges put in a great performance here, just as he always does. He never seems to play a character you don't believe. This in films as disparate as this one, "The Fabulous Baker Boys", and, say, "The Big Lebowski". Cybill Shepherd was very good and very beautiful. It probably took some amount of courage for a former model/beauty queen to take this role, that explicitly compares her middle-aged looks to her youthful pulchritude. I thought she still looked great. (But then, I'm middle-aged) Cloris Leachman showed her dramatic talent to wonderful effect. But, saving the best for last, I thought Annie Potts basically stole the show. She was gorgeous, and she so totally nailed her character. Acting doesn't get much better than this. Anyone who liked TLPS (and that's almost everyone) should see this sequel. But don't carry into it unrealistic expectations.

Since nothing could be as good as last picture show- I am glad this took a turn to comedy- Duane is a mess- he says things to his wife like " I'd like you to wear something I didn't have to read" . But Annie Potts is great as his sassy wife. I was a little disappointed by Cybill Shepherd's character-- I thought Jacy would grow up more spunky-- but Cloris Leachman matured nicely in her character... I was most confused by what happened to Sonny-- he truly did get tired in the head.... but the sub-plots of the stud son, the daughter who went on a honeymoon every time she met a boy and the twins tricks keep the film moving... but its no equal to the original story of the Texas town immortalized in Last Picture Show.

Texasville is easily one of my favorite movies of all time because it doesn't go down the easy road, trying to please everyone, by being the same movie as Last Picture Show was. However, after having seen both Picture Show and Texasville back to back I noticed how surprisingly similar in context and theme they are. Both are about sad adults who look longingly onto the younger generation, all the while committing adultery as a way of recapturing their youth. I love both Picture Show and Texasville equally; but have a soft spot for Texasville because I was 11 during the timeframe shown in the movie, and 17 when it came out in 1990 so it is a bit more relevant to me. Also the dark humor helps make the film more enjoyable for those hot summer nights when the urge hits me to see it. I've never thought of Texasville as fiction, more as cinematic fact. It's about as close to real life as you'll get without living it yourself. It was one of the first films I saw in a theatre as a cinema "connoisseur" and it'd be a shame to let it fade into obscurity. I highly recommend it to anyone reading this, a true minor masterpiece

Otherwise, it would be just a frenetic soap opera. Even with Bridges' effort it's not nearly as good as "...Picture Show". And the ending is so lousy - nothing is resolved, you're not sure what's gonna happen, and everybody goes off for breakfast. I gave it a 7 and that was being charitable.