Archer City, Texas: a lasting picture of a bleak cinematic masterpiece

It has shown no film since the fire in the mid-1960s and the exterior brick wall has entirely caved in, but the Royal, in a crossroads town on the plains of north Texas, remains one of the most important cinemas in America.

He was still in school but knew Larry McMurtry, the Archer City local who ditched the family ranching trade for the less likely world of writing books. The Last Picture Show was McMurtry’s second novel: an episodic tale of small-town restlessness and disenchantment in a small community set against an epic, brutal landscape.

He enticed John Ford to persuade Ben Johnson to play the reticent Sam ‘the Lion’. Crucially, he followed the advice of Orson Welles and shot the film in black and white. The effects were stunning: every frame looked like a Archer City is everything and nothing: a geometrically perfect crossroads with a four-way traffic light suspended like a medallion at the centre point of the wide streets. Photograph: Keith Duggan

And it’s no surprise Archer City has not traded or hawked its place in Hollywood history. There is no explicit reference to The Last Picture Show, except for the preserved of the Royal Theater. Johnny took over the Spur just a few years ago. The foyer is a splendour, filled with books by McMurtry and other classics of southern literature.

Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)

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