1969's MIDNIGHT COWBOY |
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Martin Scorsese should thank this film. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN should thank this film. CRASH should thank this film. PHILADELPHIA should thank this film. Any film that ever took a chance, tried something new, or did something controversial should be on their hands and knees thanking John Schlesinger and MIDNIGHT COWBOY for what they did in 1969. I was not even born in 1969 or even thought of being born, but it is my favorite film of all time. It broke open the door for movies to tackle tough and challenging issues.
The film won the Best Picture in 1969, is in AFI's Top 100 list, yet still does not receive the attention, acknowledgment, or praise that it should receive. It has sadly fiddled away with time and been forgotten about. Even more disturbing is how many people have either not seen the film or never even heard of it. Everyone knows GOODFELLAS, TAXI DRIVER, or DEER HUNTER, but not enough people know MIDNIGHT COWBOY. It's a real tragedy. Since if not for this film, all the other films we enjoy today would have never surfaced.
MIDNIGHT COWBOY was the first X-Rated film to win an Academy Award. If you watch MIDNIGHT COWBOY today, it is very tame compared to a lot of films released. But for that time period, it was ground breaking and took risks. It forced us to look at people we wouldn't normally look at or people we would ignore. It forced us to watch them, be engaged by them, and care about them as if they were our own. It brought us into their lives and did not shy away from showing a lot of things that were 
TAXI DRIVER would not have been released without MIDNIGHT COWBOY |
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unpleasant or tough to view.
Before MIDNIGHT COWBOY, films were fairly light and fluffy. You had tough films like A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE or ON THE WATERFRONT, but never anything as dark, bleak, and uncompromising as MIDNIGHT COWBOY. You had films filled with comedy, laughs, music, and nobody ever dared to show us anything but great looking people in love with other great looking people. Everything would be solved at the end with some tacked on happy ending. People wanted to feel good and leave the theater smiling.
I've said it until I'm blue in the face that not every movie has to be cupcakes, gumdrops, smiles, and good times for it to be good entertainment and worth seeing. Not that there is anything wrong with films like that. I love a good feel good story. But I also love a realistic drama that pulls no punches and shows something that is really going on in the world. Take for example films like VERA DRAKE, HARD CANDY, THE WOODSMAN, and others. These situations are going on in real life. We can either chose to ignore them and live in a bubble or we can decide to sit down, talk about them, face them, and come up with solutions.
Before MIDNIGHT COWBOY, nobody wanted to go into those dark worlds. Nobody wanted to enter the dark side of human nature. Everything was pushed under the rug and not discussed. As far as everyone was concerned, it didn't occur. Sex? If you dared to discuss sex, you would be grounded for months and months. People would turn the other cheek to things going on before their very eyes. They 
Denzel should be thanking MIDNIGHT COWBOY |
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were blind to it. But does ignoring something make it go away?
Nope.
It only makes it worse.
MIDNIGHT COWBOY decided to show us people that a lot of people quite frankly didn't want to see. People who were homeless, depressed, out of place, out of work, and left behind. But they are still people. They are all victims of circumstance, family, bad luck, or bad decisions. Does that make them better than us? Worse than us? No, it makes them human. I would much rather see humans and real people in a film than some cardboard cut out who sounds like a robot spitting out lines on screen.
What kind of world do we live in if we want to throw people away that do not meet our standards? Instead of helping them or trying to understand them, if they don't fit a certain mold, people just get rid of them. Don't give them attention, time, love, or understanding. That is what the thought process was behind a lot of films before MIDNIGHT COWBOY came and changed the way we looked at movies. It touched people and really got to them.
But somebody had to take that chance and that somebody was MIDNIGHT COWBOY. Somebody had to be willing to stand up, yell, fight, and not be afraid to try something different. Someone had to stand out. All the great films we enjoy today are made possible because of MIDNIGHT COWBOY and its fearless approach to films and its subject matter. That is why it is my favorite film of all time and timeless in my eyes.
Next time you enjoy a film that seems cutting edge or different, remember who made it possible.
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Expect the unexpected from Tony as he'll give you his columns on the way movies used to be, the way movies are, and the way they should be.
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| Tony Farinella |
Tony is an Oak Lawn, IL based film reviewer and columnist looking to have fun and share his unique views on film with everyone. Tony also has an unhealthy obsession with Vanessa Lengies, but that is neither here nor there.
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