40 years ago, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969) introduced audiences to the classic ‘buddy film’ of our culture.
But 1969 delivered a much more authentic examination of improbable friendship in “Midnight Cowboy.” Through a series of misadventures Joe Buck (Jon Voight), a naïve hustler wannabe from Texas hopelessly outmatched by the complexity of New York City, is united with ‘Ratzo’ Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). Hoffman’s performance, a stark contrast to his previous work in “The Graduate,” (1967) makes the sickly lowlife both poignant and likable. The movie’s portrayal of both men’s sexual and emotional isolation, filmed with a frankness far ahead of its time, is heartbreakingly honest and powerful. “Midnight Cowboy” is a great movie because it holds nothing back, allowing us to understand the duo’s disappointment, broken dreams, and desperation through their relationship, which ends with Buck carrying a dying Rizzo onto a Greyhound bus heading for Florida.
2008’s “In Bruges” presents one of the most complex and interesting relationships of the double-ohs with its portrayal of the bond between veteran hitman Ken (Brendan Gleeson) and guilt-ridden newbie Ray (Colin Farrell). Ken, despite his occupation, has the heart to try to comfort Ray, enthusiastically showing him around Bruges’ medieval sites. Colin Farrell creates a childish and darkly hilarious grump out of his character, moaning, “If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't.” Ken’s relentless attempts to help Ray culminate when he takes a significant fall for his friend. Ken and Ray’s final scene, like Buck and Rizzo’s final scene, reveals the depth of their friendship.
Clint Eastwood began the double-ohs with a searing study of four men bonded together by shared mishap and tragedy in Boston in “Mystic River” (2003). In “Million Dollar Baby” (2004), the relationship between Clint Eastwood’s hardened trainer and Hillary Swank’s fiercely driven female boxer is warm and devastating. Eastwood, once celebrated for his lone rider action hero role as ‘The Man With No Name’ in for his famous series of 1960’s Spaghetti Westerns, plays a man still somewhat unapproachable but infinitely more human and vulnerable. At the age of 78, Eastwood made his final acting appearance in “Gran Torino” (2008) as an isolated Korean War veteran who befriends a Hmong family as his neighborhood, like all of Detroit, hits the skids. His character ends up taking a bullet for his friendship with the son of the family.
Clint Eastwood clearly still appreciates the value of a good buddy picture, and if you do too, I recommend checking out “Midnight Cowboy.” “Midnight Cowboy” is the only ‘X’ rated film to win the Oscar for Best Picture, (the rating was later dropped to ‘R’) and I urge anybody to see it for its revealing examination of human bondage and the tremendous, youthful performances of Hoffman and Voight.
