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Midnight Cowboy (1969)
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Movie Review by Tony
February 23rd, 2006
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The question I get asked the most about films and movies is what is the biggest difference about movies now, from back in the day. Now, I'm only 20 years, and won't be ignorant enough to say I was around to see a lot of films from the 50's, 60's, and 70's, but thanks to the power of DVD and lack of girlfriend, I have seen quite a few films from those eras. The answer to the question is simple .. characters and people. Those were a staple in films back then. Now they are rare.
Now, we no longer have characters. We have special effects, CGI, sex symbols, or talking heads. But back in the day, we had real characters and real people. People that are remembered and talked about even to this day in the movies. People like Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver". Famous, and timeless characters. Back in 1969, no other characters or people were more universally loved and known then Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) in "Midnight Cowboy."
It was the first X rated film to ever win an Academy Award in 1969 for Best Picture. Also, no other film has been equally long lasting, powerful, and even depressing as "Midnight Cowboy". This is a film that stay with you for a long time and you have an even harder time getting the painful recollections of this film out of your head. It's also the best example of acting 101 as Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman put on a show to remember.
The film opens up with Joe Buck (Jon Voight), a charming but hopelessly naive Texas "cowboy", who dreams of making his fortune servicing wealthy woman in New York. He's currently a dish washer in Texas and he looks to leave that behind, as he says in the film "I only been good at one thing, loving." The film's opening score is "Everybody's Talking At Me", and hearing this and seeing Joe Buck with his head in the air, cowboy boots on, and fast walk, it has a morbid feel to it as you know right from the get go, things are not going to turn out well for him.
His first score goes horribly wrong as he winds up having to pay for the woman's taxi ride home. Not to mention, he is resorted to having sexual relations with a young boy. Buck is too worn out and beat up by life to even beat the kid up when he says he has no money. Things go even worse, when he runs into slimy, small time con Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) who cons him into paying 20 dollars to manage him. Pretty soon, Buck realizes that Rizzo is in pretty bad shape. He has a horrible limp, bad cough, and is very sickly. Then, Buck moves in with Rizzo in a beat down, worn out, and abounded apartment and the two form an unlikely friendship.
Director John Schlesinger sits his camera back and lets Hoffman and Voight communicate back and forth with each other in this beat down, raggedy, ugly, greasy apartment and you see two of the loneliest people in the history of the movies. This film is unflinching and uncompromising in showing the seedy, depressing, worn out ways that some people live. We are seeing people we hear about, or read about, but never seen up close and personal. It's very troubling to watch, but the same time poignant, powerful, and touching.
Loneliness, being left behind, neglect has never been shown this in depth, this realistic, and this in your face like in "Midnight Cowboy." It's a heart wrenching film that is so unconventional, so unfamiliar, and so different, it cannot be ignored. Films like this never go away or perish.
For 1969, a film being so pessimistic, dark, and unsettling was rare. It's so absorbing yet so weird at the same time. This is a rare film that gets everything you want in a film right and then some. We see New York and no punches are pulled. The actors are on their A game. The chemistry and charm between the two is off the charts. The honesty, how authentic it is, how real it is is just something to cherish.
No answers are given in this movie. But what we are given is a brutally frank look at the seedy side of not only New York, but the world. We see how even in the darkest and most troubling of times, friendship and love remains the same. What seem people go through, and how they go on smiling nonetheless. If it's 1969, or 2006, "Midnight Cowboy" is a cinematic gem that will stick in your gut and head for days.
Tony Farinella
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