The Last Picture Show

The Last Picture Show is the 1966 western fiction bildungsroman novel written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry. Set in Thalia, Texas in the mid-1950s, the story follows the lives of three teenagers wandering through adolescence in a tiny town where very little happens. Duane Moore wants to marry his girlfriend Jacy Farrow, his close pal Sonny Crawford wants what Duane has, and Jacy wants nothing more than to escape Thalia any way she can. As the three teenagers experience a series of memorable episodes such as  nude pool parties and witnessing the only movie theater in town shut down, they gain invaluable wisdom and begin to come of age as the times begin to change. The novel is the first in a five-part Duane Moore series, followed by Texasville, Duane’s Depressed, When the Light Goes, and Rhino Ranch. In 1971, The Last Picture Show was adapted into a commercial and critical hit motion picture directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Jeff Bridges as Duane, Timothy Bottoms as Sonny, and Cybill Shepherd as Jacy. The film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning two Oscars for Best Supporting Actor (Ben Johnson) and Best Supporting Actress (Cloris Leachman).

Narrated in the third-person omniscient perspective, the story begins in 1950s Thalia, Texas. Duane Moore and his best friend Sonny Crawford are highschool seniors on the football team. Although each still has one living parent, Duane and Sonny live together in a small rooming house and support themselves with part-time jobs. When they aren’t playing football, they spend time in their tiny town among pool halls, obsessing over sex, and dreaming of their futures. Duane’s girlfriend is Jacy Farrow, the richest and most beautiful girl in town. Sonny dates Charlene Duggs, an ugly and unlikable classmate. Overcome with deep dissatisfaction regarding his dating life, Sonny breaks up with Charlene following a night at the picture show, the only movie theater in town. At Christmastime, Sonny has an affair with Ruth Popper, the football coach’s pretty but neglected wife. Ruth is lonely because Coach Popper is a closeted homosexual. Sonny finds happiness in sleeping with Ruth and comes to terms with the fact that she is in love with him. Meanwhile, Duane tries desperately to get Jacy to sleep with him. However, at the Christmas dance, Jacy is invited to a nude pool party by Lester Marlow. The party is held among the rich, sexually liberated crowd in Wichita Falls at Bobby Sheen’s house. Jacy becomes attracted to Bobby, but Bobby tells Jacy not to come back until she’s had sex, as he doesn’t consort with virgins.

Duane and Sonny take their mentally-impaired friend, Billy, to sleep with a prostitute in order to lose his virginity. The prostitute strikes Billy in the face when he prematurely ejaculates. Duane and Sonny take Billy back home, where he’s looked after by Sam the Lion, a powerful man in town who owns the pool hall, movie house, and café. Sam has taken care of Billy since the boy’s father died. When the boys return, Sam explains that, since they cannot take care of a friend, they are banned from his business establishments. Duane hides in the car out of Sam’s sight. A waitress at the café named Genevieve tells Duane she saw him hiding in the car but promises not to tell Sam. During New Year’s Eve weekend, Duane and Sonny take a trip to Mexico. Before they leave, Sam forgives Sonny and expresses his desire to have enough energy to go with them. When they return to Thalia exhausted and hung-over, Duane and Sonny learn Sam died of a stroke on New Year’s Eve. In his will, Sam leaves the pool hall to Sonny and Billy, the café to Genevieve, and the movie theater to the woman who operated the concession booth.



During a class trip to San Francisco, Jacy invites Duane to have sex with her in a motel. However, Duane cannot achieve an erection. They have sex during their second attempt. Afterwards, Jacy dumps Duane so she can seduce Bobby now that she’s lost her virginity. Jacy has sex with Bobby one time before Bobby runs off to marry his high-school sweetheart. Jacy is aggravated to no end. Duane becomes so despondent about losing Jacy that he decides to move to Midland. Out of boredom, Jacy sleeps with her alcoholic mother Lois’ lover, Abilene. When Abilene does not fall in love with Jacy as she wishes, she becomes so depressed that she decides to bust up the relationship between Sonny and Ruth. Jacy feigns sexual interest in Sonny, causing him to stop seeing Ruth. Ruth is crestfallen. Duane finds out about the affair and slugs Sonny with a beer bottle, causing blindness in his left eye. Afterwards, Duane declares he’s joining the army to fight in Korea.

Jacy informs Sonny that she wants to wed him, prompting them to elope to Oklahoma. However, Jacy only proposed marriage because she knew her parents would find them and have the marriage annulled. On the way to their honeymoon, Sonny and Jacy are stopped by an Oklahoma state trooper. Jacy leaves a note for her parents detailing her plan, and soon the Farrows arrive and have Sonny and Jacy’s wedding annulled. Lois drives the dispirited Sonny back to Thalia from Oklahoma. On the way, they stop at a roadside motel and have sex. Afterwards, Sonny realizes how poorly he has treated Ruth. As football season commences, Sonny feels out of place in Thalia. The movie theater has shown its final picture show and closes its doors for good. Duane departs for Korea. One morning soon after, a trucker hits Billy as he sweeps the street. Billy dies. Sonny is so upset about the accident that he runs to Ruth’s house. Ruth is enraged, but realizes she’s less afraid of forgiving Sonny then being hurt by him again in the future. The novel ends with Sonny and Ruth holding hands in her kitchen as their future remains a question mark.