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Jan 7, 2022Liked by Ty Burr

Haven't seen (or remember?) all of those, but I certainly remember The Last Picture Show...which I've seen many times as it's always worth it.I know I've seen what's up, doc, but don't remember very well. And I liked being annoyed by him on the Sopranos!

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The local Cinematheque held an Austin Pendleton weekend which included "What's Up, Doc." They've show the director's cuts of "At Long Last Love" and "Mask" (to commemorate reopening after being closed 15 during during the pandemic). It's amazing to see the wealth of potential in the later films and witness how the potential came to early fruition in the first three. A fine portrait that captures all of that talented man's many dimensions. A fine work of journalistic synthesis.

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The only film of Bogdanovich I've seen is The Last Picture Show. I thought it was really good! May he rest in peace.

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Bogdanovich was a treasure. Per your recommendation, I watched What's Up, Doc? on Christmas Eve with my 30 yo daughter and SIL to be. The SIL left to play video games after 15 min. The daughter couldn't understand any of the jokes and only kept watching to keep track of who had which suitcase (failed). I, on the other hand, howled with laughter, louder and louder as the film progressed, with the 'Love Story' quote at the end being the piece de resistance. Thank you Ty.

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A few weeks ago, you were asking about movies based on books. I had read "The Last Picture Show" before the movie came out (I think, it could have been the other way around, kind of a long time ago)...and it is a very good adaptation of the novel. Really true to it, captured the essence, etc. Great bunch of characters.

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Thanks for pointing out Karina Longworth’s podcast on Polly Platt - such excellent work.

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A lovely tribute to a great filmmaker and film lover. "They All Laughed" is also (as you said about several of his films) actually much better than the box office response would imply - also, Audrey Hepburn's last theatrical film was Spielberg's "Always," in 1990. She was paid a million dollars, and she donated it all to UNICEF. I used to show the chase sequence in "What's Up, Doc?" to my elementary age film students, and they LOVED it. RIP, Mr. Bogdonavich.

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Nice summation of a complex and rich life. It's worth noting that Larry McMurtry and Cloris Leachman died in 2021. In honor of all that, this past weekend, my family watched "The Last Picture Show." That movie has an outsized influence on me. I saw it when it was released, and it probably had more to do with my becoming a filmmaker than any other film. In so many ways, I’m a different person than the kid I was in 1971, and my understanding of cinema is a world apart from what it was back then. It’s therefore shocking to me that, fifty years later, I still think "Picture Show" is major achievement. My twenty-something son also really liked the film, which makes me think its appeal will endure.

When our little screening was over, my wife commented that "The Last Picture Show" was "a movie about bad sex." She's not wrong. Of the many intimacies captured in the film, a kiss shared by a high school student with a woman in her forties is probably the only coupling enjoyed (for the moment) by both participants. For all the pain and disillusionment catalogued in it, I can't think of a film that is a more potent exploration of desire. Desire isn't just driving the narrative; it's embodied in the film's cinematic language: the way the camera often pushes in on close-ups and faces emerge from darkness into shimmering pools of light. All of this worked on my thirteen year-old mind and body is mysterious ways, changing me forever.

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