MovieChat Forums > The Last Picture Show (1971) Discussion > Were People Really Like This in 1951 ?

Were People Really Like This in 1951 ?

posted 10 years ago by mistermycroft
21 replies | jump to latest

Seems more like 1971 than people in 1951:

Teenage boy sleeping with the coach's wife;

A mother encouraging her daughter to sleep around;

Teenage girl having sex with an adult man on a pool table;

Very promiscuous teenage girls;

Teenagers (and younger kids) having no qualms about walking around totally nude in front of each other;

A woman agreeing to deflower a young boy in a car for $ 1

I question whether this was realistic for 1951. Most of these people would be thrown in jail, run out of town, and the women branded as "whores" for this behavior

[–] nbg1446 9 years ago

Of course people done things like in the 1950's and the 1850's etc etc it has gone on since life began in ALL countries it's just back then in the 50's there wasn't things like the internet etc and things were just swept under the carpet. It's a bit like saying there were no such things as gay people in the 50's or 100, 200, 500 years ago. Also like saying cancer has got worse/ more people have it these days. Drugs were not taken as much years ago. They were there it's just they were not talked about and was hidden quite often. That is the one good thing about this day and age that people talk more, it is known about more and are not as afraid and there other BIG things called the internet and TV which is why it seems like there is more of everything these days x

[–] wylierichardson-966-922691 9 years ago

It's worth knowing that the novel came out around 1968. Larry McMurtry (the author of said novel) may have avoided setting it in modern times in order to avoid the specter of the young men being drafted for Vietnam. That is pure conjecture of course.

[–] kenny-164 8 years ago

Imo the OP is using an implicit false premise, which is that there was a lot of sleeping around by the characters in this film. But in terms of actual sexual relations that were occurring in the time period covered by the film itself as opposed to past affairs alluded to, there weren't that many.

One encounter with a prostitute - of course there were prostitutes even in small town America. That doesn't mean everyone was going to prostitutes (here of course meaning the men).

Coach's wife and Sonny - really the only atypical relationship in the film. No pattern was implied here. Early in the film Sonny is shown getting to second base with a girl, but that was showing something far from atypical, of course.

Lois Farrow's affair with "Abilene" - no sex was shown, and Mrs. Farrow was portrayed as a wife who was being ignored by her husband, and not very happy. In fact it was not clear how much of a real affair was going on here.

Jacy Farrow and Abilene - a one time event part of Jacy's character's arc of trying to fit in with the libertines in the next town (the pool party).

Jacy and Duane - Still part of Jacy's character's arc, the sex did not actually occur here.

Compare these situations and one time events to the overall number of characters who were NOT having sex or even in relationships. It just doesn't seem like a lot of sex to me.

Now there is still left the pool party and what is implied about the social scene it supposedly had as its context. The fact that it concededly is not typical does not make it implausible. So perhaps people in general were not like it in 1951, or for that matter at any time. But were there people like that in 1951? Not hard to believe.

[–] Wuchak (8775) 6 years ago

This is a great post detailing what little sex really went on in a film slightly infamous for its sleaze quotient; and the quality of some of that sex is dubious (e.g. Duane and Jacy).

As far as the nude pool party goes, it seemed that these kids were older than Jacy (except for the little brother swimming in the pool; and Lester). I'm assuming college age; in other words, about 1-4 years older. Regardless, they were the spoiled offspring of rich libertines from the Big Oil business in Wichita Falls. Jacy was a rich girl from backwater Nowheresville and wanted to fit in with these bigger city kids.

Regarding the realism of the nude swimming, the story takes place in 1951. A mere 18 years later teens were publicly skinny dipping in Woodstock, NY, which is documented in the film of the same name. Do we seriously think a few teens weren't doing the same thing a mere 18 years earlier? For comparison, it's 2018 as of this writing. Do we really think teens today are all that different from teens 18 years ago in 2000? ? Besides, teens on the wild side were skinny dipping in the 1800s, 1700s, 1600s, etc.

[–] FlyingSaucersAreReal 8 years ago

I wasn't around at the time, but the writer, Larry McMurtry, was.

I think this movie was closer to the truth about life at that time then the movies being made then were. In the 1950s because of the cultural standards of the time there were aspects of life you just couldn't depict in books, movies, music, etc. Profanity and sex especially.

-Sitting on a cornflake waiting for the van to come

[–] slimone (7996) 7 years ago

I think big cities were a lot different that small, remote towns.

[–] ElKabong1940 (323) 5 years ago

Have you ever known Hollywood to not over do it or embellish a story? I seriously doubt that all of these bizarre sexual episodes occurred in one small town. After all, this is the Bible Belt! I was a teenager in the 1950’s in a large city. There was a incident of a policeman who was sexually abusing his daughter. When she was old enough to acquire a boyfriend, she told him what was going on. The boyfriend killed her father with a rifle. My high school buddy got his girlfriend pregnant. The girl’s parents went with an abortion. Abortion was a big no-no back then. The poor girl stood on a street corner with her bag. She got in the back seat of a certain car and was dropped off a week later on the same street corner. My wife was from a small Southern town and I heard all of the episodes that occurred there. There was a high school girl who worked part time for a lawyer. They had an affair - she wasn’t any Sibil Sheppard. There was a farmer who was known to be sexual abusing his daughter. There was also a married couple who were known swingers. All of the sexual episodes in this movie probably took place sometime or the other in various places, but not in one small Texas town.