Blonde and narcissistic boy Joe Buck, although he lives in Texas, wears a cowboy outfit for nothing, as he works in his small homeland as an inconspicuous dishwasher. However, Joe’s ambitions go beyond his backwaters and send him east to New York City. In the Big Apple, Joe decided with his gloriously knocked-down appearance to become ... alphonse. Yeah, fuck the ladies and get paid for it. But the quick plan went awry from the start. Women do not give money, but on the contrary, lure the latter. And it seems like a new lame friend Rizzo undertakes Joe to “organize the process correctly”, but he turns out to be a homeless charlatan. Moreover, the visiting cowboy descended to the fact that he began to work in gay prostitution. And happiness, as Joe thought, is still nearby – it’s just blind or stupid, or maybe it’s not at all.
Even for Hollywood, plunged into all the hardships of the “sexual revolution”, the work of Englishman John Schlesinger was too defiant. The director, having filmed the scandalous novel by Leo Herlihay, raised in one fell swoop all the rudest sexual perversions, which were previously dared to speak exclusively in halftones - promiscuous sex, alfonacy, drug addiction, friction and mass pederasty. In fact, Schlesinger shows America inside out with all its mud in the neighborhood, only dirt becomes a showcase. The dream city of New York, where money should be poured to everyone just because they came here, in fact can quite organically transform into a city of total evil.
“Midnight Cowboy” is a highly cultured product with meaning and a very coherent history. The director does not moralize, does not put any red flags, does not condemn and certainly does not consciously make the topic of perverted sex an object of study. Schlesinger made a film about a very unusual male friendship of two lost and seemingly incompatible loneliness. Each of them is a scum in relation to the outside world, but they treat each other extremely reverently, because somewhere by instinct they realize that no one else is needed.
Well, the play of the leading pair John Voight – Dustin Hoffman is worthy of respect. Beginning actor John Voight, for whom “Midnight Cowboy” became almost a debut, fit into the percussion role of the naivest, in something not decisive, but still definitely not finished seluk. His Joe may be rolling gradually into a morally decaying hell, but this guy has a big heart. To a crying woman, he will give almost half of his meager savings; a blowjob, a young man who threw a cowboy for a freelance oral hookup, will regret and not take his watch; well, his crooked friend will even take care of him fatherly. A good career start for future father Angelina Jolie.
And the crook friend is perfectly played by 32-year-old Dustin Hoffman, who after a percussion performance of a young inept in the “Graduate” scored hardness and reincarnated in this film literally beyond recognition. If Voight in the film was an action actor, then Hoffman, chicly playing a wily bum with a lot of physiological problems, created the whole atmosphere. Film Academy Oscar nomination for the role of the second plan also noted a certain Sylvia Miles, who very memorable way played a sluggish woman “under the vamp” with pleasure laid under the cowboy. But the main “property of the Republic” in the film is still the convincing play of young John Voight and Dustin Hoffman.
"Midnight Cowboy" is not only "frankly about the innermost" when barriers like the Hayes Codex no longer even seem behind their backs, but also talented. And time has shown that Schlesinger's staging is little more than a story about freaks, pederasts, and low-responsibility individuals.
The end of the 60s in the cinema of America fell on a kind of “revolution”. Popular at that time monotonous westerns and action films began to fade into the background, opening the way for new author’s works, and now popular young directors, including Coppola, Scorzese, Polanski, etc. This transition to a new era was well shown by Tarantino in his “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood”, but now it is not about him. No less beautifully these changes showed the painting by John Schlesinger “Midnight Cowboy”.
The main character, like a man from the “old school” is a cowboy, but no one pays attention to him. Cowboys are out of fashion – as if Schlesinger tells us, and Joe (the main character’s name) finally admits it by the end of the film. Throughout the film, Joe tries to get used to the changes in the world - he sometimes seems wild and incomprehensible, and viewers who watched this film for the first time may feel the same. Flashbacks, epileptic nightmares in the form of sudden flashes of light, a sharp change in the color of the image from ordinary color to black and white - all these are sometimes ridiculous innovations of the only emerging, breakthrough, modern cinema.
The plot of the film tells about the friendship of two completely different people - a homeless man from the metropolis and Alphonse from the backwaters. Their absolute dissimilarity works, plays on the contrast, because the end of the film can really touch. In such friendship simply believe, and not the last role in the implementation of this realism played (ironically) actors. John Voight and Dustin Hoffman have always been and will always be great actors, and Midnight Cowboy is proof of that – for both, the film was one of the first of their careers. Both perform well in their roles, and especially Hoffman – his dramatic potential is revealed here as best as possible.
