Welcome back readers. I could start by apologizing for my lack of writing recently, or even make another claim that I promise to do better. But in all honesty, I'm just a procrastinator and put this off. In realizing this, I want to get back to doing more of these, and that will probably make me more than any thing else. So, let's just jump back into it (and pretend it hasn't been forever since I last did one).
Today, I watched what is considered an iconic classic film, worthy of the American Film Institute's list of Top 100 movies of all time. It won multiple awards and even a few Oscars. Sadly Shanna, I am not talking about the Emperor's New Groove (I'm working on it, promise). Instead, I am talking about Midnight Cowboy, starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. This film was made in 1969, directed by John Schlesinger, and written by Waldo Salt (screenplay) and James Leo Herlihy (novel). It has been deemed one of the best movies of all time, and for those of you who don't know, one of my life goals is to watch all the films from the AFI Top 100 list so I figured I'd give it a shot.
.....and was sincerely disappointed.
Seriously? This movie? I've had some questions about other iconic films (Citizen Kane is the best movie of all time? My ass...) But I've normally been able to legitimize some of the claims, (Citizen Kane did change almost everything we know and incorporate in the film world today). Other films like The Deer Hunter, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and Easy Rider will never be considered "quality films" in my book, but for the most part, the list is pretty solid. However, I'm gonna add this one to the "not a good representation of awesome" list.
This film focuses on the life of Joe Buck played by Voight, a self proclaimed "hustler" (and by hustler, we mean gigolo) who decides that he's got enough swagger (am I using that term correctly?) to be able to take his "talents" to the Big Apple and make a name for himself among the ladies. He is convinced that once he leaves his podunk town in Texas, the women will be lining up for a night with him (because women are all sex addicts who will pay for it and all the men are "Tutti Frutti's). So he takes all his money and heads east on a bus. He is presented as a friendly and courteous Texas gentleman, but is uber cocky (no pun intended) and full of himself. He arrives in New York City, full of hope and wonder. He tries to establish himself as a quality hustler and ends up struggling to do so (he actually ends up paying his first customer). Luckily, he meets Enrico Rizzo or Ratso played by Hoffman who "sets him up" with a manager. When this is revealed a scam, Ratzo decides to take Buck under his wing. There is just one problem... Rizzo is a broke and sickly cripple who squats in a condemned building and since he has less money than Buck, resorts to stealing and checking pay phones for money. Ok, so maybe that's more than one problem, but you know what I meant.
What happens next is a series of discombobulated and random scenes similar to what I imagine one's memory would be like after a night of binge drinking or dropping acid. There are random shots involving Buck's old life (bizarre relationship to his grandmother, his first girlfriend, sexual encounters...etc, etc, etc) but none of them really make any sense and definitely don't have much to do with the rest of the movie. They go to a party that just confuses the hell out of you, until they spend 5 non-developed and random minutes in a graveyard and then you're really confused. These scenes continue throughout the rest of the movie with no real tie ins or significance until the movie gets back on track. Ratso gets increasingly sicker and Joe decides to fulfill Ratso's life long dream and takes him to Florida after robbing a "John" and through a series of unfortunate events, this "film" comes to a conclusion.
Seriously, I don't get what the rave is all about. The camera shooting styles are childish and hokey, the music score is just awful (how many times can you listen to "Everybody's Talkin' in a row before it loses the little to no sense it made in the first place? watch this movie and find out), the plot is jumpy and not enjoyable to even try to follow. Very little was worthwhile in this movie. That being said, the setting was pretty sweet. They did an excellent job of showing the squalor side of NYC but also the glitzy side. Throw in a memorable acting performance by Dustin Hoffman (really, he did an excellent and convincing job) and you have a couple of legitimate factors. Then turn back to the terrible acting by everyone else (no one was a genuine or believable character) and the lacking story line and were back to a lower end film again.
However, I did enjoy one particular aspect of this film; even though it probably wasn't what was supposed to be enjoyed and this is probably just the cynical me coming out. Most movies have a sense of hope, positive forces, or "everything will all work out in the end" attitude. And I LOVED that this movie didn't. This movie showed some realistic nature in this aspect in that, you know what, things DON'T always work out in the end and life isn't all rainbows and sprinkles. There is a dirty and grimy underbelly to society and the world we live in and it get's ignored all too often. Both of the main characters had a dream that they clung to throughout the movie and in the end, they just had to accept that dreams don't always come true. While this is contradictory to what Disney and rom-coms has taught us in films, I think this is a very important lesson. They say "reach for the moon and even if you fail you might land on a star" (or some cheesy cliche like that) but whatever happened to just being happy with what you've got? I'm not saying not to follow your dreams, but sometimes you gotta know when to cut one loose and just accept that your life may not be ideal, but it's the one you got so why not make the most of it. Why reach for the moon when the world is right out your front door? Joe learned this the hard way and did everything against his nature to try and live his dream (including having gay sex and selling his most prized possession for $5 bucks in pawn shop). Bad things happen to bad and good people alike and the world is far from a perfect place. But in watching this movie, it helped remind me that this fact is not a sad one, but almost a hopeful one. Because a life without disappointment, failure, and misery is a world that I just don't think would be worth living in. If you're never satisfied and always reaching for more, how can you appreciate the things you do have? And I like to think that Joe Buck and Ratso would agree with me on this...
Overall, I'm gonna give this movie a 3 out of 10. I didn't like it almost entirely, save for Dustin Hoffman and the weird message I got out of it. But then again, maybe I'm overly critical or lack the scope and perspective of the brilliant minds of critics in the world. But hey, that's what I started this for in the first place; they can't ALL be right... So, while I'm proud to have been a Midnight Cowboy, the relation to the film is just as disappointing as the film itself. C'est la vie... Until next time folks, happy viewing.
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