August 2022 - The Last Picture Show
Earlier this year one of America's most influential film directors, Peter Bogdanovich, passed away. Bogdanovich's contributions to the world of cinema stretched far beyond his work behind the camera. In addition to directing, his love of movies radiated through work as a journalist, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. Since the news of his passing in January we have wanted to pay tribute by screening one of Bogdanovich's classic films. So, this month we are screening what many consider his masterpiece, The Last Picture Show (1971).

The Last Picture Show is the story of a group of high schoolers coming of age in a small, dusty, desolate Texas town in 1951. The movie stars a young Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, and Cybill Shepherd. Seats are still available so register now and join us!

Reminder: Cinema Club meets in the Aspen Drive Library Meeting Room in Vernon Hills. Discussion to follow. Masks optional.

Here's a few articles to skim beforehand.
A beautiful essay by Graham Fuller for the Criterion Collection. Fuller provides a helpful context for understanding how Bogdanovich bridges Old Hollywood with the New Hollywood that was emerging in the late 60s/early 70s.

"Bogdanovich seems to be making the point that people are often unaware that the times they are living are the best of times, that simple quotidian rituals and shared moments are what make the long journey tolerable."
Turner Classic Movies does a great podcast called The Plot Thickens. The first season was all about Peter Bogdanovich. We highly recommend the entire season, but check out episode 3 which is all about the making of The Last Picture Show, living with Orson Welles, and the romantic relationship that developed between Bogdanovich and Cybill Shepherd on set.

“My marriage broke up. My father died. I fell in love with Cybill and all that happened while we were shooting this picture.”
The small town of Anarene is just as much a character in The Last Picture Show as any of the actors. The isolated, dusty, and melancholy environment gives the movie its Western flair and frames a fitting backdrop for lurid drama...and Hank Williams music. Get to know the real-life town of Archer City, Texas where the movie was filmed and where Larry McMurtry, the book's author, grew up and lived until he died.

"..it was Bogdanovich’s film that truly introduced the entire world, in utterly unromanticized fashion, to the intense, sweeping sagas of everyday life in Archer City. The Last Picture Show turned this particular and peculiar town into art.
Next Movie: Collective
September 19, 2022
Aspen Drive Library Meeting Room

2019 | Not Rated | 1h 49min
Documentary. Director Alexander Nanau follows a crack team of investigators at the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor as they try to uncover a vast health-care fraud that enriched moguls and politicians and led to the deaths of innocent citizens.

REMINDER: You must register for each Cinema Club screening. Receiving this newsletter is not an indication you are registered for next month's showing.