The Women of Anarene
Peter Bogdanovich’s film The Last Picture Show was released in 1971 and portrays American life in the dying small town of Anarene, Texas in 1951. While plot and production are twenty years apart, both are a time prior to women having free agency. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), enacted in 1974, was the first legislation to allow women to purchase homes, and own bank accounts, without a husband or a male cosigner. Understanding this history may also help to understand the actions of the women in Anarene, Texas and why Bogdanovich was comfortable portraying these women as either serving men, or pleasing them sexually, and nothing else.
In the opening scene of the film, Hank Williams, Sr.’s song “Why Don’t You Love Me?” is playing as the menfolk enter the pool hall, where only men are allowed. Bogdanovich’s use of Williams song alerts the audience that women are responsible for loving their man no matter what, and if they don’t, surely there is something wrong with them. The third verse of the song says “Well, why don’t you be just like you used to be? How come you find so many faults with me? (Williams)” We can infer she was a silly woman, surely, he has no faults. Another stand out song by Williams in the film is “Cold, Cold, Heart”. The diegetic use of Williams’ songs may feel like coincidence, but their placement, and the clips used, were placed exactly as intended by Bogdanovich.
Audiences are introduced to the first female character in the film shortly after the six-minute mark, when they meet Genevieve (Eileen Brennan). Genevieve is a stereotypical, aged beyond her years, cigarette smoking, waitress in the towns only diner, a diner without a single female patron. “Hey Good Lookin” is conveniently playing on the juke box and Genevieve is serving the towns men. The song, paired with the scene, seems almost parodic it’s dripping with so much misogyny.
After the diner, it is time to visit the Royal Theatre for a picture show. Young Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) shows up late. His girlfriend Charlene (Sharon Ullrick) is sitting next to her unnamed friend watching the show. She immediately moves to the back so she and Sonny can make out. Charlene wants to celebrate their one-year anniversary. They go to the truck to make out and there is no romance, no passion, no feeling. She removes her own clothing so Sonny can feel her up. Charlene comments they can have sex when they are married but admittedly finds many faults with Sonny. Sonny ultimately breaks up with her. She reacts by stating that this is how “nice” girls are treated in Anarene.
It is at the picture show where viewers are also introduced to what is largely considered the leading lady of the film, although the other female parts are just as important to the story. Jacy (Cybill Shepard) is the rich girl, princess, blonde bombshell in Anarene. All the boys want Jacy, including Sonny but she is Duane’s (Jeff Bridges) girl. Jacy’s role is complicated. Her rich parents expect her to go to school and marry rich, she expects she will marry Duane, but she has a fire inside her that wants to defy authority and the patriarchy. Sadly, marriage was the only way out for young women in the 1950’s. Genevieve tells Sonny, “Jacy will bring more misery than she will ever be worth.” If Jacy’s character was a handsome rich male, the mindset around her actions would be completely different, think Citizen Kane. She would be encouraged to sow her wild oats and eventually settle down.
Jacy’s mother, who never seems to be named, Lois (Ellen Burstyn), portrays what it feels like to be trapped in a dead marriage in a small town. Her role in the film can be an almost foreshadowing as to what Jacy’s future may look like. Lois is never far from a glass of whiskey. She has an affair with one of her husband’s employees, who she kisses straight on the mouth at a town dance. She twirls around the dance floor with the young roughneck with only his date giving the couple notice. Lois wants Jacy to marry a rich man. She encourages birth control and having premarital sex with Duane, so Jacy can get him out of her system. Despite her faults, Jacy’s mother knows what it feels like to be trapped in a life she did not necessarily choose because choices did not exist.
One of the saddest stories in Anarene is Ruth’s (Cloris Leachman) story. Ruth has been married to the town’s football and basketball coach for the last 20 years. Coach Popper (Bill Thurman) is a disgusting creature who speaks of his wife’s illnesses as a money grabbing inconvenience. Coach has Sonny drive Ruth to the doctor. The stories of the women in this film are so irrelevant to Bogdanovich, the audience never learns what is wrong with Ruth after she leaves the clinic in tears. Her illness means nothing other than a hook to bring her and Sony together. Ruth and Sonny have a hot and heavy affair, and she comes to life for the first time. Her newfound self-worth is short lived when Sonny runs off and marries Jacy with no explanation to Ruth.
Ruth’s role tells the most poignant lesson of all in The Last Picture Show; women exist to serve men. After being gone for three months with no explanation, Sonny shows up at Ruth’s doorstep devastated by his friend’s death. Ruth tries to be strong. She tries to tell Sonny to go to hell but as soon as he touches her hand, it becomes about Sonny, not Ruth, not Ruth’s pain. Sonny. Life is all about Sonny, at that moment. Ruth’s pain is subservient to Sonny’s pain. She holds his hand and tells him “never you mind. Never you mind.”
Women and their viewpoints are underrepresented in film, so much so, that there is a test. In 1985 Alison Bechdel created the Bechdel test to gauge a films representation of women. It is a simple test; are there at least two women in the film, and do they talk to each other about something other than men (Hasek). The Last Picture Show most definitely fails the Bechdel test. Women speak to each other twice, and both are about a man. Jacy and her mother discuss Duane and life, and the Roughnecks’ girlfriend speaks up to Lois about the kiss. This is the extent of female-to-female dialogue in the film.
Roger Ebert says, “It is about a town with no reason to exist, and people with no reason to live there (Ebert).” But really it is a town where women have no reason. It is an eye-opening experience to view a film through a specific lens, in this case a critical feminist lens. None of the women in Anarene reflect worth without also being attached to a man. Even poor Jimmie Sue (Helena Humann), with her short role as a waitress, is serving men at the drive in, and beyond – for a dollar fifty. None of the stories in The Last Picture Show are from the female’s viewpoint or even empathetic towards women. The Last Picture Show is often touted as a coming-of-age story, but when viewed through a critical feminine lens, it is really a quite tragic story for its female characters. Jacy and her mother have the most agency of any of the women, or so it seems; 1974 is a long way from 1951.
Works Cited
Ebert, Roger. “Deep in the heart of Texas.” Ebert Digital LLC. 4 July 2004.
rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-last-picture-show-1971. Accessed 10 May 2026.
Hasek, Nicole. “The Bechdel Test: What it is and how it affects film.” Iowa State Daily. Iowa
State. 19 Jan 2022. iowastatedaily.com/5395/news/the-bechdel-test-what-it-is-and-how-it-affects-film/. Accessed 10 May 2026.
The Last Picture Show. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Performances by Timothy Bottoms, Jeff
Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, and Cloris Leachman. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 1971.
Williams, Hank. “Cold, Cold Heart.” Dear John, A-Side. Acuff-Rose Publications 1951.
Williams, Hank. “Hey Good Lookin.” Hey Good Lookin, A-Side. Acuff-Rose Publications 1951.
Williams, Hank. “Why Don’t You Love Me.” Why Don’t You Love Me, A-Side. Acuff-Rose
Publications 1950.