Film Quote of the Day: The 1971 Movie Line That Captures the Bittersweet Reality of Life

The useful part

It was this deep, brooding contemplation of both coming of age and getting older at the same time, all juxtaposed against a town that felt stuck in a time loop. There's a heaviness to the screenplay that is echoed by the way it was shot in stark, dusty black-and-white. One short conversation between a disillusioned mother and her teenage daughter cuts right to the bone of what it means to get older.

How it works

• The town is mostly separated by rich and poor folks, who all work in the oil industry.
• YouTube www.youtube.com The Scene in Question Early on in the movie, we're still trying to figure out who belongs to what social circle.
• That's why it's so important and such a dream for the parents of these kids to make it out of the town and to marry upward, if possible.
• The line I want to talk about happens between Jacy Farrow (played by Cybill Shepherd in her breakout role) and her mother, Lois (the brilliant Ellen Burstyn).
• Jacy is young, beautiful, and convinced that finding the right man or chasing the right thrill will finall...

Details worth keeping

This is a movie about the evaporation of optimism. Yet they all converge on the high school, where lines are drawn further.