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Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Have you ever looked at your friend and wondered how you became friends? How did you start talking and decide to be friends? Friendships can develop with similar interests from sports, hobbies or other things in life. I look at my best friends now and wonder sometimes why they put up with me and became my friends. Then I take a second and really don’t care because they are my friends, and they help me through life. I appreciate everything about my friends and what they do. I have six of the best friends I could ever ask for. We go to Disney and Knotts, dress up at conventions, and do what friend groups do. I am 1000% behind them; if they ever need me, I am there for them.
The whole reason I brought up the concept of friends was because I recently watched Midnight Cowboy. A film directed by John Schlesinger, which was adapted by Waldo Salt from the 1965 novel by James Leo Herlihy. You might think, “what about Midnight Cowboy deals with friendship?” I was thinking it was a film about two dudes who try to be cowboys at night. The film stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight and it was something I wasn’t expecting. It was a story about two men trying to survive in New York City and strike up an unlikely friendship.
Midnight Cowboy is a raw drama film that opens with young Joe Buck (Voight), a young Texan working as a dishwasher. Joe decides he has had enough, packs his things, quits his job, dresses up in his finest cowboy clothes, and heads to the big city and bright lights of New York City. The bus ride for Joe was an adventure, and a woman yelled at him for turning off the light, but Joe loves to talk. The reason Joe is going to New York City is because he has high hopes of becoming a male prostitute. Joe’s journey starts off unsuccessfully. He does manage to get some ass from a middle-aged New Yorker (Miles), but when he mentions getting paid, she breaks down, and he gives her money instead. The hustler got hustled. One day, Joe meets Enrico Salvatore “Ratso” Rizzo (Hoffman), a street con man with a limp. Ratso takes $20 from Joe and says he will introduce him to a pimp who can help him turn his fortunes around. Joe goes to meet the pimp only for the man to be a bible-thumping fanatic. Joe flees the strange encounter, going after Ratso, but the dude has vanished. Joe spends his days wandering around the city and chilling in his hotel room until he is dead broke and thrown out. Joe makes some concessions when he agrees to receive oral sex from a man in a movie theater. That might be a new low. When Joe asks for his money, the man says he doesn’t have any, which disappoints Joe. The next day, Joe walks the streets and spots Ratso. Joe confronts the conman and is about to beat his ass when Ratso says that he can share an apartment with him in a condemned building. With nowhere to go, Joe decides to move in, and the pair begin a “business relationship” as hustlers. As the pair bond, Ratso’s health declines and steadily worsens, while Joe gains new clients when both go to a party. Joe soon changes his focus as Ratso becomes sicker. He decides to achieve Ratso’s dream of moving to the warm city of Miami.
The film is somewhat split up into two parts. We see the evolution of the friendship between Joe and Ratso, but Schlesinger masterfully tells Joe’s story through a series of hazy flashbacks throughout the film. What it does is break up the story but shows that Joe came from a fucked-up place. You don’t know if you should sympathize with Joe or be angry at him. We learn that his mother abandoned him and leaves him with his grandmother to raise him, but she also neglects him. Joe was in a loving relationship with a FOINE woman named Annie, but that turned tragic. While they are out, they are attacked by a cowboy gang, and she is raped. This caused significant trauma for her as she went in an ambulance and never heard from again. Ratso, on the other hand, story is told directly from him. His father was an illiterate Italian immigrant shoe-shiner who hustled in the subway station. He met his tragic end from constantly breathing the wax and developing a humped back. Thinking his father was a bum wants to move to Miami.
As for the present, things turn for the better or worse when the pair attend a Warhol-esque party scene. This scene was wild because you know people are about to get high as a kite. Joe gets high by accident and begins to trip. Ratso doesn’t have a great time as people say he smells and wonders about him. Joe manages to leave the party with a foine-ass socialite (Vaccaro), who pays him $20 for that D. That night, Joe couldn’t get it up. Instead, they play Scribbage, where homegirls see that Joe has little brains. After she questions that he is gay, dude little man perks up, and he gives it to her. In the morning, she sets up a friend for Joe to do his thing. When Joe returns excitedly, he sees Ratso’s condition and decides to head to Miami. This is where things get real because you can tell that Ratso might not survive the ride after he refused medical attention.
The cinematography and editing of this film were masterful. I like the blend and transitions from the present to Joe’s past. It gave you a surprise occasionally that you were not expecting. A scene is when Ratso daydreams as he watches Joe go into this building, thinking it is a place where women want to have sex. He dreams of being in Miami and being a celebrity. The dream is fun, and he goes back and forth between his dream and what is happening. As Joe is thrown out of the place, Ratso’s dream crumbles as he falls into a pool.
The acting of this film propelled the film. Both Voight and Hoffman were nominated for the Best Actor award at the Oscars. Voight was interesting as Joe. He played Joe as this cocky cowboy who thought he was going to stroll up into New York City and become a major gigolo. That cocky smile faded really quick as he saw how hard it would be and money getting tight. Joe learns about himself and might be Bi as he went both ways while trying to make a living. On his drive to Miami, he quickly stated that he was quitting the business to get a real job. I believe that Dustin Hoffman as “Ratso” or Enrico Salvatore “Rico” Rizzo was the better actor and performance to me. I know Voight was the focus, but Hoffman stole the film with his performance. Hoffman is known for his method acting and he made Ratso come to life. He had a limp, looked like he hadn’t washed for days, and was all over the place. Plus, he had the iconic “I’m walking here” scene, which was ad-libbed, and he was almost hit by the taxi.
Midnight Cowboy is a serious film showing the rough life of urban city living. It shows the story of someone who goes to chase their dreams, thinking it will be easy, only to see that life is shitty and it will hit you real quick with a dose of reality. Voight and Hoffman are excellent in their respective roles, but Hoffman was the better performer. Watch this film, and if you decide to chase your dreams, make sure you have a sound source of funds.
