I recently saw The ... Show again, and while some of the scenes still seem too long, the movie reminded me of some memorable people - from the past - and how they progressed to the present day.
Back in the 70’s, I was working as a busboy at a festive, fancy restaurant in Dallas - on the eve of the annual Texas-OU football rivalry. The rowdy, rich patrons were partying and singing back and forth in an enormous room, when about fifty of the cast and crew of the film above joined the fun at a big long table. I didn't dare stare at a pretty starlet - sitting right next to her father, I thought. Ben Johnson, Tim Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, and Randy Quaid are some of the well known actors in that award winning movie. They might've been sitting in my section that night, but I didn't know 'em. I was too green too see a R rated movie.
I first saw the
The Last Picture Show about a decade later; with my younger brother, his best friend Don, and a six pack of Strohs, sitting in a room in Owensboro, Ky, just down the river from the
original Kentucky Fried Chicken. "Good beer", Don beamed, as the movie began. He and my brother were about to work as roustabouts - sharing a shack for the rest of the summer, up and down dozens of trails, winding between the tall, green Kentucky trees, an hour or two out of town.
Ironically, just a few months before, working at a restaurant by Stapleton Airport, I waited on the original Colonel Sanders - wearing a white suit (like Leon and Mary Russell - whom I waited on at another nice place in downtown Denver, btw). I was hopin' to say hi, but the crew conceded that the Colonel wasn't cooking.
I'll never forget when the three of us were watching The Last Picture Show on HBO -
the scene when high school graduates Sonny and Duane (Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges) return to their windswept Texas town from a trip to Tijuana, and Sonny scratches his ass - like it really itches. I didn’t understand the subtle innuendo until Don, sitting next to me, let out a laugh.
Ole Ben the Lion warned those boys - before they embarked for the border to bump the bordellos. A few years later, in the early 80's, Don's body was found beneathe a fir, in the frosty forest near his folks back home. When officials insisted he shot himself, his friends and family definitely doubted that Don would've done it...
Damn... I've often wondered why Don is dead. I remember Don as pretty good dude, and wish he were here to watch the movie too.