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Midnight Cowboy is one of those rare films which creates a star and cements another. A classic for both critics and the majority, the Oscar winner is an example of fashionable cinema. Similar to the action flicks of the 1980s or the overblown extravaganzas of the 1950s, the film, like Bonnie & Clyde and Easy Rider, is a result of its time, commentating on its era via the companionship of the main characters, their unorthodox stories, and taboo habits. English director John Schlesinger brings James Leo Herlihy's original book to the silver screen with great swagger, infusing flamboyant flashbacks, gritty depictions of life on the unforgiving streets of New York, and camaraderie between the two protagonists only seen in the best buddy films. It should be noted that Schlesinger's overt homosexuality aided the making of such a controversial film about an occasionally bisexual male prostitute as, even though the source material and script were first-rate, many directors steered clear of a piece that would have an inevitable X-rating and a consequent poor financial performance. However, the Oxford alumnus wanted to push the often silenced subject into the mainstream.
With naivety to rival Phoebe from Friends, Jon Voight's Joe Buck is a Texan cowboy-cum-gigolo let loose on New York City. The West is very much in the mindset of the young stud, and with Paul Newman's Hud on his hotel room wall and the depiction of John Wayne as the epitome of cool at the forefront of his consciousness, Buck embarks on trying to conquer the Big Apple and lead the life of a kept man inside the confines of Manhattan's social elite. After attempts to astonish the rich socialites with his southern drawl and impressive physique fails, Buck manages to befriend hustler and cripple Ratso Rizzo, played expertly by Dustin Hoffman. Thanks to the immense success of The Graduate, the vertically-challenged thespian was a major star and takes top billing from the then relatively unknown New Yorker and father of Angelina Jolie. Though both nominated for Best Actor, Midnight Cowboy only walked away with Best Director and Best Picture from the Academy Awards, which is obviously no small feat in itself, but it's a ignominy that two truly great performances were not honoured more highly than a nomination. Hoffman and Voight cancelled each other out in the voting for Best Actor and John Wayne won his first and only statuette in the category for True Grit, which was more of a courtesy to celebrate the whole body of The Duke's work than a particularly remarkable performance - comparable to Paul Newman's win for The Color of Money in 1986. Indeed, when one views Jon Voight in contemporary blockbusters with little character substance, it's easy to forget how much talent he has.
Inconsistency is the one fault of the piece, however. After getting to know Buck for a good portion of the film from his origins in a small Texas town as a dishwasher to the failed urban dweller, the audience begins to have more knowledge of the protagonist's habits and behaviour than Schlesinger. Buck and Rizzo, two social outcasts, would have never been invited to a Warhol-type party. In addition, even though the product of a peculiar childhood and a rape victim as a teenager (as the ambiguous flashbacks seem to suggest), Buck surely would have never battered a religious fanatic the way he does. More accurately, after problems in his youth, Buck would have either been a masochistic animal fully embracing his masculine power or an impotent dweeb, not a fusion of both. Still, Schlesinger captures the underbelly of New York flawlessly, reminding us how jaundiced the streets look in the early hours or whenever its detached inhabitants come out to play.
The extras
Trailer.
The summary
The low-life chronicle of two losers is unquestionably memorable and inharmoniously precise. Midnight Cowboy features Voight's greatest performance and a turn from Hoffman to rival Rain Man's Raymond Babbitt and Tootsie's uproarious transvestite.
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