Reviews of Midnight Cowboy 1969
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This film is as gritty and unpleasant as they come in its portrayal of the sleazy underbelly of New York City, and American society in general, at the conclusion of the 60s and the peak of the Sexual Revolution. Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight both deliver solid performances as unlikely companions whose dashed dreams and hopes provide an incredibly strong bond, a bond that is depended on for survival. "Midnight Cowboy" is uncomfortable, it is painful and it evokes emotion in ways never before seen on film. This experience deserves at least one viewing, as one may be all that can be handled.
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Only briefly, in a scene after Jon Voight’s Joe Buck fails to perform, does the rife undercurrent of homosexuality bob to the surface — “gay ends in y,” suggests a dissatisfied trick as Joe struggles to make a word in Scribbage.
I’m surprised the film won Best Picture, especially in 1969. Voight certainly deserved his nomination, however; he is fantastic throughout. It’s a difficult role and he disappears in it. In his early scenes, on a bus to New York,…
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stunning
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While there's some creative editing and surreal images this movie ultimately is not compelling.
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MIDNIGHT COWBOY and 2012's THE MASTER share strange similarities. Both films have two amazing leads (Hoffman/Phoenix and Hoffman/Voight), lack structured plots, and have homoerotic themes alongside social fascinations via the directors Paul Thomas Anderson & John Schlesinger.
These two films would make one awesome double feature.
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Let me just say this now:
I love Dustin Hoffman and he is my favourite thing in most of the films he's in.
I'm always weary approaching a bona fide classic for the first time.
I enjoyed this film but eventually, Jon Voight's "gee, gawsh, ain't that swell" face became a bit punchable after a while.
Some scenes went on too long for me, I was left feeling a bit distanced from the goings-on and the trippy hippy scenes in…
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A masterpiece came out in 1969. A year later it won 3 Oscars - one for adapted screenplay, one for director John Schlesinger, and one for best picture. Midnight Cowboy is about a naive hustler, Joe (played by Jon Voight) and his limping friend, Rico (played by Dustin Hoffman), struggling to survive in New York City. At the beginning of the film we hear Harry Nilsson singing ‘Everybody’s Talkin’, a song that is not randomly thrown in to fill silence…
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I found the characters inaccessible, but I admired the film's pulsing spontaneity and depiction of urban alienation.
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"Everybody's talking at me.
I don't hear a word they're saying,
Only the echoes of my mind.People stopping staring,
I can't see their faces,
Only the shadows of their eyes.I'm going where the sun keeps shining,
Thru' the pouring rain.Going where the weather suits my clothes,
Backing off of the North East wind.Sailing on summer breeze,
And skipping over the ocean like a stone.I'm going where the sun keeps shining,
Thru' the pouring rain.Going…
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A powerful and gritty tale of 1969 New York City and a male hustler and a friendship he makes with a low-class street rat. Very well acted and directed. A powerful film.
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A fantastic drama with two incredible performances at its center. The way the film develops its characters without hitting audiences over the head is remarkable, and the film, while not as edgy as it once was, is still a powerful and emotional experience.
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i always just brushed this off as a movie i knew was good but never saw it. i finally got around to seeing it and i really did not enjoy it at all. the plot was pretty stupid and i did not like voight's character nor hoffmans. they were both really annoying and i did not understand their chemistry at all.
yes, i get it, it was one of the first movies to display the gritty new york underground, that's great, but as a movie, it sucked.