The major characters include Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, and Cybill Shepard, who are the teenagers in this obscure Texas town. Other townsfolk include Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion, owner of a number of businesses, including the movie theatre, and Cloris Leachman, who plays the depressed and neglected wife of the coach of the school's football team (both actors won Oscars for their roles). As the movie begins, Bridges has been going steady with the beautiful icy blonde that is Shepard's character, while Bottoms is stuck with a less glamorous type who he has been going out with for a year, and, clearly, is frustrated because he hasn't had sex with her yet. Bottoms brushes the girlfriend off, apparently no big loss to him since he clearly has an eye for Shepard, as is seen in a shot at the movie house when his girl kisses him, while his eyes remain open, focusing on Shepard's entrance.
Bottoms does find a different kind of love, but not with the one he was expecting. His football coach, a particularly slimy sort, asks Bottoms to drive his wife to the doctor for her appointment. He does this a few times, and vaguely notices that the wife is not a happy person. She doesn't quite come out and say it, but it is true that the marriage is suffering -- Bottoms' character naively believes that things look bad because of what goes on in the surface, the fact that the coach spends so much time at the school with the team, but I think most people will concur that this is a couple for which real love doesn't exist anymore, if it ever had. I wonder what she saw in him myself; he seems like such a vile example of male that I don't know how he could charm anyone.
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