Best Picture: #42
Original Release Date:
Rating: R (Originally X)
Runtime: 1 hour, 53 minutes
Director: John Schlesinger
Quick Impressions:
This week we spent fifty-nine hours without power, including one night when the temperature outside was six degrees for several hours. During that time, I couldn’t use a computer, but I still did plenty of writing. I’ll go ahead and type up my written thoughts here.
I’m writing this review by hand in a notebook while freezing in the warmest room of my house here in Texas. We’re experiencing an almost unheard of cold snap here, and we’ve been without power for forty-six hours and counting. (It wasn’t so bad last night during the ice storm when the temperature outside was warmer, in the teens. But that first dark night was absolutely brutal. We’d already been without power all day, and the low was six degrees. We were slowly realizing that what we had framed as first an inconvenience and then an adventure might actually be a survival situation. I kept saying, “It’s only ten inches of snow! Why is it causing conditions like people experience in the aftermath of a hurricane or a tsunami?” Finally I started to realize that the winter storm that hit all of Texas at once was an extreme event. Here in our warmest room, the temperature dropped to forty degrees. As I was huddled in a pile of blankets, shivering a few feet away from our make-shift, homemade radiator (rigged up from clay pots and candles), I kept thinking, “This is just like ‘To Build a Fire’…no wait! It’s just like the Mads Mikkelsen movie Arctic!” The associations kept clicking away in my brain all night long. But today I heard my father cough and realized, “I know what this is really like! Midnight Cowboy!” Right now, I can relate to (and empathize with) Dustin Hoffman’s Rizzo shivering in his condemned New York City apartment more than I ever could before. (These are also timely thoughts for Ash Wednesday. How awful it must be to know that you can’t afford power or even adequate shelter, that you’re lucky to have found a condemned building to sleep in, that you just have to be cold!)
I’m a bit behind in writing movie reviews, so I thought I’d use this time to catch up. (It’s a more productive use of my energy than checking Facebook and news outlets for more information about ERCOT. The more facts I learn about Texas’s mismanaged (for profit) independent grid, the angrier I become, anyway. (I agree that hospitals should be prioritized. I agree that we don’t want total, state-wide (except for El Paso) collapse of the grid, but how can it be that the only other choice is to deprive millions of people of power for days without warning or communication during the coldest weather in a century? If that’s the “okay” choice then something is wrong because that is not okay. We’re fortunate here in a two-story house. We can shut the bedroom doors, hang sheets over the stairs, and hunker down in one room. We have furniture, clothing, and blankets enough to permit everyone in the house to sleep comfortably in one room without freezing. We have plenty of non-perishable food and safe-to-drink beverages. But what about people with more vulnerabilities and fewer resources? Surely it is someone’s job to watch these weather events. You can’t tell me that no one at ERCOT knew this was possible, that it was coming. They knew they didn’t winterize equipment. They knew what would have to be done to protect the grid. At the very least, there should have been transparency and communication at the beginning of the event, giving people the time to prepare to be without power for days. I hope this isn’t forgotten by next week. Changes need to be made before the next extreme weather event…coming in a few days, probably, the way things are going.)
The Plot:
Joe Buck just wants what every other young, healthy, red-blooded American wants–to become a male prostitute. I won’t make fun of his dream to leave Texas by bus and try his luck hustling on the bustling streets of New York City. Frankly, leaving Texas and being a sex worker sounds nice and warm at the moment. Unfortunately, while Joe may be great in bed, he’s terrible at hustling. He doesn’t know how to find clients, how to approach them, how to interest them, how to secure payment. For the longest time, the only people he successfully manages to sleep with refuse to pay him (In fact, one woman becomes so hysterical that he ends up paying her!) Then he meets Rico “Ratso” Rizzo and things get much worse. A petty thief and con-artist by necessity, Rizzo hoodwinks Joe and tricks him out of a few bucks, then (despite his limp) successfully escapes. Time passes, and Joe grows no more successful. Finally, he’s kicked out of his hotel. When he happens across Rizzo again, he demands his money back, fists raised. But Rizzo no longer has his money. Rizzo has no money. With no prospects and a litany of vague but serious medical problems, Rizzo is lucky that he’s found a place to crash rent free in a threadbare room in a condemned building. Out of kindness, he invites Joe to join him in this squalid hovel, and Joe accepts because it is frankly the best offer he’s had in weeks. The two gradually become friends, and Rizzo goes all out trying to set Joe up as a successful sex worker. Disabled and getting sicker by the minute, Rizzo has big dreams of a new life in Florida, and eventually Joe realizes that he will never get the money to get him there by simple prostitution, so eventually, he tries something more desperate. He’ll do anything to get Rizzo on that bus.
The Good:
I had qualms about showing my daughter Midnight Cowboy, given its widespread notoriety as one of the first mainstream films (Oscar-winning, screened at the White House) to earn an X-rating. But we’re doing a project. What’s the point of continuing if we start haphazardly skipping films? I remember when I was her age, obsessively reading biographies of Marilyn Monroe and Adolf Hitler. (The energy I spent trying and failing to explain to my concerned grandma that neither was my role-model!) I’m sure she can handle Jon Voight as a naïve male hustler.