In the film there are sometimes inappropriate scenes of an erotic nature and nudity, which at first may seem superfluous. Without that, the movie would have looked good. But remember who this film is about – is it possible to avoid the rating of “18+” in this type of activity?
Sometimes there is some non-linearity in the story. Until the final credits, we will never fully recognize our heroes. If for Voight's hero we are given ragged flashbacks, then Hoffman just is, and doesn't need backstory. It's enough for us that he's homeless, lame and dreaming of Florida. Voight's story is more interesting - the creators offer viewers to guess for themselves about the tragic past of the "cowboy" by placing in the right order randomly scattered throughout the picture memories and dreams of the hero. These dreams clearly benefit the story and the hero, adding more tragedy to his image. Well, it is worth saying that the hero of Hoffman was also not completely deprived - the audience is given to know that he had a father, whom he lost quite early.
The film speaks to adult and topical topics (the age rating allows), and even now it would look good. He is not ahead of his time, not at all, but the topics he touched on then, in the late 60s, are still on the radar. And some films still only for them can receive the main award of the Academy.
And finally, there is a soul in the painting. The concept is quite strange, I agree, and it is difficult, after reading some review there, to understand what kind of soul this is. But it is – despite all this vulgarity, sharp innovations and modernization of cinema, it has not gone anywhere. This soul consists in showing true friendship, in the mutual help of two different people, in the sincerity of their behavior. In the music and entourage of stunning New York. That long-lost time. Everyone will find something different in this picture - someone will notice a metaphor about what is happening in the Hollywood field, another note a simple but sincere story about friendship - and everyone will be right. Cinema, after all, exists to relax, perhaps think, draw some conclusions for yourself. Everyone is necessarily advised to watch, and I will go to learn about the new story in this eternal current called “Cinematograph”.
8 out of 10
Joe Baca is a kind, lonely, slightly naive guy who dreams of getting rich. He leaves his village for New York in the hope of fulfilling his dream.
John Voight perfectly played his hero, he completely got used to the role. Dustin Hoffmann also played a very difficult character. Without him, this movie wouldn’t be so interesting. These actors complement each other perfectly, they made a good duet in this film.
Joe Buck changes throughout the film. At first, he is full of hope, and immediately ready to start his business. But gradually things are getting worse. Now he is already being deceived, and he has only to wander around the night city. The film is becoming more dramatic and heavy every minute. You already stop believing in the success of the main characters, but you still have hope for their success. The film causes a storm of emotions, makes you plunge into New York poverty, which is adjacent to elite residential complexes.
At the end of Joe Buck’s dreams finally collapse, but he still has a friend. A friend he can't just leave anymore. This is a film about relationships, friendship, meanness, dreams. This is a drama that you need to delve into, capture every moment.
10 out of 10
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
After watching, I have a question: what was the cult of this film in its time?
Joe Buck, a young provincial boy from Texas, moves to New York for the American dream. But as often happens, his dreams of success do not come true. This shows how a large city absorbs a small person. A lonely young man without money and acquaintances wanders through a huge city without knowing what to do next. After a while, he finds a friend of a petty crook nicknamed Ratzo, who at first bred him for money, but later offered him his help. The film goes into the genre of Buddy Movie, where director John Schleisinger is an emigrant from England, in fact, the same stranger in the big city shows us his view of what was happening in New York in the late 60s through the eyes of the main characters. The film raises themes of drugs, homosexuality, real male friendship. Everything is shown as it seems to me true and perhaps that is why the film had a great resonance and high positive reviews. But I did not like the film because of the nauseating editing, poorly revealed the main characters (their past), there was little interesting dialogue between the characters and so on. Maybe it's because I don't know what was going on in America in the '60s, but usually a good movie is self-sufficient.
