Like "Do the Right Thing," this movie falls squarely into the category of "never heard of before now." It's got quite a cast in their first starring roles, including Randy Quaid (emphasis on the randy), Jeff Bridges, and Sybill Shepard. Does a movie filmed in 1971 set in 1951 seen in 2009 hold up?
Screening Date: 7/31/2009, 12:01 AM
Run Time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Release Date: 1971
Attendance: Weird Dave, Harris Burkhalter, Patrick Griffin, Luke Price, Aaron Ostman, Eric Brooks, Alaina Thole
I felt this was a very depressing movie. It stars Timothy Bottoms as Sonny, the main character of this film set in the drab, windy Texas town of Anarene. It's 1951, Sonny and his friend Duane (Jeff Bridges) are still in high school, trying to score with their respective girlfriends. They frequent the local movie house, where they keep to the back of the auditorium with their lady friends making out. Duane's got Jacy (Sybill Shepard), the prettiest girl in school, while Sonny's got ... someone else.
The movie was filmed in black and white, which really helps to capture the bleak feel of the film. Early on Sonny dumps his girlfriend, and begins a secret tryst with the wife of the high school gym coach. The wife is played by Cloris Leachman, and is it sad that the only two things I know Cloris Leachman from are "Young Frankenstein" and "Beerfest"? Probably. We see the sexual frustrations and inexperience played out between the two main characters in their unique positions.
It's quickly revealed that Jacy wants nothing to do with Duane, and leaves him for a nude pool party with Randy Quaid. Randy Quaid ... brrr, the guy just oozes creep like a cheap cologne. We see far too much of Randy at the pool party, where he and the gaggle of onlookers convince Jacy to strip naked and join them in the pool. It's an interesting turning point for the young girl, perhaps a pivotal moment where she throws caution to the wind and just goes with it.
Sonny goes steady with Cloris Leachman, even after high school, while Duane gets more and more restless after Jacy leaves him. A few members of the town are revealed as the movie progresses, including the owner of more than a few buildings in Anarene - Sam the Lion. Sam runs the pool hall and owns the diner, and he employs a mentally handicapped boy named Billy to help clean up and keep things tidy. Sam, Billy, and Sonny enjoy many a time together, including a fishing trip out to a muddy creek with no fish. Sam describes how he once loved a woman who was a wild filly, but their love didn't work out.
Afterwards Sonny and Duane take a weekend trip to Mexico, and upon their return learn that Sam died of a heart attack. This was the last straw for Duane, who takes the incident as an excuse to head out of town on an oil rig job. Sonny, however, sticks around, since Sam left him the pool hall. After Duane's left Jacy cozies up to Sonny, upsetting his relationship with Cloris, and when Duane returns for a weekend things get heated between the two friends. Words are spoken, a scuffle breaks out, and Duane breaks a beer bottle over Sonny's face.
The wounded man spends some time in the hospital recuperating, and has a large bandage over the side of his face. Jacy, seeing in Sonny a successful young man who owns the town pool hall, decides to get married and the two run off in a surprising turn.
It doesn't work out, Jacy's parents catch them at the border, and Sonny returns to the doom and gloom of small town life in Texas. Duane ships off to the military while Sonny sticks around in Anarene. The mentally handicapped boy gets hit by a truck in the middle of town and Sonny tries to reconnect with Cloris Leachman. The end.
All in all this was a depressing tale of how a small town get dig its claws into your hollow husk and never let go. The film seems to be about the death of small town living when the movie house closes up for good, leaving nothing but wind and flatness and gray. Endless gray, like the color of Sonny's soul. Or something.
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