Criterion to release The Last Picture Show on a single 4K disc

The Last Picture Show's earlier releases on Blu-ray and 4K were only in box sets; Criterion released the Blu-ray as part of its America Lost and Found: the BBS Story box in 2010, and Sony premiered the 4K in its Columbia Classics, vol. 3 set in 2022.

The Last Picture Show finally makes its debut as a standalone 4K disc (a Blu-ray and the sequel Texasville are also included) from Criterion; release date is November 14, 2023. All extras from the 2010 Criterion Blu-ray will be included with the new 4K disc, as well as some new material. However, there are a few extras in the Columbia Classics, vol. 3 set not with the Criterion disc, so completists will want both.

From the Criterion website:

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, including Cloris Leachman’s lonely housewife and Ben Johnson’s grizzled movie-house proprietor. 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.

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, including Cloris Leachman’s lonely housewife and Ben Johnson’s grizzled movie-house proprietor. 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.

Film Info

• United States

• 1971

• 126 minutes

• Black & White

• 1.85:1

• English

• Spine #549

4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• 4K digital restoration of the director’s cut, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack

• One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features

• Texasville (1990), the sequel to The Last Picture Show, presented in both the original theatrical version and a black-and-white version of Peter Bogdanovich’s director’s cut, produced in collaboration with cinematographer Nicholas von Sternberg

• Two audio commentaries, featuring Bogdanovich and actors Cybill Shepherd, Randy Quaid, Cloris Leachman, and Frank Marshall

• Two documentaries about the making of the film

• Q&A with Bogdanovich from 2009

• Screen tests and location footage

• Introduction to Texasville featuring Bogdanovich, Shepherd, and actor Jeff Bridges

• Excerpts from a 1972 television interview with filmmaker François Truffaut about the New Hollywood

• Trailers

• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• PLUS: An essay by film critic Graham Fuller and excerpts from an interview with Bogdanovich about Texasville, with a new introduction by Bogdanovich biographer Peter Tonguette Cover by F. Ron Miller