The Great Films: Midnight Cowboy
TODAY'S "ASSIGNMENT AMERICA" is for every living being who is reading this (I guess even the non-living too) should go rent the film Midnight Cowboy.
It is pure film. "Film" being used to mean "pure art" and every conception one has had of the word. Seriously. This is a great, great movie. A very powerful and sad movie, but great nevertheless.
Sometimes a movie comes along that, in story and plot, is driven to be sad and illustrate failure. You know, your Taxi Drivers, One Hour Photos, and Easy Rider. These are all wonderful films, and they do a pretty damned good job of evoking feeling.
Midnight Cowboy, though sad and depressing, is usually not remembered for it's themes. It is rather remembered simply for the awesome way it was made.
It follows the story of Joe Buck, (Jon Voight- who is really smoking hot in this fucking movie) a naive kid from Texas who travels to NYC to become a gigolo and ends up befriending the homeless Rico (Or Ratzo) played by Dustin Hoffman. I never realized that Dustin Hoffman talks funny too.
The two of them share failure upon failure as they try and get by with enough food to keep them alive for the day. They're desperate. Don't let that throw you off though; it's not a movie that turns into a whine-fest, but rather a very delicate and beautiful character study.
It also started the phrase, "Cant you see I'm WALKING HERE?!"
It has also some pretty trippyass dream sequences and one scene where Voight gets high for the first time as he walks around a hippy party selfishly with a joint in his hand ("Hey dont you take that away from me, boy, gimme that!", is one of the best lines in the film). There's some underlying, disturbing images that are never really explained but we trust from what we saw that we know what happened. We learn that Voight was molested by his grandmother at a young age, and that the love of his life was murdered by some punks.
Dustin Hoffman has some of the best lines in the movie. In a very jarring and sad scene, he confronts Voight about his choice of work. "That cowboy stuff is purely for fags", he says, and Voight shoots back with, "John Wayne! He wasn't no fag!". Hoffman can see right through Voight. His fear is easy to see.
I also love the constant drive that Hoffman has, a dream just to get to Florida, a place where he won't be cold, lonely or hungry anymore. In the most brilliant and touching scene in the entire film, Voight is trying to score a "rich broad", while Hoffman waits outside, daydreaming about a wonderful life in Florida. The Florida that Hoffman idealizes is nothing like the cold and distant NYC he lives in. Florida is a place of opportunity and happiness; Hoffman's daydream shows him and Voight calmly relaxing by a pool surrounded by beautiful women. But, those dreams too are shattered in an instant as he watches Voight getting kicked out of the place with no money.
The ending of the film is wonderful in how it restores order and accomplishes and fails something at the same time.
I suggest renting this movie. GO DO IT NOW OR YOU'RE A FOOL, JOE. A FOOL.
-M
It is pure film. "Film" being used to mean "pure art" and every conception one has had of the word. Seriously. This is a great, great movie. A very powerful and sad movie, but great nevertheless.
Sometimes a movie comes along that, in story and plot, is driven to be sad and illustrate failure. You know, your Taxi Drivers, One Hour Photos, and Easy Rider. These are all wonderful films, and they do a pretty damned good job of evoking feeling.
Midnight Cowboy, though sad and depressing, is usually not remembered for it's themes. It is rather remembered simply for the awesome way it was made.
It follows the story of Joe Buck, (Jon Voight- who is really smoking hot in this fucking movie) a naive kid from Texas who travels to NYC to become a gigolo and ends up befriending the homeless Rico (Or Ratzo) played by Dustin Hoffman. I never realized that Dustin Hoffman talks funny too.
The two of them share failure upon failure as they try and get by with enough food to keep them alive for the day. They're desperate. Don't let that throw you off though; it's not a movie that turns into a whine-fest, but rather a very delicate and beautiful character study.
It also started the phrase, "Cant you see I'm WALKING HERE?!"
It has also some pretty trippyass dream sequences and one scene where Voight gets high for the first time as he walks around a hippy party selfishly with a joint in his hand ("Hey dont you take that away from me, boy, gimme that!", is one of the best lines in the film). There's some underlying, disturbing images that are never really explained but we trust from what we saw that we know what happened. We learn that Voight was molested by his grandmother at a young age, and that the love of his life was murdered by some punks.
Dustin Hoffman has some of the best lines in the movie. In a very jarring and sad scene, he confronts Voight about his choice of work. "That cowboy stuff is purely for fags", he says, and Voight shoots back with, "John Wayne! He wasn't no fag!". Hoffman can see right through Voight. His fear is easy to see.
I also love the constant drive that Hoffman has, a dream just to get to Florida, a place where he won't be cold, lonely or hungry anymore. In the most brilliant and touching scene in the entire film, Voight is trying to score a "rich broad", while Hoffman waits outside, daydreaming about a wonderful life in Florida. The Florida that Hoffman idealizes is nothing like the cold and distant NYC he lives in. Florida is a place of opportunity and happiness; Hoffman's daydream shows him and Voight calmly relaxing by a pool surrounded by beautiful women. But, those dreams too are shattered in an instant as he watches Voight getting kicked out of the place with no money.
The ending of the film is wonderful in how it restores order and accomplishes and fails something at the same time.
I suggest renting this movie. GO DO IT NOW OR YOU'RE A FOOL, JOE. A FOOL.
-M