For the first 15 minutes, I sat down and asked myself, "What's going on?" I'm sick! Turn that movie off! But curiosity took over. From the first shot, it's clear that this is an old movie because John Voight chews gum or something? It really pisses me off. After another 10 minutes, it suddenly started to hit me because it’s a 1969 movie, hey! The pitch is pretty good. The first flashbacks make you look at the film from a slightly different angle. The black-and-white footage comes out, and you absorb it, and the process of digestion begins, of understanding what is important and what is secondary. Then Dustin appears and everything goes by the wayside. I love this actor very much. And in this movie, he's just great! Not so famous yet, but already magnificent! It was only because of him that I looked further and thank God. Because the more you watch movies like this, the more you begin to understand. In the beginning, it was hard to understand and concentrate. Smashing, rattling camera. And then everything calms down and so does your perception. To fully understand this film, you need some knowledge. To understand, you need to know. Find out the history of the United States at this time, find out what films were made. And what they showed. One of its kind, it has incredibly deep roots. This is a serious and very strong movie. Everyone has their own little tragedy, which at some point changes a person and his whole life. Everyone has their own tests, their own exams. It is very difficult to be alone in such times. We all need a shoulder. The complete destruction of the American Dream, a truth revealed through two people. So different, but that's why the duo Hoffman-Voight so falls into the soul. For Voight, this is one of the best roles in life, and Dustin just moved away from the image. It was an important film for both of us at the time. I really liked the fact that the character of the characters is completely undisclosed, but this does not prevent me from loving them and empathizing with them. Everyone has a past, but it doesn’t matter. There's this particular moment. And this is the moment that matters. Behavior of the main characters in relation to each other and faith. Belief in something very bright and good, faith, sometimes bordering on stupidity and naivety. It makes you feel sorry. It is impossible to get angry and look for flaws, they simply do not exist. Everything wears off. This movie is really worth watching. Because everyone will see their own, but only one thing will remain unchanged, the ability to be a Human, no matter what happens in your life. No matter how sharp the turn in your fate, the main thing is to separate the grain from the chaff!
7 out of 10
We all have a dream, but few people believe it will come true 100%. There is no forgiveness for these naive plans. Life mercilessly beats them on the weakest places. But it is rare for someone to fall on their knees, to be deep on the bottom, decide to rise again. This film shows the difficult path of a man who lost all hope for a normal life, but did not lose the spirit of struggle.
Plot
A young and very mischievous guy named Joe Buck decides to radically change his life, leaving his small town for New York. He has no education or money, but he believes in a strange dream: that he can serve elderly women for a tidy sum. But his plans immediately collapse, as the provincials have no place in the big city. They're all alone there. Joe is waiting for a lot of trials and a fierce struggle for a place under the sun.
This is one of the most sincere and sad films about true friendship. It shows how you can appreciate, respect and help each other when there is not a penny behind your soul.
Joe meets Rizzo. And from that moment, their difficult relationship begins. They try to stick together so that the cruel New York does not completely consume their miserable lives.
The big city robbed Joe of his dreams and shattered his naive notions of life. The world was not so simple, kind and accessible to an ordinary guy from the outback. But New York gave him much more than dirty money. He gave him a true friend whom people rarely meet. It is a pity that Joe realized the value of this gift too late.
Acting game
Of course, there are Dustin Hoffman and John Voight, who played the main characters. Now they are already accomplished actors with many awards and a large fortune, but then they were simple young people starting their careers. It’s great to see these actors play. It's light, without too much drama. True, the viewer has something constantly shrinking in his chest when he watches the actors.
Characters
Joe Buck is the main cowboy in the saddle. A confident, but very trusting guy. It is immediately evident that he grew far from the insidiousness of the big city and was not used to deception. He believes in people. And, of course, they also believe in him, in his absolute stupidity.
Rizzo is Joe’s friend, a sloppy and not too pleasant-looking man. He tries to survive in the big city by deception and petty fraud, but he practically fails.
Result
Watching Midnight Cowboy really touched me. He's simple, honest and bitter. It is a pity that life did not give a second chance to the friendship of the main characters and so unfairly treated them. But they fought her cruelty. No medals were awarded.
Do you remember that old saying about a dog? Here's about the same story. With the only difference that the dog would be sorry, and in this “masterpiece of world cinema” (if you believe the immodest inscription on the box with a DVD) and pity someone.
In fact, I scored a few points to a minimum only out of respect for D. Hoffman. Needless to say, the actor is outstanding. Yes, and the role is not matched by Facker the elder from a later picture with his participation. Simply put, there is something to see.
But enjoying acting and getting interested in the plot of the film, as you know, things are completely different. One doesn't guarantee the other at all. You can also play brilliantly at the doorstep. But will the fate of a dirty rag touch anyone? "Not Fact!"
