In tiny Anarene Texas in the lull between World War Two and the Korean Conflict Sonny and Duane are best friends. Enduring that awkward period of life between boyhood and manhood the two pass their time the best way they know how -- with the movie house football and girls. Jacey is Duanes steady wanted by every boy in school and she knows it. Her daddy is rich and her mom is good looking and loose. Its the general consensus that whoever wins Jaceys heart will be set for life. But Anarene is dying a quiet death as folks head for the big cities to make their livings and raise their kids. The boys are torn between a future somewhere out there beyond the borders of town or making do with their inheritance of a run-down pool hall and a decrepit movie house -- the legacy of their friend and mentor Sam the Lion. As high school graduation approaches they learn some difficult lessons about love loneliness and jealousy. Then folks stop attending the second-run features at the ...
Review
This is a really outstanding film. It is a director's movie with every nuance strictly controlled by Bogdonavich. It's a sweaty sad depressing sort of film. The vitality of the town has been drained by decades of malaise. The kids feel hopeless. The adults go from person to person and have affairs and experience emptiness. There's some depressing football team that can't tackle. But mostly there is a street with dirt on it and a mentally challenged boy who likes to sweep. It is rife with symbols. This boy is trying to sweep away the dirt that is infesting the town but he has no effect. As a matter of fact he is victimized by the other boys in the townpart of their fun. We have the contrast of the rich family in town with the Ellen Burstyn character and of course her daughter played by Cybill Shepherd. The boys who are in a hopeless prison of the town's making are like a bunch of horny bulldogs. She is the queen in the town but that's not much of an honor. These guys are going nowhere and she might just be there like her mother 20 years from now. The director builds a world that isn't pleasant but it's certainly a total depiction of a place without a future. The movie theater represents a last connection with excitement and enjoyment. But nobody goes anymore.