The Grand Illusion

Join us for this special fundraiser screening of Peter Bogdanovich's THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. The proceeds from your $25 ticket will go towards our relocation, plus you'll get to see a beautiful restoration of an American classic.

One of the key films of the American seventies cinema renaissance, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is set in the early fifties, in the loneliest Texas nowheresville to ever dust up a movie screen. This aching portrait of a dying West, adapted from Larry McMurtry’s novel, focuses on the daily shuffles of three futureless teens—enigmatic Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), wayward jock Duane (Jeff Bridges), and desperate-to-be-adored rich girl Jacy (Cybill Shepherd)—and the aging lost souls who bump up against them in the night like drifting tumbleweeds. Featuring evocative black-and-white imagery and profoundly felt performances, this hushed depiction of crumbling American values remains the pivotal work in the career of invaluable film historian and director Peter Bogdanovich.

This screening is generously sponsored by longtime Grand Illusion patron Michelle Byrd in loving memory of Bill Kennedy. Part of our Farewell to 1403 series.

For all of our fundraiser screenings, if you see a “Sold Out” message on the ticketing page it means we sold all of our 68 seats. We’ll start a wait list for door sales, but no guarantees we’ll have extra tickets.

“The movie gets to you quietly. You are likely to succumb to its melancholy spell without knowing quite why. But you realize, with absolute certainty, that you are watching something extraordinary in the way of filmmaking.” William B. Collins, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“The Last Picture Show is a masterpiece… the most impressive work by a young American director since Citizen Kane.” Paul D. Zimmerman, Newsweek