And Let the Movies talk them self in our mind: Midnight Cowboy

Director: John Schlesinger

Writer: Waldo Salt (Screenplay), James Leo Herlihy (Novel)

Cast: Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Brenda Vaccaro, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver

Year Released: 1969

Country: US

link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064665/

Midnight Cowboy, A film about a Texan guy who came to New York city and doesn’t know what to do. His Name is Joe Buck and he worked in a restaurant when he still in Texas, his ‘cowboy appearance’ make his looked different between all of urban stuff in New York. Then, Joe met a sick thief named Rico –but the people always call him Ratso, and he hates it so much-. When Joe Couldn’t afford the motel cost, he moved to live with Ratso and continue their ‘adventure’. Through New York city, stealing, doing anything to get money, even with sell their blood as donors. When Ratso’s sick become worse off, Jon perforce to work as a gigolo to fulfill his daily needs and Ratso. They got to leave New York when Ratso begged Joe for some money so he could go home to Bellevue, Florida. And for their Friendship, Joe killed an old man and take his money, then accompanied Ratso to Florida, and planned to live and work there.

Joe Buck, played by Jon Voight (Coming Home, Deliverance) is very sturdy and polite character, he always called a woman with “mam”, always chews gums in his mouth. And Ratso, played by Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate, Tootsie), is a small and fraudulent character. He would do anything just to get a couple of bucks, including deceive Joe in the beginning of their companionship. Technically, The Director John Schlesinger (Marathon Man, Madame Sousatzka) relied on his innovative using of voice-over technique and zoom technique manipulation. The prominent elements of this film are their psychedelic section in several scenes, especially in the party when Joe met Shirley. This film also combined a good collaboration between American traditional custom, such cowboy suit worn by Joe, and the urban cultures showed precisely at many corners of New York City. And the most noticeable issue?, off course, the Gay issues which is not so many presented in 60s-70s American Movies. Midnight Cowboy earned Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay in 1969. Also tagged as #43 in 100 Best American Movies All the Time according to American Film Institute in 2007.