Archer City, Texas

pictures and commentary by Eric Isaacson

On Monday, March 29, I left my motel in Lawton, Oklahoma, and drove south towards Mexico. That morning I passed through Archer City, Texas, where the movies "The Last Picture Show" and "Texasville" were filmed.

Here is the ruin of the old theater seen in "The Last Picture Show"

Looking inside the old building reveals a large puddle.

I suspect that, at some point, this pile of debris was cleared away from the building, to make it safer to walk around.

Here is a view from the rear looking forwards. The theater faces the courthouse square, on the north side of the square. The county courthouse is visible here through the front.

The theater ruin is at the end of a row of storefronts. The store immediately to the left is also abandoned, the stores to the left of that are still in use. The leftmost storefront is Building 4 of Booked Up, Inc., the gigantic used bookstore owned and personally managed by author Larry McMurtry.

Across the street, to the left of the above picture, is the highway sign visible in some scenes from the movie.

Click here to view pictures of Larry McMurtry's bookstore complex.