Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Midnight Cowboy
Directed by John Schlesinger
Written by Waldo Salt from a novel by James Leo Herily
1969/US
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

Joe Buck: You know, Cass, that’s a funny thing you mentioning money – ’cause I was just about to ask you for some.

I have always loved this movie.  Somehow I came out of it exhilarated rather than depressed, making it a good Lockdown pick.

The movie’s protagonist is young, strong, handsome Joe Buck (Jon Voigt).  He starts off from a small Texas town.  We learn bits and pieces from his back story via various snippets in flashback.  Though not explicitly stated, it appears that his grandmother, who raised him, is the smothering type while at the same time being a “wicked woman” of some kind.  Joe may have also been accused of a gang rape of his sex partner “Crazy Annie”.  At any rate, his history has caused him to believe that he can make big money as a gigolo/male prostitute in New York City.

Things definitely do not go as planned.  A woman Joe picks up on the street (Sylvia Miles) expects Joe to pay her.  One of the first people Joe meets is scrounger/con artist Enrique “Ratso” Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) who rips him off and sends him to service a religious fanatic (John McGiver) .  Joe discovers for himself that his main attraction is for the gay clientele cruising  42nd Street.  When he meets Ratso again they form an unlikely friendship.  I will stop there.  With Brenda Vacarro as a client.

This movie is certainly of its time.  I think its larger theme is the culture clash back when feelings were running high throughout the country.   It also works perfectly as a character story.  Its filmmaking style is a heady mixture of all things “new”.  Sometime Schleshinger goes overboard but more often he is right on.  There’s a fair amount of black comedy peppering the misery.

The performances of Voigt and Hoffman are a thing of wonder.  The music was the soundtrack of my youth. I’ve seen this several times over the years and it has gone from great, to dated, and back to great in my estimation. Highly Recommended.

Midnight Cowboy won Oscars in the categories of Best Picture; Best Director; and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Actor (Voigt and Hoffman); Best Supporting Actress (Sylvia Miles); and Best Film Editing.  It was the only X-rated film to ever win the Best Picture Oscar.  The film now carries an R rating.