As far as I know, this painting was once a success. Not least due to the so-called freshness of the author’s eyes. The one who is sometimes supposed to separate "dirty from truth and lies from fairy tales." Probably, it was supposed to crush the viewer with the stunning truth that multi-storey America really is.
I trust you. Not just the intention, but the success with which the planned result was achieved. Only... Who cares now? Moreover, you are sure that the filmmakers would not be reprimanded for “slightly one-sided” coverage of the problems of same-sex love, if they wanted to release something similar on the screens now, these days?
I mean, what's the revelation? Where's the enduring relevance? What is the evidence of any degree of urgency of the problems involved? Personally, I feel nothing but the nauseating smell of mold and/or mothballs. He brought into the light of God’s unimaginable rubbish in the absurd hope of eternal value. Wherever! You will also have to pay for recycling now. Do not push it back on the mezzanine in anticipation of “the universe will expand, and then again compress.”
Stupid, vulgar, uninteresting film about subhumans, unsuccessfully trying (why?) to move to the next level of stupidity and vulgarity. On
Who are we? What is our place in life? What is the work of all life?
The main character of the film “Midnight Cowboy”, Joe Buck, at first does not ask these questions. After all, he is Alphonse, and is not ashamed of this, on the contrary, considers the seduction of widows and elderly women dissatisfied with family life as earnings, which is not normal. A nice face that pleases old women with its innocence and correctness of devils, a neat costume of a cowboy, as if he had just left the rodeo - what is not a ladies' man?
Arriving in New York from somewhere in the suburbs, Joe Buck faces misunderstanding and ridicule not only ordinary citizens who are not surprised by another freak, but also his main audience – “women over 45”. The real bewilderment reads in his eyes - "How?" They don't like me? But my grandmother told me I was the best. Gradually, the pink lenses dim, and the man finds himself alone in the crowd until he meets the same solitary man - homeless tuberculous Rizzo, who convinces Joe to become his manager. His life is not sugar, and besides a cripple. Willy-nilly, two misfortunes attract each other, and gradually you cease to see the differences between these two lost souls - so much they become alike in their life uncertainty, with all the external differences.
And as soon as a person is faced with reality, coming out of the comfort zone of his dream-fairy tale, in which he lived all his childhood and youth like in a cocoon, he understands that being a cheerleader for older women is, by and large, the consequences of the trauma of childhood - an inferiority complex, a complex of the desire to be the best for his beloved grandmother, which no longer exists. Isn't it the old woman? It is not her fault that she loved her grandson. Or did she not like it – she just pampered, used it, and therefore using people became a habit for Joe, the most common thing?
But the transformation of a person still occurs after realizing the situation and knowing yourself. Will he really change? Unknown. We see only the urge to change, and this is already expensive, at least for someone who already at a conscious age continues to play the cute cowboy that grandmothers like so much.
-
Truthfully conveyed the spirit of time and atmosphere, excellent editing, scripted psychological portraits of the main characters, coupled with a very good acting, make the film “Midnight Cowboy” a real classic of cinema.
9 out of 10
We were delighted, we imagined that we had left the confusion and nonsense behind, and now we are fulfilling our only and noble function of time: moving. Jack Kerouac
The wind of change blew from somewhere in France, sharply spread to Britain, incredibly flew even to Hollywood. In the sixties Jean-Luc Godard made the first film, in the sixty-second Jacques Derrida published the first significant work, in the sixty-eighth world students synchronously reached for the barricades. The air was filled with metaphysical substances, the composition of which has not been solved to this day. One way or another, it was about the sixties that it was said: "Since then, nothing has happened that should be remembered." One way or another, the collective smile of collective Audrey Hepburn disappeared in the fog of the past era, the Golden Age of the Dream Factory ended, and the heroes destroying, unhappy heroes, heroes, if you will, more real, confidently stepped into the frame. Here's the Midnight Cowboy Joe Buck: taking with him a ridiculous spotted suitcase and a little provincial charm, the simpleton, perfectly mastered the only profession - to be a good guy, went to the East, to the hearth of urbanization, but was blinded by the lights of the big city. Attempt to grab by the tail of the decaying American dream turned out to be an unknown version of the “sonet about a bad life.”
