by Adam Ritchie, Contributing Writer
Welcome back to another installment of 20th Century Flicks, and thank you for your continued readership. Even if you rarely (or ever) agree with my thoughts and opinions on these pre-millennium “films of note,” I encourage you to read on, as Midnight Cowboy is something of a mixed bag.
Midnight Cowboy is centered on Joe Buck (Jon Voight — but not the Jon Voight that used to own George Costanza’s car). Joe promptly quits his job as a dishwasher in Texas and takes the bus (in full Cowboy attire) to New York City to live out his dream as a gigolo. Are your eyebrows already raised at this odd premise? Good! Because in the late ‘60s, I’ve heard tell that it was every man’s dream to be a gigolo in N.Y.C.
The film begins with probably the most obnoxiously aggravating scene I think I have ever seen on film. Admittedly, the first five minutes had me wondering why it has its positive reputation, as I found myself angry at every choice being made. They got every dollar’s worth of value out of Harry Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talkin’,” as it is continuously played in some form in that opening. I’ve always loved that song, but Midnight Cowboy makes me love it a little bit less now.
Once Joe Buck “lands” in New York, the film gets itself into a more engaging groove, and we watch Joe try to surreptitiously seduce any unaccompanied female he sees, and without much success. Sticking out like a sore, country bumpkin thumb, in a city full of notoriously unfriendly people is a premise even Hollywood could never make work.
On his trails, Joe happens across Rico “Ratso” Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). Ratso is a what you might call a two-bit hood, and initially cons Joe out of $20, which was a lot of money in 1969 for someone living on the hope of being paid for sex.
Where the story really takes off in a positive way, though, is when Joe, who is now basically destitute and down on his luck, runs into Ratso again. With an eye for vengeance, Joe harangues Ratso for swindling him, but is beaten with Ratso’s street smarts and ability to talk himself out of sticky situations. Eventually, Ratso invites Joe to live with him in his condemned apartment building. It’s a sad situation, but it highlights the true plight of homelessness in a city that doesn’t hand favors out to anyone.
Why is Midnight Cowboy considered a classic? For me, the performances carry it most of the way to classic-ness. Voight is fantastic; however, Hoffman is stupendously brilliant here. They were both nominated for Best Actor, but lost out to John Wayne in True Grit, which I will only assume was one of those famous Academy lifetime achievement wins.
Midnight Cowboy explores alienation and the search for connection in a sea of people completely uninterested in your existence. It teeters on the precipice of greatness, but what lets it down most is some specifically bad sequences that either frustrated or confused me with their purpose.
Also, for modern audiences, there is some specific language that is just not acceptable in 2023. I’m not sure it was accepted in 1969, to be frank, but using a homophobic slur to slander a man’s manliness is no longer tolerated, and Midnight Cowboy is very liberal in its frequent use of the word. If this is a trigger for you, I cannot recommend you seeing this.
If you can tolerate that sort of language, and place yourself in 1969 frame of mind, I can totally recommend Midnight Cowboy purely for the performances alone. The story itself, a unique-ish fish-out-of-water tale, may be enough to keep you entertained as it did for me.
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