Notable as the first and only recipient of the Academy Award for best picture after having been rated “X” by the Motion Picture Association of America, “Midnight Cowboy” is a cinematically brilliant, watershed John Schlesinger film from 1969. Character-driven and tackling the theme of loneliness, the film, as denoted by the title, has a significant narrative thrust toward the American Western — but it’s set in New York City.
“Midnight Cowboy” tells the story of Joe Buck (Jon Voight), a naive, idealistic Texan who decides to give up the stagnant life he leads as a dishwasher to go to New York and become a gigolo, earning top dollars from rich women who might enjoy his services. There, his Western attire draws the snickers of many women, but one (Sylvia Miles) takes him up on his offer for sex. After Joe discovers she has no money on her and she is offended by his request for payment, he meets Rico “Ratso” Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman).
Ratso offers to help set him up with someone who can take control of his work and help him make the heaps of money of which he dreams. When he discovers Ratso has conned him, Joe threatens to strangle him when he finds him again. The two end up forging a friendship based on survival that leads them to the ends of desperation.
Voight and Hoffman are simply perfect. Though he could have been hindered with his relative inexperience in acting, Voight plays Joe Buck brilliantly, all the way down to his big grin and gum-smacking, all of which denote his “rootin’-tootin’” naivety. Hoffman gives one of his best performances in this film, nailing the nasally voice, squirrel-y demeanor and physical inhibitions of Ratso. (In addition, I was particularly amused when he drops his accent halfway through his speech on the street with the impending attack of the taxi, spurring the line, “Hey! I’m walkin’ here! I’m walkin’ here!”)
Instantly controversial upon its release in 1969, “Midnight Cowboy” permeates viewers with its frank sexuality (which led to that infamous, pre-pornographic “X” rating. The rapid editing and handheld camera of the initial sex scene between Joe and Cass marks a viscerally raw and passionate lovemaking.
For that matter, cinematography and editing are top-notch in the film whose occasional volatility becomes a means for conveying the aggression of some scenes. They also facilitate a discontinuous style that communicates the thoughts and memories of Joe. Aside from stylistic elements, Waldo Salt’s screenplay and John Schlesinger behind the camera sustain a clear vision for the film, as interpreted through their sociological interpretation of 1960s New York with all of its decadence and moral confusion.
Considering the importance of time, the film carries significance with its easily recognizable references to, and metaphorical representation of, the American Western. Joe Buck is clearly a product of the West, hailing from Texas and always wearing his garish cowboy gear. Interesting enough, the film introduces Texas as a desolate wasteland, hardly the “Garden of Eden” and “Virgin Land” usually presented by the classic American Western. By the same token, in the classic Western, the East is a restricting civilization whose people have used up its resources. In this way, Joe’s ambition to reach New York is surprising and wholly against the way of the classic Western, limiting his opportunity and literally dooming him to failure from the outset.
Containing subtexts of the American West, the context of ’60s New York society and the universal theme of alienation, “Midnight Cowboy” continues to resound with viewers long after its initial release. Unabashed, poignant and provocative, it has lost little of its effect on viewers in the course of 40 years and remains a classic.
“Midnight Cowboy” is playing as part of a “Tramps and Vagabonds in Cinema” series at The Belcourt Theatre.
