NEW Midnight Cowboy (DVD)

MIDNIGHT COWBOY is one of the top ten films to ever be made. I should be seen to be believed. New York City is actually the main character in this hard-to-take-your-eye-from film, and there's no way you can come away from this unmoved. Winner of the Academy Award for best film in 1969 (the first X-rated film to do so), I both disliked and admired it when I first saw it and that initial reaction really hasn't changed in more than 30 years. What remains after so many years are the images evoked whenever I hear its ironic theme song, "Everybody's Talking." The street scenes, the awkward and incompetent grifting, and especially the scene on the bus to Miami. Voight as Joe Buck and Hoffman as "Ratzo" Rizzo really are the definitive odd couple as they pursue their illusive as well as elusive dreams amidst the squalid realities of the urban life they share. Films do not change but we do. For example, I was more amused and less sympathetic 39 years ago. Today, I am more inclined to view Rizzo and Buck as victims of natural selection, unable to overcome physical limitations (Rizzo) or mental limitations (Buck) in a society which consumes and then discards people as indifferently as it does whatever is tossed into trash cans in a dark alley, awaiting removal. Everybody isn't talking. In fact, no one notices. For so many in a city such as New York or Miami, it will always midnight. Must also recommend a novel that I recently came across which incorporates themes from Midnight Cowboy, as well as other movies, called "Katzenjammer" by Jackson McCrae---great take off on some of what happens in the film and New York is once again central to the story.

1969 was an excellent year for films.There was Anne of the Thousand Days, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,Hello Dolly,Easy Rider, the list goes on and on.Why is it then that this is the film that won the Academy Awards for best picture,director and screenplay of that year? (and was also given nods for both leading actors). Perhaps the voters over 30 years ago could forsee that this movie would stand the test of time. This is a story that tugged at our heartstrings, and made us up sit up and take notice of the world around us. Joe Buck(John Voight), a naive,good looking,Texas "cowboy", in a get up that looks as if he is Alan Ladd reincarnated, hits the "Big Apple" in hopes of striking it rich (literally) with the ladies there. It isnt long before his hopes are dashed, he is broke,life on the streets of New York is savage.He must do things that turn his stomach in order to survive. He finds himself in need of a friend. The friend comes in the form of one "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a sleazy. panderer, who offers Joe a place with him in a condemned apartment building. Ratso takes Joe under his wing, and together they try to survive on one get rich quick scheme after another. These two very different men form a unique bond. Joe has disturbing thoughts of the past, and Ratso has dreams of the future. When Ratso falls ill,though. it is Joe who must care for him. Their friendship moved us then and it will move you now. The actors are phenominal in their performances. Hoffman fresh off his success in "The Graduate" shows us way back then how versitile he is, and Voight the newcomer proved his dramatic skills early on. The director John Schlesinger (Far From the Maddning Crowd) gives us a very realistic view of life on the streets. At the time of it's release this film was rated X (it is R now) and although there are some expicit scenes, the main focus is on the kinship of man. The DVD(MGM) is a nice transfer. The colors ar vibrant. It is in the original widescreen format (with a standard format on the b side of the disc) It is in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround,not the best I have heard done on a film of this age, but still good enough. The soundtrack is wonderful with the great song "Everybody's Talkin". No other special features on the disc itself but it does come with a booklet on the casting and making of the film, along with some other interesting facts about it.

"Midnight Cowboy" is not easy to see. Even though it has lost a good deal of its original impact, this movie has visually striking scenes and powerful images. But underneath that though surface, "Midnight Cowboy" is a story about the unconditional friendship.

Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight) and "Razzo" Rizzo (played by Dustin Hoffman) are apparently the two more different persons in the whole New York City, but actually they share more in common than they and the audience think at the beginning of the film. Despite the fact that their origins are completely different, Joe and Razzo eventually understand that they only have each other in the tough Big City.

The song "Everybody Is Talking" is very good, and it is a great musical background to the gray streets of New York City. The director John Schlesinger never was known for finesse and subtlety, and this movie proves that he was a risky director. Jon Voight became well-known thanks to his portrayal of Joe Buck, and Dustin Hoffman portrayed a lovable loser with his usual skills.

"Midnight Cowboy" is a very dark film, but intelligent and influential at the same time. Perhaps some elements have lost their original impact, but still this is a powerful movie.