Midnight Cowboy
Movie: Midnight Cowboy
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Director: John Schlesinger
Year: 1969
Watched on: 29 December 2005
Rating: **** (4/5)
Review:
Some movies are timeless (E.g. Bicycle Thief) and Midnight Cowboy is one among them. This movie is a more than thirty-five year old but it appears so contemporary that one can easily establish a connection with the story and characters. Don't get fooled by the title, this is not a western where gun totting cowboys on their neighing wild horses shoot at drop of a hat but a realistic as well as a tragic story of great bonding between two losers and is situated mostly in the very urban New York. This film was nominated for seven Academy awards (1970) and won three Academy awards (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay), the first X-rated film to do so. Joe Buck (John Voight), a Texan dish washer bids adieu to his small home town as well as his job to pursue the dream of making big bucks by becoming a hustler in New York. Naïve and dimwitted Joe becomes an easy fleecing target in the big, bad and apathetic world of New York. It soon becomes evident to Joe that things aren't that rosy the way he figured. After getting conned by crippled fraudster Enrico Salvatore 'Ratso' Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), Joe finds himself thrown out of his hotel room for non payment of rent. Furious and shelter less Joe who is now hell bent on getting his money back somehow manages to track Rizzo who is homeless and sick. A friendship develops between the conman and his victim as Joe moves into Rizzo's room in an abandoned building. The two misfits optimistically try to make it big in the seemingly difficult world. Director John Schlesinger beautifully unravels this story and masterfully controls the flow. Editing by Hugh A. Robertson is ahead of its time and music is used quite well. I was forced to listen to the title song "Everybody's Talkin'" (sung by Harry Nilsson) many times, which is a melodious country song. The highlight of the movie is brilliant performances by Jon Voight as naïve and small town boy Joe Buck and legendary Dustin Hoffman as crippled and sick Rizzo.
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Director: John Schlesinger
Year: 1969
Watched on: 29 December 2005
Rating: **** (4/5)
Review:
Some movies are timeless (E.g. Bicycle Thief) and Midnight Cowboy is one among them. This movie is a more than thirty-five year old but it appears so contemporary that one can easily establish a connection with the story and characters. Don't get fooled by the title, this is not a western where gun totting cowboys on their neighing wild horses shoot at drop of a hat but a realistic as well as a tragic story of great bonding between two losers and is situated mostly in the very urban New York. This film was nominated for seven Academy awards (1970) and won three Academy awards (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay), the first X-rated film to do so. Joe Buck (John Voight), a Texan dish washer bids adieu to his small home town as well as his job to pursue the dream of making big bucks by becoming a hustler in New York. Naïve and dimwitted Joe becomes an easy fleecing target in the big, bad and apathetic world of New York. It soon becomes evident to Joe that things aren't that rosy the way he figured. After getting conned by crippled fraudster Enrico Salvatore 'Ratso' Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), Joe finds himself thrown out of his hotel room for non payment of rent. Furious and shelter less Joe who is now hell bent on getting his money back somehow manages to track Rizzo who is homeless and sick. A friendship develops between the conman and his victim as Joe moves into Rizzo's room in an abandoned building. The two misfits optimistically try to make it big in the seemingly difficult world. Director John Schlesinger beautifully unravels this story and masterfully controls the flow. Editing by Hugh A. Robertson is ahead of its time and music is used quite well. I was forced to listen to the title song "Everybody's Talkin'" (sung by Harry Nilsson) many times, which is a melodious country song. The highlight of the movie is brilliant performances by Jon Voight as naïve and small town boy Joe Buck and legendary Dustin Hoffman as crippled and sick Rizzo.