Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Peter Bogdanovich’s promising directorial career eventually went into steep decline, but he’ll always hold a place in the pantheon for this, his 1971 second movie.
Skilfully adapted from a novel by Larry McMurtry (who co-screenwrote this and Brokeback Mountain), it’s a heartfelt study of young people growing up in a rundown Texas township in the early ’50s.
The period detail’s flawless, with Robert Surtees’ widescreen black-and-white framings capturing the flat, windswept vistas in all their desolation.
Meanwhile the acting – especially by Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman and a young Jeff Bridges (who banked his first Oscar nod) – cuts to the quick.
A worthy tribute to Bogdanovich’s idols, Orson Welles and John Ford.
