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Title: Midnight Cowboy (1969)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Dustin Hoffman | ... | Ratso | |
| Jon Voight | ... | Joe Buck | |
| Sylvia Miles | ... | Cass | |
| John McGiver | ... | Mr. O'Daniel | |
| Brenda Vaccaro | ... | Shirley | |
| Barnard Hughes | ... | Towny | |
| Ruth White | ... | Sally Buck - Texas | |
| Jennifer Salt | ... | Annie - Texas | |
| Gilman Rankin | ... | Woodsy Niles - Texas (as Gil Rankin) | |
 |
Gary Owens | ... | Little Joe - Texas |
|
|
T. Tom Marlow | ... | Little Joe - Texas |
| George Eppersen | ... | Ralph - Texas | |
|
|
Al Scott | ... | Cafeteria Manager - Texas |
|
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Linda Davis | ... | Mother on the Bus - Texas |
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J.T. Masters | ... | Old Cow-Hand - Texas |
Texas greenhorn Joe Buck arrives in New York City for the first time. Preening himself as a real "hustler", he finds that he is the one getting "hustled" until he teams up with down-and-out but resilient outcast Ratso Rizzo. The initial "country cousin meets city cousin" relationship deepens. In their efforts to bilk a hostile world rebuffing them at every turn, this unlikely pair progress from partners in shady business to comrades. Each has found his first real friend. Written by alfiehitchie
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In my opinion, this is one of the greatest movies ever made in America and it deserved every single award it won and it's place on the AFI Top 100 list (though it's shamefully too low on the IMDB Top 250 list, at only #183 as of this writing). If you enjoy acting of the highest calibre (Voight and Hoffman are a superb match), well-drawn characterizations and inventive direction, editing and cinematography, you'll love this just as much as I did. Schlesinger paints a vivid, always credible picture of the late 60s New York City scene and it's many victims struggling to overcome personal demons and survive amidst the amorality, poverty and hopelessness of 42nd Street, New York City.
The filmmaking techniques employed here brilliantly capture the feel of the underground New York film movement (and of the city) and are nothing less than dazzling. I've seen many ideas (including the rapid-fire editing, the handling of the voice-over flashbacks, the drug/trip sequences and the cartoonish face slipped in during a murder scene to convey angst and terror) stolen by other filmmakers.
The relationship between Joe and Ratso is handled in such a way as to be viewed as an unusually strong friendship OR having it's homosexual underpinnings. I think the director handled this in a subtle way not to cop out to the censorship of the times, but rather to concentrate his energies on the importance of a strong human connection in life, whether it be sexual or not.
MIDNIGHT COWBOY is a brave, moving film of magnitude, influence and importance that has lost absolutely none of it's impact over the years, so if you haven't seen it, you're really missing out on a true American classic. I recommend this film to everyone.
Score: 10 out of 10.