New York, New York. Lined with endless avenues, the numbered city of the land of opportunity, the Big Apple, which can not be bitten off without dislocating your jaw. In the mornings here run scalded anthill, at night dissolve in senseless debauchery. The main character penetrates deeper into the very essence of the metropolis, and now the polyphony of car horns, the lubricated gloss of advertising signs - the upper layer of typical industrial aesthetics - are replaced by narrow spaces of apartments, bars, hotel rooms - the black soul of New York rests there. Briton John Schlesinger shoots for the first time in America, but his belonging to the group of those who were called angry young men in his homeland is visible throughout. He curses society with machine-gun bursts, collects all the vices into one unit of cinema syntax, never chewing each individually. Here older wives cheat on their husbands, chatting with them on the phone; here they invent wigs for dogs, and the image of Jesus is put on the toilet door; here stupid advertising, here gigolo and alphonse, here the absolute vulgarity and the standard of indifference - the underside of the Western world, crammed with close-up plans and mad faces from the bottom up, they laugh humbly, exposing giant teeth. Voight almost with one eyebrow performs a boy who just learned the secret of the cotton beard of Santa Claus – the world plunged into the night, and at night no one needs cowboys, except that the pederasts of the nearest tavern. Schlesinger almost convulsively mounts the black and white past of the protagonist with an unbearably gray present: the laughter of a caring grandmother is interrupted by the bloody cough of a vagabond tuberculous; a touching bed scene with a muffled light goes into a surreal drug-party, where the silhouettes blur, and everything is filmed with red filters - faster, even faster, the footage flashes, this city naturally drives mad!
However, despite the thoughtful mise-en-scene scenes and five minutes of brilliant work of the operator, Schlesinger, like every Briton of the time, put ethics a step above aesthetics. The midnight cowboy (with or without quotation marks) is another touch to the image of a rebel without a goal. Yes, New York gave birth to Holden Coldfield, Travis Bickle and (most likely) Tyler Durden, but Joe Buck is not one of those, he is not yet ready to become the fuel in the fire of the revolution and “clean the city of shit”, until the rumble of madness rages in his head. The best thing he can do is walk into a bar and have another mug of the loneliest beer of his life with a sandwich of despair. The cowboy, who can shoot only with his eyes, solves problems with the Kerouac method - on the road. What is important here is not Florida itself, where the heroes of Voight and Hoffman sincerely aspire, after all, they just need to go somewhere, how uncomfortable smoking rooms are, so an ordinary bus is seen as paradise transport, it is not even scary to die in it. But there is no way out, once you get there, you can no longer get out of the metaphorical bus, life is twisted by the concept of eternal return, a recursive salad is served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Joe Buck is walking around the city over and over again - boots with spurs close-up, though the eyes no longer burn. The fourth dimension betrays paradoxes: the past has finally been ended, but the future (if it exists at all) is brazenly slow and does not come, all ontological gaps are filled with a hopeless present - Baudrillard undoubtedly approves of the scheme. Here are the sixties: once again, “the past was crushed by throwing confetti culturers in the wind” – and then what? No answer.
The bus with various rebels goes into installation blackout. It’s obviously the same, but in a different order. Postmodernism?
Two-meter cute Joe Buck (factual John Voight) packs his suitcases and leaves America one-story to go to high-rise and majestic. Having no unnecessary star ambitions, Joe tries to find a job in the most exciting field of "hustler" - a profession proven, ancient, they say, even the oldest. Well, everyone has their own dreams. In “managers” to Joe asks lame tramp Rezzo (genius for the second time in three years Dustin Hoffman) and begins to intensively help him climb the financial ladder, at the top of which is a bright future: to leave New York and move to sunny Florida forever.
The general moods and socio-cultural trends that prevailed from the 60th to the 69th can not be explained otherwise than the notorious in many circles “spirit of the sixties”. They, of course, each had their own, but something ephemeral still reigned in the air, sometimes flying huge spaces. For example, it is difficult to explain the phenomenon that Midnight Cowboy is bizarre, but at the same time quite similar to Georgy Danelia’s I Walk in Moscow. It would seem that between them there is an iron curtain and a cultural chasm, but the genre and, in some places, mood similarity is simply incredible. Both are a kind of “circular road-movie”, where the classic for this genre road is glued into a ring, and therefore never ends. You can only walk around, wrapping in alleys, but always returning to Broadway or Arbat.
