richard
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response 341 of 342:
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Mar 20 23:51 UTC 2006 |
MIDNIGHT COWBOY-- Just got the newly released two disc deluxe edition
of this, one of my favorite movies. This is the only X-rated movie to
win the Oscar for Best Picture. Jon Voigt is the title character, a
drifter from Texas named Joe Buck who comes to NYC to be the "midnight
cowboy", a cowboy gigolo. He fails miserably in his attempts at this
new career and is nearly swallowed up by a city in which he has no clue
how to survive, until he meets streetwise Ratso Rizzo (Dustin
Hoffman). The two form a relationship, with each providing the other
what he lacks. The movie got rated X at the time because of its frank
depictions of homosexuality and prostitution. It was re-rated R some
years later when it was re-released and appeared tame compared to
movies that came out since. "Midnight Cowboy" is a highly influential
movie that has been copied or emulated many times since. There's the
famous scene where Ratso Rizzo (Hoffman) attempts to cross a street and
nearly gets hit by a cab and he screams "hey, I'm walkin here! I'm
walkin' here!" But at its essence its a movie about two loners who
find a companionship in each other that they never found with anyone
else. The scene at the end of the movie, where they are on the bus to
Florida, and the sick Ratso Rizzo dies, and Joe Buck (Voigt) puts his
arm around his dead friend hugging him tightly as the bus rolls on down
the highway, is heartbreaking. The extras on this new dvd are
excellent, particularly a documentary featuring hoffman and voigt
talking about the characters and what the movie meant to
them. "Midnight Cowboy" is a great movie and this new dvd is an
excellent addition to anyone's movie collection.
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