For years, I thought, “How strange that X-rated Midnight Cowboy could win Best Picture just one year after the charming Oliver Twist!” Now I realize the two films share incredibly similar themes and story elements. Oliver Twist and Joe Buck are practically the same person. They even look alike to a degree. (Granted one looks more like Brad Pitt’s kids, and the other looks more like Michael Jackson’s daughter according to him.) Both come from childhoods rife with confusing abuse (confusing because it came at the gas-lighting hands of the people who cared for them). (Think of that “God is Love” in the workhouse, and all of the affirmations of love by Joe’s Grandma.) Oliver was born and raised (and worked and underfed) at the workhouse, and Joe, as we learn through sporadic, jumbled flashbacks, grew up in the “loving” arms of his grandma. We don’t know exactly what happened to him in her care, but we see enough to understand that he experienced abuse (and the worst kind of abuse, the sort that sometimes disguises itself as love). Oliver decides to go to London to seek his fortune. Joe Buck decides to go to New York to make the big bucks as a male prostitute.
That was the past of the story that seemed most incredible to me. (It’s not that I don’t believe it. I just find Joe so bafflingly naïve, even deluded). Why on earth does Joe believe he’ll have such an easy life and rake in tons of money as a male prostitute in New York City? This plan makes absolutely no sense! First of all, though I won’t argue that there’s money to be made as a sex worker, why leave everything to try his luck on the streets of New York City? Presumably he has both shelter and a steady job back in Texas. I have heard of people up and moving to New York City to follow their dreams before. It’s very romantic. (And sometimes it works out!) I get it. But usually these dreams have to do with New York specific jobs, e.g. dancer, Broadway star, TV actor, Wall Street tycoon, first female president one day?. Sex work happens everywhere. Living in Texas doesn’t mean you have to wash dishes. You can do sex work here, too. And for most people as dreamy-eyed as Joe, sex work is more of a side-hustle, stepping stone, or even desperate last resort. But being a sex worker is his dream. That makes Joe so unusual, so fascinating. Not only does he have an unusual dream, but he also has no idea how to achieve it. He just doesn’t know what he’s doing at all. He may be fantastic in bed. We know he thinks so, and we see what look like satisfied (albeit usually non-paying customers). And he’s clearly proud of what he’s packing and his cool cowboy hat, but he has no idea how to get clients or to ensure payment. He’s the weirdest guy. (In fairness, it becomes increasingly clear that like Oliver, Joe is running away from something.)
Voight is quite captivating as this most peculiar character. My daughter seemed surprised (and annoyed) that the film never offers more closure, more concrete answers about the trauma in his past. I think the flashbacks give us enough to go on and offer two distinct sources of training, a confusingly abusive childhood with his “loving” grandma and some more physically violent, traumatic assault that he and his girlfriend experienced together more recently. (Watching the flashbacks, I’d think of a never-ending parade of other films–Forest Gump, Prince of Tides, Suddenly Last Summer.)
What interests me about the film is that on paper, the protagonists can easily be made to sound like “no-good lowlifes,” yet when we get to know them, we see that they’re actually hurt people, processing trauma. Joe has suffered abuse and assault. Rizzo struggles with chronic poverty and illness. On paper, the idea of following the adventures of a male prostitute sounds so seedy. But actually, Joe is as sweet and innocent as young Oliver Twist. (And I never realized before how much Shiloh Jolie-Pitt resembles the young Jon Voight.) (I’m not sure if I should say Shiloh or John since I’m not sure if John is a nickname or a chosen name.) I expected salacious sex and sleaze from this film, so notorious for its X-rating. But Midnight Cowboy actually shows someone recovering from the psychological after-effects of trauma. Voight is very engaging as Joe Buck.
And, of course, Dustin Hoffman is good as his enemy-turned-friend Rico “Ratso” Rizzo. (It really just occurred to me that Rizzo the Rat must have been named for Hoffman’s character here. I’m ashamed to admit that since I saw The Muppets Take Manhattan in the theater when I was five, and I’ve always known the name of Hoffman’s iconic character in this famous film. So I don’t know why I’ve never put that together before, probably just because I don’t often think of Midnight Cowboy. Hoffman somehow manages to make Rizzo immediately sympathetic and compelling, even though he’s initially presented to us as a sketchy character, and his behavior keeps making him more and more suspect. He’s a good foil (and honestly just a good counterpart) for Joe, the by necessity shrewd Artful Dodger to his naïve Oliver Twist. They’re good screen partners, too, since most of Joe’s issues are psychological while many of Rizzo’s are physical–his sickness, his speech impediment, his limp.
The story is focused pretty tightly on Joe, and then eventually on Joe and Rizzo. But there are scattered strong supporting performances, too. Of particular note to me is a very young Brenda Vaccaro. I have one image of her in my mind, but here she’s so young and looks quite different. When I recognized her, I cried in surprise, “Is that Brenda Vaccaro?” And my dad, who was washing dishes in the kitchen, suddenly realized that we were watching Midnight Cowboy.
