Midnight Cowboy

Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy is a story of disillusioment starring John Voight as Joe Buck and Dustin Hoffman as Ratso, his counterpart. The story was about Joe, a Texan, and his dreams of making money in the streets of New York as a male prostitute, and his trials along the way. The movie was controversial at its time, but hardly provacative by today's standards.

One thing I noticed was how gritty and dirty the New York streets were made to be in this film. The film's mood is dark and solemn, and Ratso and Joe are sort of anti-heroes in this movie. This notion was common among films of this day, and I think the sort of disillusionment is indicative of the political and social upheaval that was present during the late 60's. The urban decay of America protrayed in this movie could be construed to represent the decay in morale concerning all of the things happening in the 60's. (Later, George Lucas and other les infantes terrible (Sp?) directors would reinvigorate the hero with their use of mythic archetypes.).

Concerning Joe's experience, it sort of reminds me of Stagecoach--a John Ford film--which calls into question the reality and availability of the american dream. Though Joe literally goes east from New York to find work, the idea is the same. The fact that he does not succeed but finds Ratso, both who are marginalized by society throughout the course of the film, sort of reminds me of John Wayne's character finding Dallas in Stagecoach.

All in all I liked this movie, though it was somewhat sordid and disenchating.