What movie is Ellie watching in The Last of Us Episode 6?

In the sixth episode of The Last of Us, “Kin,” Ellie and Joel arrive in the town of Jackson, Wyoming, and it’s kind of heaven on Earth, at least compared to what they’ve used to. The town has running water, electricity, stables, community, and all of without the tyrannical FEDRA making life hard for everyone.

They even show movies! Ellie watches one partway through the episode. But what movie was that? We have the answer: Ellie was watching the 1977 film The Goodbye Girl.

The Goodbye Girl is a romantic comedy written by playwright Neil Simon. It stars Richard Dreyfus as an actor who moves into a Manhattan apartment currently occupied by his friend’s ex-girlfriend and her 10-year-old daughter. After some friction, the two older characters end up falling in love.

What was the movie from The Last of Us Episode 6?

Dreyfus, then 30, became the youngest man ever to win a Best Actor Award, although that record has since been shattered. The Goodbye Girl isn’t exactly the kind of movie you’d expect a 14-year-old like Ellie to enjoy. But considering that we’re 20 years into the zombie apocalypse, pretty much any movie must seem like magic. It’s like many people are making new ones. They have to work with what they’ve got.

To a modern audience, watching The Goodbye Girl is like peering into the past. But in the world of The Last of Us, it’s like peering into a future where people can rely on technology to work and pursue careers in acting rather than needing to fend off zombies and ration food so it lasts through the winter.

New episodes of The Last of Us drop on Sunday nights on HBO and HBO Max.

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