Tag Archives: Cybill Shepherd

1971 Films, Coming-of-Age, Drama, Top 250 Films

The Last Picture Show-1971

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The Last Picture Show-1971

Director Peter Bogdanovich

Starring Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd

Top 250 Films #121

Scott’s Review #1,349

Reviewed March 9, 2023

Grade: A

1971 was a great year in American cinema, from The French Connection to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to Fiddler on the Roof to Dirty Harry.

The list goes on and on.

The brilliantly filmed and directed The Last Picture Show is easily ensconced in the year’s top ten, featuring an embarrassment of riches across the board.

One key strength is its successful use of the dusty setting and time, the film’s secret sauce.

Peter Bogdanovich crafts a dreary coming-of-age tale set in landlocked Texas. The film is loosely based on a 1966 novel of the same name written by Larry McMurtry.

The film includes many songs by Hank Williams Sr. and other country & Western and 1950s popular music recording artists to reflect the era.

Most of the townsfolk are bored to tears in the windswept hamlet of Anarene, Texas. Their saving grace is a local cinema (the picture show) run by the popular Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson), which is about to close its doors forever.

Others frequent the café run by sultry waitress Genevieve (Eileen Brennan), who knows everyone’s business.

Gossip and scandal run wild throughout town, following several main characters through their trials and tribulations.

High school students Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) lust after flirty Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd) while trying to figure out their futures.

Sonny also finds time for an affair with depressed housewife Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman), twenty years his senior, who is married to the school gym teacher, Coach Popper (Bill Thurman), who may be gay.

The year is 1951, when the Korean War is raging, and the once-prosperous oil town is in significant decline.

Bogdanovich’s apt black-and-white camerawork is central to the film and the winning recipe (well, one of them).

If The Last Picture Show were shot in color or, worse yet, colorized, it would undermine the film’s mood of sadness.

The exterior scenes involve swirling dust and wide-angle shots of the main street, often enough to relay a comparison to a ghost town, especially as events go along.

Some sequences also feature vehicles or highway scenes, evoking thoughts of escape or departure.

The other key ingredient is the ensemble of characters led by exceptional acting. Sonny is the handsome lead character with a lifetime ahead of him and the kindest of all the players.

His all-American good looks infuse the character with vulnerability, especially in scenes with his mentor, Sam, and his friend, Billy.

Other quiet scenes reveal much about the supporting characters.

Ruth sadly hangs the wash on her clothesline, looking worn and weary, while Genevieve grills a cheeseburger in the café, cigarette dangling and her once youthful aspirations slipping away.

Leachman and Johnson, both Academy Award winners in the supporting categories, deserve their awards. They portray their anger quietly, and both have dignity and self-worth, making their characters complex and revered.

The heartiest scenes belong to the younger set as they deal with simmering sexuality and hopes for college. Jacy experiments with sex, even sleeping with the man who her mother Lois (Burstyn) is having an affair with.

Shepherd also presents Jacy as vulnerable as she awkwardly strips off her clothes during a pool party, encouraged by a handsome boy she hopes to impress.

At times, she is childish, other times a selfish bitch. The film mentions that her family is wealthy, so it’s assumed she is spoiled.

The 1950s usually provide a level of nostalgia and good, old-fashioned, carefree Americana.

The Last Picture Show (1971), thanks to the flawless direction and screenwriting of Bogdanovich and McMurtry, instead paints a perfect portrait of misspent youth and shattered dreams.

Oscar Nominations: 2 wins-Best Picture, Best Director-Peter Bogdanovich, Best Supporting Actor-Ben Johnson (won), Jeff Bridges, Best Supporting Actress-Cloris Leachman (won), Ellen Burstyn, Best Screenplay-Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Cinematography

Golden Globe Nominations: 1 win-Best Picture-Drama, Best Director-Peter Bogdanovich, Best Supporting Actor-Ben Johnson (won), Best Supporting Actress-Ellen Burstyn, Cloris Leachman, Best Screenplay, New Star of the Year- Cybill Shepherd

1976 Films, Drama, Thriller, Top 250 Films

Taxi Driver-1976

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Taxi Driver-1976

Director Martin Scorsese 

Starring Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, Jodie Foster

Top 250 Films #130

Scott’s Review #776 

Reviewed June 20, 2018

Grade: A

It is incredibly tough to choose a favorite among Martin Scorsese’s films, since nearly all of them are exceptionally well-made.

Goodfellas (1990), Raging Bull (1980), and Taxi Driver (1976) immediately come to mind. Taxi Driver may be Scorsese’s darkest film of all.

The thriller is intense, dangerous, and ferocious, led by a riveting performance by Robert De Niro, a regular in the director’s earlier films. The film is nail-biting and compelling, and a great, character-driven watch.

Set in the bustling and (at that time) decrepit New York City shortly following the Vietnam War, Travis is a veteran suffering from some degree of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lonely and angry, he works as an overnight taxi driver who falls for a snooty presidential campaign worker, Betsy (Cybill Shepherd).

He also forges a relationship of a protective nature with an underage prostitute, Iris (Jodie Foster). As he gradually spirals out of control due to the unhappiness surrounding him, he plots to kill Betsy’s boss while protecting Iris from her pimp (Harvey Keitel).

One great aspect of Taxi Driver is the extremely good performance by De Niro. Along with Jake LaMotta’s later role in Raging Bull, Travis Bickle’s role is my second favorite of his. With Bickle, he is unpredictable, on edge, and angry, as De Niro infuses the character with those qualities in a seamless fashion.

