Schlesinger toys with reality in "Midnight Cowboy," overlaying dream and memory imagery intermingled to the point that no one can rely on the conscious direction of Joe Buck, the film's central character. When the film opens, Joe is leaving his small town in Texas for the big city, harboring dreams of making it rich as a high-priced gigolo. Even within the first few minutes, Joe is looking into the window of an empty beauty parlor, reflecting on his childhood with his grandmother. And from that moment, one questions just what Grandma's relationship with Joe is--she has him massage her neck while calling him loverboy.
Later, more images in Joe's memory are juxtaposed to reinforce our fears: we see Joe in bed with Grandma and one of her old cowboy lovers (obviously where he got the misconception that a cowboy hat makes a man "one hell of a stud"); we also see her giving him an enema, juxtaposed with Joe as a young man getting sodomized by a gang of boys who resent that he is exclusively sleeping with the town pump, thereby denying her services to anyone else. Clearly, a lot of violation goes on in this flick.
But this serves as backstory only, for the real heart of the drama is Joe's relationship with the scroungy Ratso Rizzo, a knowing New York native who takes Joe in and shows him the ropes. The frustrating thing about the film is the inability of these characters to get a life--it takes Joe until the end of the film to realize he's neither a great cowboy nor a great lover--and go get a decent job. They live in an abandoned building, steal and cheat people, and struggle through a hard New York winter. Ratso's tubercular cough gets suspiciously worse, and all of this leads to a moment of truth, when Joe Buck must make sacrifice and change for the love of his friend.
Some suggest that these two are gay lovers--if so, it is never specifically stated in the film. While they do set up a household of sorts, with Ratso assuming the domestic wife's role, both seem to be an almost asexual cypers.
The film is not easy to get through in places, but not so offensive and disturbing that one can't. Rather, its plumbing of our emotional depths is what leaves us feeling empty and grateful at the same time.
Later, more images in Joe's memory are juxtaposed to reinforce our fears: we see Joe in bed with Grandma and one of her old cowboy lovers (obviously where he got the misconception that a cowboy hat makes a man "one hell of a stud"); we also see her giving him an enema, juxtaposed with Joe as a young man getting sodomized by a gang of boys who resent that he is exclusively sleeping with the town pump, thereby denying her services to anyone else. Clearly, a lot of violation goes on in this flick.
But this serves as backstory only, for the real heart of the drama is Joe's relationship with the scroungy Ratso Rizzo, a knowing New York native who takes Joe in and shows him the ropes. The frustrating thing about the film is the inability of these characters to get a life--it takes Joe until the end of the film to realize he's neither a great cowboy nor a great lover--and go get a decent job. They live in an abandoned building, steal and cheat people, and struggle through a hard New York winter. Ratso's tubercular cough gets suspiciously worse, and all of this leads to a moment of truth, when Joe Buck must make sacrifice and change for the love of his friend.
Some suggest that these two are gay lovers--if so, it is never specifically stated in the film. While they do set up a household of sorts, with Ratso assuming the domestic wife's role, both seem to be an almost asexual cypers.
The film is not easy to get through in places, but not so offensive and disturbing that one can't. Rather, its plumbing of our emotional depths is what leaves us feeling empty and grateful at the same time.