Cheap Texasville (DVD) (Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd, Jeff Bridges) (Peter Bogdanovich) Price

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Customer Reviews of Texasville

Underrated sequel to Bogdanovich's masterpiece connects well
"The Last Picture Show" had a lot going for it when it was adapted for the screen in 1971; a terrific book as source material, a talented young director poised to make a name for himself in Hollywood, and a solid cast of youthful actors (Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, and yes, Cybill Shepherd) braced with veterans who would be recognized for their own exceptional merits with Academy Award wins for Best Supporting Actor (Ben Johnson) and Best Supporting Actress (Cloris Leachman).

When Larry McMurtry wrote the sequel novel "Texasville" in the late 1980's, it took place thirty years later...and when screen rights were secured and the film production began and Bogdanovich was again asked to recreate the magic wrought almost two decades prior, he had at his disposal the same actors who shone so well two decades prior...who had aged sufficiently enough to be able to pick up precisely and absolutely believably where their characters had left off at the end of the first book/movie.

Expecting this sequel to be as important or ground-breaking as "The Last Picture Show" is not realistic...indeed "Texasville" seems far more influenced by MTV than John Ford, but considering the timeframe during which it is set, this is exactly as it should be. The joy of "Texasville" is not the "American Gothic" gloom prevalent throughout "The Last Picture Show"; there are some aspects of the movie that, although true to the novel, are pure schtick. Rather, the joy is in watching the characters whose youthful potential (or lack thereof) was only suggested in the first film in their present state, having weathered innumerable storms and not necessarily having come out the better for the wear.

It's a movie that, while at times depressing in its outlook, never ceases to cheer me up. It captures time's merciless march across our lives better than most movies ("Robin and Marian" being the most obvious favorable comparison that comes to mind, "Once Upon A Time In America" being another), and while not likely ever to occupy the rarefied ground in critical circles as "The Last Picture Show", "Texasville" DOES succeed brilliantly as a rather innovative sequel that is at the very least honest in its treatment of its stars' characters. Watch it if you're in the mood for light entertainment (and especially if you've already seen "The Last Picture Show" and enjoyed it), but don't expect Bogdanovich's lightning to strike EXACTLY in the same place twice.

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underrated
While not the monument that "The Last Picture Show" is, this is a thoroughly excellent film which proves, at least to me, that Peter Bogdanovich is anything but a has-been. The film captures the loosely-controlled chaos of the novel quite ably, and the performances are uniformly excellent. I was especially charmed that Bogdanovich kept the style he used in "Picture Show" of having the score composed entirely of source music; that's a fine way of linking the second film with the first one. My only complaint, really, is that the DVD doesn't have a lick of supplementary material. I'd have loved to have seen the deleted scenes, and also a documentary about the reunion of the cast. I'll echo an earlier reviewer's wish for a third Bogdanovich/McMurtry pairing with this cast in an adaptation of "Duane's Depressed," the final part of the trilogy.

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CLASSIC
A SUREFIRE CLASSIC FOR TODAYS MOVIES.
THE FACT IS THERE REALLY IS NO PLOT, BUT THAT IS WHAT MAKES THIS MOVIE SO GOOD. IT EXPLORES ITS OWN PATH IN THE MOVIE BUSINESS.
GOING ABOUT THE DAY TO DAY LIFE OF DUANE (JEFF BRIDGES).
HE IS HAVING A ROUGH TIME IN HIS LIFE AND REFLECTS ON HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED AND HOW THERE IS REALLY NOTHING ANYONE CAN DO TO FIX
IT.