On 2010-09-01 Cosmoetica, New York, USA wrote: Midnight Cowboy (the name was then contemporaneous slang for a male prostitute) is one of those solid, well-made films, from the 1960s that´s best recalled than watched. This is not to say it´s a bad film. It´s not. It´s a good, occasionally very good film- especially in terms of editing, cutting, and realism, but in many ways it´s an interesting short subject film of 25-30 minutes´ length, blown up to four or five times its optimum running time. The film was adapted by Waldo Salt, from a 1965 novel of the same name, by James Leo Herlihy, and directed by veteran journeyman filmmaker John Schlesinger. I use that term to describe the director because much of the film is pedestrian, in what occurs, how it is interpreted by the actors, and in its routine banality. However, this acts as a good setup for the flights of fancy and supposed recollection that litter the film, even if the pedestrian-ness of the bulk of the film is rather banal. Of course, most critics praise the banality as realism, again showing what the carrying of even a pocket dictionary could do to ameliorate film criticism.
That stated, let it not sound like I´m knocking the film. It is a good, solid film, and an emotionally enjoyable one, even if what it says about humanity is rather plain. In this way, it resembles films of that era, from Easy Rider to Alice Doesn´t Live Here Anymore. Its initial X rating is an absurdity, for the nudity is brief, and the violence even briefer. The acting is standout. While Dustin Hoffman usually gets the raves for his portrayal of sickly and crippled loser, Enrico `Ratso´ Rizzo, the better performance is turned in by Jon Voight, as Joe Buck, because he has to show emotion in a character whose whole life is acting the part of the dumb yokel cowboy to try and `sucker´ city slicker women with his lovemaking abilities. Even better than the lead duo is the supporting cast of Sylvia Miles- as a Manhattanite bitch who cheats Voight out of cash; John McGiver as a psychotic pimp turned evangelist; Brenda Vaccaro as another horny Manhattanite diva; and Barnard Hughes and Bob Balaban as homosexuals who use Voight for sex and end up getting manhandled by him- the former with violent results the viewer never learns the full scope of. The film won three Oscars- for Best Screenplay, Best Picture, and Best Director, but only the last is really justifiable. The screenplay has merits, but too many flaws to name, and there certainly were better films that year. However, the solidity of the screenplay is heightened by Schlesinger´s direction, editing, and the cinematography of Adam Holender. The use of black and white dream sequences for Joe, the uber-color of Ratso´s fantasies, the psychedelic sequences at an Andy Warhol Factory Party; all make the film stylistically interesting and innovative, far above its rather pedestrian theme of the decency of the common man.. And summed up by saying Good. Currently Midnight Cowboy (Two Disc Collector´s Edition) has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
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MGM (Video & DVD) claimed Daring. Provocative. Shocking. Compelling. Nearly thirty years after its original release, ´Midnight Cowboy is still heartbreakingand timeless´ (The New York Observer). This Academy Award® winner* for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay also boasts Oscar®-nominated** performances by Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, neither of whom have ´ever been better on screen than they are here´ (Chicago Tribune)! When Joe Buck (Voight), a good-looking,naively charming Texas ´cowboy´ makes his way to the Big Apple to seek his fortune, the only wealthhe finds is in the friendship of Ratso Rizzo (Hoffman), a scrounging, sleazy, small-time con man with big dreams. Living on the tattered fringe of society, these two outcasts develop an unlikely bond one that transcends their broken dreams and get-rich-quick schemes and makes Midnight Cowboy ´that rarest of things: [a film] every bit as moving now as it was when it was [first] released´ (Premiere). *1969 **1969: Actor
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