As he teeters on the brink of insanity and is ready to snap at any given moment, the character is impossible not to watch with both fear and marvel.

De Niro is that brilliant. 

While not to be outdone by the aforementioned negative and dangerous qualities, Travis also possesses a few benevolent traits, making the character complex. In large part, this comes into play with the protective nature he develops towards Iris.

Almost like a big brother/kid-sister dynamic, the deranged man treats her with kindness rather than taking advantage of her as he easily could have. The diner scene, in which the two actors (De Niro and Foster) share it, is rich in interesting dialogue and binds the characters together.

Travis also harbors love and hate emotions towards Betsy (Cybill Shepherd). As she is a political volunteer for a potential presidential candidate, Travis first encounters her while spying on her through the large glass windows where she works.

Coaxing her to accept a date, they have coffee and eventually attend a film together. Betsy is offended since the film is pornographic, and their date goes south fast. After a vicious showdown between the pair at the campaign office, Travis goes off the deep end and plots revenge.

The gritty, atmospheric approach Scorsese takes in Taxi Driver is an enormous highlight of the film. Dingy, dark, and dangerous, the director creates numerous scenes that show just how seedy New York City was in the 1970s.

Working the night shift, sure to bring out the rancid and most decaying elements of the city, Travis experiences many cretins and undesirables in his work- and arguably is one of them!

Many scenes feature the notorious 42nd Street and its accompanying porn theaters that made New York City famous (or infamous!) at the time.

In one of the film’s most frightening (and best) scenes, Travis can get his hands on a gun. He practices drawing his weapon in the mirror, repeatedly uttering the famous line “You talkin’ to me?” as we wonder if he will pull the trigger.

The scene is fraught with cerebral tension and quite frightening. Later, when Travis shaves his head and brandishes a mohawk, his new look is downright terrifying.

Scorsese creates a dark world enriched by his incredible cinematography and astounding portrayals of compelling characters in dangerous, unstable times.

Taxi Driver (1976) is a treasure to watch closely and appreciate as a timeless piece of art. Instead of decaying in the vaults of cinema, the film gets better and better with age.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor-Robert De Niro, Best Supporting Actress-Jodie Foster, Best Original Score

1974 Films, Drama, Period Drama, Romantic Drama

Daisy Miller-1974

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Daisy Miller-1974

Director Peter Bogdanovich

Starring Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman 

Scott’s Review #383

DaisyMillerPoster

Reviewed March 6, 2016

Grade: B

Daisy Miller is a largely forgotten 1974 film based on a Henry James novella of the same name, directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring then-girlfriend Cybill Shepherd in the title role.

I admire the film in certain respects, but ultimately rank it as good, not spectacular. I pondered the film afterward and had a feeling that something was missing from it.

The story, set in the late 1800s, tells of a wealthy upstate New York family, led by the naïve Daisy Miller (Shepherd), visiting Europe in hopes of becoming more cultured and worldly, but instead is largely met with defiance and snobbery from European sophisticates. Daisy attempts to find love with her numerous potential suitors.

The film is largely shot in Switzerland and Italy.

The romantic story between Daisy and upper-class Frederick Winterbourne is the focal point. Daisy, a chatterbox and flirt, captures Winterbourne’s fancy, and he gradually woos her. Still, he is conflicted by social norms and by her innocent involvement with other men, most notably the dashing Italian Giovanelli.

This leads to conflict. I noticed some chemistry between Daisy and Winterbourne.

Bogdanovich, who only directed a handful of films, including the masterpiece The Last Picture Show (1971), uses several great actors in both films.

In addition to Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, and Eileen Brennan appear in supporting roles. Leachman as Daisy’s equally chatty and naïve mother, and Brennan as the vicious socialite Mrs. Parker.

Brennan, in particular, shines. Outstanding at playing snobs and unique character roles, this was right up Brennan’s alley, and she almost steals the show.

I adored the cinematography and the costumes featured in the production and thought both were the film’s main strengths.

The clothing the characters wear is both gorgeous and believable for the period. The backdrop in the hotel garden scene is exquisite and picturesque, with the lake, sky, and mountain all in full view, creating a unique viewing experience.

I also found the subject of cultural class distinctions quite interesting. The Millers are rich but uneducated and unlikable- they live in Schenectady and are considered far beneath the clever, intelligent figures of Europe.

They do not measure up and lack the same breeding and class as many of the other characters.

Adding to this is the fact that the Millers never really seemed all that interested in being in Europe, almost taking the opportunity for granted, so I was never completely captured by the Millers or found them particularly sympathetic as a group.

Given that she is the focus, I found Daisy Miller a bit unlikable, which could be due to the casting of Shepherd. Daisy’s endless rants, largely about herself, teetered on annoying, to say nothing of her irritating little brother.

Sure, Daisy is sweet and kindhearted, but there is something that did not compel me about her. She was a less charismatic, northern version of Scarlett O’Hara.

I kept wondering if other actresses might have brought more to the character and given her more muscle. Was this role a showcase for Shepherd because of her relationship with Bogdanovich?

The conclusion of the film surprised me, featuring a downcast ending I did not expect, given the sunny mood of the rest of the film, and this is to Bogdanovich’s credit.

He certainly did not make a mainstream film, and I admire that.

Daisy Miller (1974) is a mixed bag for me. I admire some aspects, but the story and the casting could have used a bit of work.

Oscar Nominations: Best Costume Design