But if the young Nikita Mikhalkov danced in the subway named after the bright future of the Soviet capital, Voight and Hoffman morosely roam the decadent New York named after Travis Bickle from “Taxi Driver” Martin Scorsese. The city so greedily absorbs everything that gets closer to it than a couple of kilometers that it is not even possible to turn it around normally. The obsessive motif of “Everybody Talkin” from the reverse hints that people here do not really like to communicate. They close themselves and then, behind closed doors of hotel rooms of varying degrees of comfort, release boiling. A disgusting old pervert prays at the toilet door, an intelligent professor screams exhaustingly as he falls on the couch, and a refined lady plays Scrabble with hired Joe. “Midnight Cowboy” is a whole gallery of portraits of a big city, where dens and garbage cans are not much different from drug bohemian parties.
The era also determines why Midnight Cowboy is a cult movie. At the junction of the sixties and seventies, when public consciousness was half-fainted and did not particularly understand what was happening to him, Joe Buck and Enrico Rezzo became exhilaratingly realistic monuments. “Midnight Cowboy” is most interesting for its characters, where forward comes not a collection of second-hand freaks and not even Hoffman’s cripple: the average to the tips of spurs Joe is a character of the time already stranger and gone. “Midnight Cowboy” is a poem with a hero who combines social traits and individuality. Texas rodeo-boy, looking at everything with wide-open eyes of the fifties, and can not understand from what point this outfit of John Wayne began to be considered gay, people on the streets hurtfully stale, and the ability to do something better than others no longer guarantees a decent income. This film is a bright red indicator of the tectonic shift of epochs.
Classic cowboys usually shoot at noon, but Schlesinger, according to the name, can only come midnight. This movie has no clear beginning and no strict end: the endless final bus scene wittyly homages Nichols' "The Graduate" and proves a thought similar to his idea. Love does not exist, there is only vice and violence, but true friendship does. Yes, it's between a gigolo and a tuberculosis patient, but who says the world is a nice place? Except, of course, Florida. Florida is our Eden.
A typical story of a provincial conqueror of a metropolis in an atypical format. This film is the only X-pic to win an Oscar (and not one, but 3). That’s not the main reason to watch this movie.
Midnight Cowboy is a controversial movie. It shows a perfect life and a cruel life. Two idealists are essentially losers living in a closet. Carefree childhood of the main character hides many terrible secrets. Primitive desires are replaced by a sense of loyalty and friendship. And the film itself from the picture about a funny stupid cowboy turns into a picture of what is real friendship.
A separate big plus deserved camera work: shooting close-up shots, changing images from bright and rainbow to wretched and gray - that's what really conveys the mood of the film. Sometimes it is even better than dialogue, which is also important.
And of course, it is worth noting the amazing acting of John Voight and Dustin Hoffman.
The film leaves a sediment, but it is definitely worth watching.
Under the smooth iridescent “Everybody Talking”, sliding somewhere on the periphery of the usual daily slightly scattered consciousness, the camera runs along with the main character from dusty and stuffy Texas to the no less suffocating expanse of New York. It seems that at the turn he will be welcomed with open arms in the huge “Big Apple”, and the oppressive past will remain far behind, without interfering with the beginning of a new life.
Briton John Schlesinger, who just moved to the other side of the ocean, did not invent new recipes, settling on the “success story” telling about a strange couple – a Texas cowboy and a New York homeless tuberculous. Back in England, the director carefully looked at the post-war society of the country, finding in the young adult either a emphasized indifference to his own fate ("Billy the liar"), or the desire to grab luck by the tail, simultaneously crushing the legs of his competitors ("Dear"). In both cases, Schlesinger was adept at finding flaws in society disguised by conservative Britain.
“Midnight Cowboy” is filmed with the usual directorial squint, which, like X-ray radiation, shines through the insides of the American dream. The main character played by John Voight, who replaced the role of a rural dishwasher with an urban gigolo, absorbed almost all the classic traces of upbringing - from a lack of love to frightening infantilism. The personality deformity instilled as a child by an overly caring grandmother, as if preparing Joe for life in the big city, where everything is bought and sold. However, the beauty of the plot collision lies in the fact that all these cute “greetings from childhood” not only do not prepare the new gigolo for living in the theater of the absurd, but, on the contrary, at first seriously slow down his career. The directorial hint is obvious – the province, trying to merge into the life of the metropolis, is still a kind of stable island with certain rules, not subjected to the corrosion of the American dream of big cities. But at the same time, the metropolis projects its understanding of beautiful life on the surrounding space, luring gullible simpletons to itself.
