Review of Midnight Cowboy (1969) by Wenise W — 29 Mar 2010

What is the biggest difference between the films of the American New Wave of the 60s/70s and today? The answer is rather simple: characters. Today, we no longer have interesting characters. We have special effects, CGI, sex symbols, or talking heads.

But back then, we had real characters -- characters that are timeless and who're talked about even to this day. People like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, and back in 1969, Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) in Midnight Cowboy.

Known as one of the major films that signified the shift from "Classical Hollywood" to "New Hollywood," this film has not only aged remarkably well, it does what all great films do: it stays with you for a long time after it's over.

Director John Schlesinger wisely directed this film in an unobtrusive manner and simply let Hoffman and Voight put on an acting clinic as they communicate back and forth with each other in this beat down, raggedy, ugly, greasy apartment.

The result is two of the loneliest people in the history of cinema. This film is unflinching and uncompromising in its depiction of the seedy and depressing byproduct of a capitalistic, class-stratified society.

Loneliness, abandonment, and neglect are rarely shown with this much depth, this much realism (even more remarkable considering when it came out). It's a heart wrenching yet beautifully poignant film that is so unconventional, so unfamiliar, and so different, it simply cannot be ignored.

Thankfully, films like this will always persevere, even as we continue to drift into more and more cinematic mediocrity. Thank God we had British Kitchen Sink directors like Schlesinger and Richardson, and auteurs like Coppola and Scorsese, who used the French New Wave as a model to make some of the greatest, most penetrating films Hollywood has ever seen.

The late 60s/70s were truly the last golden years, and Midnight Cowboy is a big reason why.