Maybe my favorite supporting performance is Sylvia Miles as Cass, the woman with whom Joe Bungles an early hook-up. I honestly can’t decide if Cass is affronted, insulted, and wounded, or she’s just cagey. I also enjoyed John McGiver as Mr. O’Daniel, and a young Bob Balaban makes quite an impression, too.
I also enjoyed the frequent use of the song “Everybody’s Talkin’.” The movie deals with such serious material and dark, heavy things, and yet it’s always fun to watch, pleasurable, engaging.
I truly appreciate the film’s compassionate view of people in pain. As I’ve said, both Joe and Rizzo are vulnerable people working through physical and psychological trauma. For Joe, the lowest ebb he can sink to, the place is goes where most desperate, is an area where he can offer sex to other men. And yet when he goes to this awful seedy place, the person who takes advantage of him (by refusing to pay after the fact) isn’t some seasoned con-artist, but a frightened child. (I mean, I’m sure he’s an eighteen, but he’s young and terrified of his parents finding out.) Another homosexual encounter Joe attempts is with a man so tormented that he actually thanks Joe for turning on him and attacking him. I love the way that this film demystifies this idea that people lurking in the shadows are the bad ones, when frequently they are simply poor, frightened, sick, rejected, desperate. The film shows that in most cases, the people pushed to the edges of society are vulnerable, not villains.
Best Action Sequence:
My favorite aspect of the film was its presentation of Joe’s frequent flights of fancy. These alternate with jumbled flashbacks of trauma and abuse, showing us a man who choses to live in an imagined future in order to escape a haunting past that keeps trying to break in. One thing that helps get him through (and also shapes the character of these protective fantasies) is his radio. Joe is always imagining how people will react to what he says and does. He writes a post card and imagines the recipient reading it as he writes. He has entire conversations before actually having them. He sees himself as the hero of a fantastic adventure story. At one moment, fairly early in the film, Rizzo double-crosses him, and Joe imagines an entire chase sequence mini-movie. It’s delightful. My daughter and I loved it. When he loses his radio, the way he views reality changes. But perhaps listening to and investing in another person is more helpful than always distracting himself with the radio.
Best Scene:
Even better is an incredibly similar scene later in the film when Rizzo imagines a glamorous, warm life funded by Joe’s earning as an escort. I love the way new developments in reality intrude on this fantasy, quickly turning the dream into a nightmare.
Best Scene Visually:
My new life plan (after I become Batman and take on the corruption of ERCOT) is to hang around New York City restaurants looking interesting so that I will be invited to a cool party like Joe gets scouted to attend. (I would hate being at that party, but I still can’t help finding the idea alluring.) It looks so cool. It reminded me of the party at the beginning of The Great Beauty. (I only ever see parties like this in foreign films. I really think you have to know somebody like Andy Warhol or be somebody like Salvador Dali to swing an invitation and genuinely belong there.)
Runner-Up Best Scene:
The ending of this movie is like The Graduate all over again. I won’t spoil it.
The Negatives:
One complaint I have of Midnight Cowboy is that it’s always promoted as a shocking, X-rated movie. I know that sells tickets, but that gives a really false idea of what the film is actually doing. This is a brilliant look at the after-effects of trauma and also shows the way people might process that trauma and try to move forward in a uniquely American, pop-culture influenced way. It shows that the marginalized are often suffering rather than deliberately wicked or dangerous. But every time anyone discusses the movie, the big talking point is how it used to be X-rated. Even the tagline is, “Everything you’ve heard about Midnight Cowboy is true.” It’s disappointing that sex would be used to sell a story about a man selling sex because he is broken inside. (After all, proactively offering people your body is a sure way to stop them from violating you. It’s like guarding against robbery by giving away all your worldly possessions.) It’s also a movie about what a difference human connection makes, how people find healing through intimacy, friendship, and love. I don’t know why it’s always presented so salaciously.
My daughter was extremely annoyed by all the questions it leaves unanswered. And we could learn more specifics about what actually happened to Joe. (We see flashbacks, but so much of his present is imagined that it’s hard to determine their reliability.) Also, unless I missed it, we don’t know exactly what is medically wrong with Rizzo. I do wish we got more specifics, too, but I do think we’re shown enough to understand what Joe is running from and reacting to. (Now, she is twelve, so it’s possible that I was able to glean more specifics about Joe’s backstory than she was. Without being specifically told, she might not have put certain things together. She’s very young.)
But, yeah, my big complaint is that Midnight Cowboy is sold as something other than what it is, which seems a shame because I actually think more people would watch and appreciate it if it were offered to the public in a less salacious way.
Overall:
Midnight Cowboy is a really good movie, consistently engaging and entertaining even as it tackles a serious subject in a thoughtful (and kind of novel) way. Both my daughter and I enjoyed it, and she ranked it 13th out of 42, so that’s a pretty solid endorsement.