Trying to act on Joe’s proposed patterns (that is, honestly satisfy older women for money), New York just spits back, along with his ideas about the cowboys of the John Wayne era. Oddly enough, the reference point for existence in the city for Joe is the homeless Rizzo, who managed to fit into the market economy of the metropolis by deception and theft. Their ridiculous friendship, more like the care of one over the other, is perhaps the most real thing that is in this film, thoroughly imbued with indifference, disgust, lust and anger. New York, reflected through the experience of Joe, at some points and turns into a crooked mirror, distorting the world around in the best traditions of surrealism.
Going to Florida, of course, will not save Joe from suddenly revealed the truth about the country in which he wants to succeed, guided by his own code of honor. Moreover, the ending of the film hints that the cowboy will remain on the sidelines of a new life, even showing all his best qualities. The absurdity of the situation is that the society, where Joe is so eager, does not care about them. He is interested in a deeper deformation of the personality, already retouched earlier. There is no painted path to happiness, nor is there a return to where it all began.
The only X-rated film to win 3 Oscars, including Best Picture
The only X-rated film to win 3 Oscars, including Best Picture.
2 prize "David" Donatello" in Italy - best foreign director and best foreign actor (Dustin Hoffman) "Silver Ribbon" in Italy to the best foreign director, "Bodil" for the best non-European film in Denmark, included in 1994 in the National Film Register.
This is a masterpiece of American cinema. In which the geniuses of John Schlesinger, Dustin Hofman and John Voight merged. A masterpiece that challenged the then public, their foundations and norms. Breaking the popular stereotype about America, about New York - where all dreams are fulfilled, where everyone is waiting with impatience and there is a place for everyone in the sun. A masterpiece that conquered its contemporaries.
Dustin Hofman and John Voight showed a true friendship in the film. A friendship you want to live for. Friendship is the only salvation in the urban jungle, where a dynamically turbulent society does not accept everyone, salvation for those who have not found a place in the sun.
Midnight Cowboy is based on the novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. Naive, kind, with an attractive appearance, Joe Buck (John Voight), who experienced some difficulties in his youth, decided to quit the craft of dishwasher and go to New York, from a tiny town in Texas. Inspired by the compliments of others and his naivete, he wants to become in New York - a professional giorgil. Based on the popular legend that New York rich ladies are not satisfied with their husbands who leave all their strength on Wall Street, and there is no one for lovers, because in the Big Apple, all free are homosexuals. And he's Joe Buck, tall, handsome, blonde, and he's going to win over all these ladies, because the only thing he knows is to have sex. And that means a lot of money, a lot of beautiful women, a life without worries — those were the values of life.
New York has a different scenario for him. Joe Buck discovered after arriving that everything here is expensive and people are not friendly, busy - even a man lying in the middle of the street no one pays attention. After several unsuccessful attempts to hit on rich ladies, he meets a homeless tuberculous Ratso (Dustin Hoffman). Ratso sends it to "influential people" for money. Naive Joe believes him. But after he realizes he's been cheated and purged, he seeks out Ratso to pay back in full. But seeing the miserable existence of a bum-tuberculosis, he changed his mind. Ratso, having sympathy for Joe, invites him to his slums. Maintenance of homosexuals in toilets and theft do not interfere with them. Joe and Ratso become real friends. Living from dollar to dollar, Joe realizes the real cost of living. And they have a new goal in life - to earn a lot of money and go to sunny Miami - where all dreams come true, where everyone is waiting with impatience and there is a place for both of them in the sun.
John Schlesinger's masterpiece on the inhabitants of the New York bottom. The piercing story of a disillusioned American cowboy from the Wild West who moved to New York, where he meets a small (in terms of height) Italian Ricco.
Schlesinger’s avant-garde utterance, which turns the myth of the “American Dream” inside out, has strangely fascinated (if the word can be applied in this case) American film academics. Those, penetrating, gave immediately as much as 3, and the main ones, “Oscar”. And this is really a rare case when a non-standard form envelops the soul-wrenching content and organically merges with it. It is strange that the socially active Berlin Festival, where the film was a participant, did not mark this, of course, not only personal but also social history.
The reader of this review will make fair claims that nothing is written about the script, nor about the director, nor about the actors. But this is not important, because both are indisputable, and therefore everyone should see it. To make sure that Hoffman is a genius actor and that John Voight is at least very talented. And about Schlesinger is not necessary to talk - the master is afraid.
10 out of 10