 Peter Bogdanovich was a 31-year-old stage actor, film essayist, and critic with two small films – "Targets" (1968) (also known as "Before I Die") and "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" (1968) – to his directorial credit, all made with his wife and collaborator, Polly Platt.One day while waiting in a cashier's line in a drugstore, he happened to look at the rack of paperbacks and his eye fell on an interesting title, "The Last Picture Show".The back of the book said it was about "kids growing up in Texas" and Bogdanovich decided that it did not interest him and put it back.