AMidnight Cowboy is both a stunning piece on human companionship, and one of the best movies made about America and the slum lifestyles in cities as well. It really says a lot about poverty and how crappy some lives are right beneath our noses, a message that is still very relevant. It almost makes you want to go out right away and help these people, it moved me. But even with that, there's almost a beauty about the people Joe meets on the streets, from Rico, to the woman with the rat toy, to Cass, to the people at that party, to the city itself. While Taxi Driver stops at no lengths to show the cruelty and scum factor of people in New York, Midnight Cowboy is an ode to them and all their bizarre habits. Of course it stops at no lengths in terms of being provacative or even disturbing through Joe's trip, the movie theatre scene in particular shocked me for a movie from the 60s. I'm sure the reaction must've been quite big back then, with the X rating and all.
While I do think much of the movie's strengths lie in showing the people of the city itself, the character of Joe and his self-realization by the end of the movie is also done perfectly. The movie and Schlesinger has so much love for human interaction and connection, the emotion is so good. The flashbacks at the beginning were at first a bit jarring, but they grew on me throughout. They along with the flashback sequences have a very strong visual sense to them as well.
Cinematography is simply perfect, set-design(or was it shot on location?) is right on, the writing is on the money and deserved the Oscar, and "Everybody's Talking About Me" as a looping background score is much more memorable and effective than it had any right to be. Finally, the performances... Voight is very very good, but Hoffman is even better, oh how I loved him in this movie. One of his finest roles. The two of course work perfectly off one another, really getting into these people.
I had a near-cry at the end, even though I saw it coming from the first few times he coughed. Buck changing his clothes was a brilliant touch there as well. The final shot is one of the more striking ones I've ever seen.
I absolutely loved it.
God I've been striking gold with movies lately, these last 2 months have been among the finest of my life in terms of renting bril movies. I've added no less than 11 movies to my top 100 list, if not top 50 for a number of them. (Alien, Aliens, Love Actually, Election, Midnight Cowboy, Full Metal Jacket, Ratatouille, Dog Day Afternoon, High Fidelity, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Streetcar Named Desire)
One last thing, while I support all the Oscar praise this movie got, how in the hell did Sylvia Miles get a nomination?
She had like 5 lines, her character was unimportant and toss-away, the actress herself was a nobody, and while sexy the performance isn't that memorable. I loled when I heard she got one. Probably the biggest "what???" nomination I've seen the Academy give to someone.
