Texasville

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.

Unless you saw Peter Bogdanovich's classic The Last Picture Show, if you even start at the beginning of Texasville you'll feel like you've walked in on the film in the middle and have to catch up. I'm not sure the film is capable of standing on its feet so to speak.

Anarene, Texas in The Last Picture Show is about the passing away of the old values that gave Texas the culture it has, the small town looks like it's about to shrivel and blow away like a tumbleweed as that film ended. But in the intervening thirty years, the town seems to have experienced a renaissance due to oil and the high prices it commands for energy. If you remember in Urban Cowboy, John Travolta leaves home and hearth in a place that looks like Anarene for a job in the Houston petrochemical industry which was booming in 1980.

But if you also remember between those years the OPEC nations let loose a glut of oil on the world market which drove the price down worldwide. The bank that Jeff Bridges is now the head of is caught in a nice financial squeeze investing in some wells locally that better produce and soon. Sad to say that's another historical point that might even get lost on an audience 25 years later.

Still of the half a dozen or so cast members who repeated their roles from The Last Picture Show in Texasville, materially Bridges has made out the best. But he's also got a wife in Annie Potts who's bored with the marriage, half a dozen kids, including William McNamara who's having sex with half the women in the town. Just a chip off the old block. Bridges facing financial ruin just about caps things off for the Jackson family.

Cybill Shepherd the teen dream queen of the Fifties went to Europe and became an actress, but whose marriage to a continental fizzled and a son died. Rich and somewhat dissipated, she's just back to her roots.

Timothy Bottoms the other half of the running backs from the high school with Bridges has not done really well. He owns a greasy spoon eatery and he's getting by. But he's struck with a mysterious malady which could be anything from a brain tumor to early onset Alzheimer's. We never really find out in Texasville.

Texasville has ambitions to be a character study like Long Day's Journey Into Night and these people are interesting though not the same league as the Tyrone family. But the film, interesting in spots though it is, relies too much on its roots from The Last Picture Show to stand on its own.

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.

Having never had the patience or the time of sitting through The Last Picture Show, I picked this movie up on a whim. I had seen once several years ago with my family and remembered it as being OK. For some unknown reason, I came across it at Amazon.com and decided to order it to watch it again. The second time I watched it, I enjoyed it, but some of the nuances of the movie seemed to be lacking. I suppose if I had seen the original movie I might have had more of an idea of what some of the plot twists meant. Annie Potts is at her best here playing the wife of the main character. Cybill Shepherd's character (Jaycee) while having just suffered the loss of a child seemed even more emotionless than one would expect after sustaining such a loss. I did enjoy the location of the movie (Texas) and the craziness of small town living.

Overall the ensemble cast is decent, but the movie is somewhat long and tends to drag. There's also not much resolution at the end which disappointed me (I liked my movies to end with a nice wrap up or a decent "pull-together" at the end). If you enjoy any of the actors, it's worth watching.

6/10

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.