I first saw The Last Picture Show in 2011 right before I moved back to San Francisco for film school. I decided I had to finish all of the A.F.I. 100 Years. . .100 Films lists (the original combined with the 10th anniversary). I didn’t have many left and this was one of them. I watched it on a weekday morning with my mother and the two of us were so sucked into we hardly noticed two hours had gone by. What a film. I recently was lucky enough to watch it on the big screen at the Castro Theatre and I must say, as I often do, pretty much everything is better when you see it ont he big screen. I’m so glad I got to see Robert Surtees’s divine cinematography on the big screen. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning two: Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actress Ellen Burstyn, Best Supporting Actress Cloris Leachman (won), Best Supporting Actor Jeff Bridges, Best Supporting Actor Ben Johnson (won), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture. The other films nominated that year were: A Clockwork Orange, Fiddler on the Roof, Nicholas and Alexandra and winner The French Connection.

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