The Last Picture Show northern Texas. McMurtry had renamed the town Thalia in his book; Bogdanovich renamed it Anarene for the film, a name chosen to correspond to the cowtown of Abilene, Kansas, in Howard Hawks' "Red River" (1948). "Red River", significantly, is the movie, indeed the last picture show, which Sonny and Duane watch at the end of the film. After shooting the film, Bogdanovich went back to Los Angeles to edit the film on a Moviola. Bogdanovich has said he edited the entire film himself but refused to credit himself as editor, reasoning that director and co-writer was enough. When informed that
The Greatest Show on Earth (film) him for a lifetime of filmmaking going well back into the silent movie era. DeMille's best work had been done before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was created. It may be that the members of the Academy (which included many veterans of the silent era) felt that as an elder statesman of Hollywood and founding member of the Academy, he deserved the honor even if other films that year were better than "The Greatest Show on Earth". Many people today would agree that "The Ten Commandments", DeMille's next (and last) film which he produced and directed,