Befallen by hard times on both sides of the camera, Peter Bogdanovich received an opportunity to revisit a familiar place and he took it. Texasville, the sequel to Bogdanovich’s break-out hit The Last Picture Show, is based on Larry McMurtry’s sequel novel, but the tone and feeling of this picture is a far cry from the first. It was easier to accept the characters’ stupid mistakes and impulsive decisions when they were young and filled with hopes and ambitions. Now, with those formative years in the past, it is natural to chastise the characters for not being happy or fulfilled with the way their lives have turned out. After all, who is to blame, other than themselves? Yet, perhaps because of his personal troubles, Bogdanovich takes a rather sympathetic approach to these perpetually sad, drifting and lonely people of Anarene, Texas. He understands why they act a certain way because he has grown alongside them. Directing this picture also afforded Bogdanovich the rare artistic opportunity to “approach it from another angle, to find a new way of looking at the same thing.” In this sense, Texasville is an attempt not to repeat or complete the arc of these characters, but rather to eavesdrop on them thirty years later and discover what has changed and what has not.

Most of the familiar faces are back, including Jeff Bridges as Duane, Timothy Bottoms as Sonny, Cloris Leachman as Ruth and Cybil Shepherd as the object of high school desire Jacy. Just about everyone has been marked by significant personal and professional crises and middle age is as dusty and dry as their hot Texas town. Duane, who in The Last Picture Show did a stint in the Army before heading to the oil fields, has struck it rich, but now faces bankruptcy. Sonny shows increasingly worrying signs of a mental breakdown, and Jacy returns to Anarene in an attempt to put the pieces of her life back together. In an allusion to the first picture, a recurring theme is the numerous and frequent extramarital affairs committed by just about everyone, including a sort of competition between Duane and his son Dickie (William McNamara) as to who can sleep with more of Duane’s friends’ wives. As for the women, Duane’s wife Karla (Annie Potts) is frazzled with her family life and seems to long for more from her husband than what he offers. Potts gives the best performance in the movie and is certainly a strong counter to the bloated and disgruntled Duane but she seems hamstrung by the material, as if Bogdanovich is almost afraid to let her loose on everyone else. Still, as we follow Duane through his business problems, issues with old friends and mission to ensure a smooth operation of the town’s Centennial celebration, it is clear that family remains the most important component of his life, even if he pays less attention to it than he should.

The return of Jacy looms large over many of the characters’ lives, especially Duane’s, and it is this central relationship where Bogdanovich finds some quiet truths and moments of exploration regarding age, memory and the yearning for what is lost. The tantalizing question of whether or not these high school sweethearts will resume their romance is played up but remains an afterthought amidst the other drama in Anarene. Still, Bogdanovich cannot help but tease unresolved situations from the first movie, and this is both a strength and a weakness. Part of us does want to see closure to these characters’ relationships and troubles; yet, we know life does not work this way and Bogdanovich has always been strongest when he stays true to real-life without falling for fantastical gimmicks. Thus, the most satisfying element of Texasville is how Duane and Jacy set to resolve their past as well as their future. The question is how to do the same with the other parts of their lives.

In his recap of the movie, film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum characterized Texasville as being primarily about families, “…all of which has a great deal to do with redefining what constitutes a family unit.” He also notes the biggest difference between The Last Picture Show and Texasville: while the former is based in nostalgia for a certain era, the latter “is largely built around the hard facts of historical amnesia.” This ties into the notion that youth begs forgiveness for mistakes and irrationality but middle age is often merciless. Bogdanovich seems puzzled by this and paints these characters as unhappy but not mean-spirited or vindictive. In The Last Picture Show, the sexual merry-go-round was understood as a reflection of the youthful rebellion and the teens’ ambition to escape Anarene and make something useful of their lives. In Texasville, such indiscretions are done out of boredom and frustration, or in response to life’s upheavals. Yet, as Rosenbaum states, family remains the one stable element for these characters. It is also, as the last important component of their lives, the thing they risk losing.

Texasville was a continuation of Bogdanovich’s struggles in the 1980s. It did rather poorly at the box office and was a troubled production, on par with the director’s decade of filmmaking difficulties. Nevertheless, it received the most critical acclaim since Mask and was the first movie he could call his own since They All Laughed. The question for movie lovers today is whether or not this movie is necessary. Why, when The Last Picture Show is readily available and stands on its own, is a sequel about these sad and drifting characters important? For many, the answer will be it is not and there is no denying Texasville is inferior to its black-and-white sibling. Yet, like siblings they are stronger together than apart. As mentioned above, family is the main thread between these two pictures and despite the outbursts and sexual intrigues, what Bogdanovich tries to emphasize above all is the need for a group of people to call your own. Certainly, this is what Sonny desires in his affair with Ruth and his father-son like relationship with Sam the Lion. And in Texasville it is what Duane tries to attain amidst his fractured life. Ultimately, the test of time affects everyone and for Bogdanovich, the chance to renew his relationship with this story and these characters must have been the proper salve for his career. For viewers, the response will undoubtedly be more mixed.