Review of Midnight Cowboy (1969) by Eric S — 09 Aug 2010

Brilliant piece of dramatic cinema which deservedly swept the 1969 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay based on a 1965 novel of the same name.

The film follows a young Texan named Joe Buck well portrayed by Jon Voight who's resemblance to his daughter Angelina Jolie is quite evident in his breakthrough role as the dishwasher who quits his job, dresses himself as a rodeo cowboy, and heads to New York City in the hope of leading the life of a male hustler.

The naive Texan is rather unsuccessful in his attempts to be hired by wealthy women until he finally makes his first deal with the help of a third-rate con man known as Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo(Dustin Hoffman). Joe ends up giving the broken down woman $20. Initially, Ratso cons Joe into giving him twenty dollars for introducing him to a well-known pimp who turns out to be nothing more than a religious fanatic. Of course, Ratso flees the scene as quickly as they arrived despite the fact that polio had crippled one of his legs.

The following day, the failed hustler is locked out of his hotel room for not paying the bill, so he hits the streets where he couldn't be more out of his element in hopes of making some money hustling. He spots the unsuspecting Ratso at a lunch counter in which he shakes him down for for every penny he has which turns out to be sixty-four cents. As a result, Ratso offers Joe a place to stay which is in his dingy apartment in a condemned building.

Ratso offers to help Joe by teaching him how to pickpocket as well as other methods of stealing, and to even help Joe get hired as a "stud".

Ratso's dream has long been to get out of NYC and go to Miami, Florida where he would cease to be known as "Ratso", and live a better life. Joe and Ratso become good friends who really careabout one another and rely on each other in a world where they just can't seem to make ends meet.

A very memorable scene from this film is of Ratso and Joe crossing the street where they are nearly run into by a taxi cab. An enraged Ratso says, "I'm walkin' here!" This was improvised by Dustin Hoffman who wanted to say, "We're filming a movie here!", but decided to stay in character and deliver the perfect line which is #27 on AFI's 100Years...100 Movie Quotes.

Another interesting little fact about this film is that well-known character actor M. Emmet Walsh is an uncredited, pre-fame extra.