Picture This.

• Author: Rothenberg, Robert S.

Direct Cinema Limited / 57 minutes / $34.95

In 1970, director Peter Bogdanovich and his crew of actors and technicians descended on Archer City, Tex., the small town where author Larry McMurtry grew up and the setting for his novel, The Last Picture Show. The film version went on to receive eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, with veterans Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman winning for their supporting roles. This fascinating documentary provides an intimate behind-the-scenes look at how Hollywood's invasion impacted on the townspeople's lives and, to an even greater extent, affected those of the filmmakers.

Before the project was completed, Bogdanovich split up with his wife, Polly Platt, the movie's production designer, and began an eight-year relationship with Cybill Shepherd, the young model he had cast as the female lead despite her total lack of movie experience. Meanwhile, Timothy Bottoms, the moody co-star, developed a romantic fixation on Shepherd, which was unrequited. Add in the resentment of many of the town's citizens over what some perceived as an unfair...