So this is a movie made in the early ’70s, in black and white, that’s about coming of age in a small Texas town in the early ‘50s. Its main takeaway seems to be that small Texas towns are depressing af, which seems very accurate, so: good moral?

But so anyway, it’s one of those movies that has a protagonist, ish, but where really it follows a whole ton of characters around. There’s the blank protagonist, his girlfriend, his hothead friend (a young Jeff Bridges), his friend’s girlfriend (a young Cybill Shepherd), his quasi-father-figure, the slow kid in town, the weird Jesusy kid, the coach, the coach’s wife, Cybill Shepherd’s mom, etc.

And all the characters end up kind of getting their own story told, at least a little bit, and interacting with each other in all sorts of different ways. But mostly, they fuck. This is like 70% indie small-town slice of life, and 30% teen sex comedy. Which also means that it is often surprisingly funny.

(And speaking of funny things, it uses period-accurate country music, and holy fuck, as bad as Nu Country might be, old-timey country is the worst type of music on the planet, with all these yodeling voices and hyuk-hyuks.)

Anyway, this is actually shockingly good for a movie on the AFI list. Like, it’s bleak and funny and a little bit sweet and a whole lot heartbreaking. Recommended.