Review of Midnight Cowboy (1969) by Paul M — 09 Jul 2013

John Schlesinger directs this Best Picture winner that details the grime and harsh realities of late 1960s New York. Jon Voight stars as Joe Buck, a cowboy from Texas who decides that he is going to move to New York to become a male hooker.

Joe has clearly experienced some immense trauma down in Texas that is shown only in cryptic flashbacks but it is clear that he wants to leave that life behind him. While there, he ends up being scammed by a local hustler named Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman).

Ratso is a cripple and very sick but is clearly much more street savvy and smoother than Joe, who is a rube. They eventually become reluctant roommates and eventually friends as they both try to survive the cold city that was New York.

Voight and Hoffman are amazing in their respective roles and are able to really show the many dimensions that each of them have. The two are able to show the natural progression towards them being close friends and depending on each other.

Schlessinger's depiction of New York is bleak to say the least. The City is depicted as a place where people dream of succeeding but end up having all of their dreams crushed. Eventually, people end up doing things that they never dreamed of doing simply to get by.

It is a tough film at times to watch because it shows the depths to which Joe will stoop to avoid his old life. A quintessential film about the New York experience that shows the unfortunate downside of the Big Apple.