Midnight Cowboy - The Fragile Cowboy Persona

Letterboxd: boxd.it/1dYWF
Music Used (Midnight Cowboy Theme Cover): • Midnight Cowboy
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[@citizentuck]

I love this film and the book so much. They both capture loneliness and love ad desperation so perfectly. Read the book.

[@robertbeckerbecker1354]

Amazing book!

[@robertwhough]

The book has much more of a rambling quality; I like the way that the movie focuses on Joe Buck's New York experience and his friendship with Rizzo...

[@retireorbust]

He's from Texas and thinks he's a cowboy because he was born there. Men are made. The experience made him and the world desperately needs compassion and understanding. We're not all supposed to be cowboys.

[@MAFion]

This is the saddest movie I've ever seen. It haunts me still.

[@rogeriosalomon4412]

I'm 68 years old, since I was 06 years old I love movies, this film is one of the best I ever seen in my all life, it's a Master Piece

[@hebneh]

"Midnight Cowboy" was one of the first movies, if not the first one, to depict New York City as a decaying, dirty hellhole of a collapsing urban landscape. This theme continued in films for years afterwards and in reality, of course, NYC was having some very bad times in the 1970s into the early '80s.

[@furbabydaddy814]

Like Taxi Driver.

[@AlAboutCinema]

This is one of my favorite films. I think very few people analyze it as a film about coping with trauma, especially gender related trauma. I think you are right on. I also think there's huge gay subtext in this film. It is an intimate look at people at their most desperate and vulnerable.

[@chrisbacos]

One of those films I can watch over and over again.

[@benm8501]

Beautiful analysis. My dad, a smart man, introduced this film to me as a teen, at just the right age to realise films could be more than easy fun. It blew my tiny mind. I watched it for the first time in years the other day. Still as true as the best kind of song. Every aspect of the film is working towards the same goal. You summed it up perfectly. Thank you.

[@deborahjesic4804]

Speaking of fragile I was 12yrs old when I saw this movie in 1972, too much information at a young age, but watched it nevertheless, it was like a good book I couldn't put down, it's an amazing movie, filled with the ugly truths of life in NY ,where I grew up, and it's bad curves, I must of watched this film at least 10x throughout the yrs! Thx for your great incite on a incredible film and amazing actors!

[@Modeltnick]

It was a stark time in America when this came out. The Manson murders were on people’s minds and the 60s were coming to a crashing end. The mood of this film and the music depicts the spirit of that particular time.

[@710blodgett74]

they don't make films like this anymore the same can be said about the rating

[@KillaZero]

Once the X rating was usurped by porn the whole film industry became cowards in some ways .

[@benfisher1376]

Wow this analysis was brilliant. I've always felt one of the main themes of this movie was that of the search for identity and home.

[@judithbateson6353]

How very dare you say this isn't one of the greatest films ever? I say it's the best film ever!

[@gloriastroedecke2717]

Sad and unforgettable. I love it,but it can be hard to watch.

[@robertwhough]

@billgriff The director once said that the flashbacks in the movie aren't flashbacks -- they're the actual thoughts running through Joe's head at various times. I think that's why they don't slow down the story, as most flashbacks do. As for the content of the 'flashbacks' themselves, I always thought that Joe Buck had been sexually assaulted by those thugs as well as his girlfriend, and that his decision to be a 'hustler' was compensation for this emasculating experience.

[@wellergurl]

I just watched this tonight (it's on Tubi right now) after listening to Millie & Danielle cover it on their I Saw What You Did podcast. It DESTROYED ME ! 😩🥺❤️ Veryyyy beautiful, VERY BLEAK. New York City soooo dirty, dreary and crowded, everyone sooo mean and ugly. (The girls mentioned that this was one of the first times New York was shown this way. (Until then Hollywood always showed us NYC as BRIGHT LIGHTS AND BIG CITY extravagance). So many times I just put my head in my hands & shook it saying "NOOOOOO, I CAN'T TAKE ANYMORE ! HOW MUCH MORE CAN THEY BARE?" The sadness, poverty, the cold, hunger.. THE LONELINESS? Dear God ! Anyway... BEAUTIFUL FILM AND FANTASTIC ANALYSIS AND CRITIQUE ! You did an exquisite job and I'm going to watch your video again tomorrow. Thank you for you time and detailed review. LOVED IT ! 👍❤️❤️❤️

[@samanastasios4974]

As a film fan i never hear much about this film. Just watched it for the first time and thank you for voicing some of my very thoughts.

[@anima6035]

I just watched this and now I'm sad 😭 so beautiful but tragic, ugh

[@RICHM7BV7]

This movie's theme is stranger in a strange place. It usually works, and this time it worked very well. This is one of my all-time favorite movies.

[@Jim_Stark]

It's one of the greatest movies of that time period. I find myself coming back to watch it every couple of years. I don't do that with too many movies.

[@furbabydaddy814]

Joe’s flashbacks and dreams are horrifying.

[@EvilTerry35]

One of my top ten favorite film's of all time, the novel is definitely worth reading. Dark existentialism is what I enjoy the most.

[@MaBer-67391]

You did a really good KZbin on this. Midnight Cowboy is one of my favorite movies. Joe Buck lost his friend and gave up his cowboy persona at the end, but I think he's learned from the whole experience how to dig himself out of the life he's had, and move on to better things.

[@slyslaughter5115]

To see this film when it was new and I was 13 changed my course. The depth of humanity alongside so many shattered glamors and illusion is amazing and remains special to this day. The long toll of abuse on a Texas kid, and someone he finds kin.

[@dcoop7516]

One of my favorite films! I saw it for the first time in theaters a couple days ago, and I didn’t know what to expect going into the film, but was shocked how sad and truly amazing this film is!

[@dgibbs005]

I had never heard of Midnight Cowboy until Faith No More did a cover version of “Midnight Cowboy (Theme From)” on their Angel Dust album in 1992.

[@RandomBoye]

Same here bud. Very thankful for that. It's a great cover btw.

[@PPA-vl3cu]

I just knew the song Everybody's Talking.

[@SouprFly]

Great video. Saw this movie for the first time and it is equal parts bleak and beautiful.

[@silversnail1413]

The film was so bold in its approach. Using the image of the cowboy, a well recognized icon in American culture, in such a context was brilliant. Joe Buck is enamored with the persona but in reality is as far as you can get from the swaggering John Wayne archetype. In spite of his apparent virility and sexual charisma he still comes across as hopelessly naive and innocent. And the glimpses we're given of his past traumas add even more depth and ambiguity to his character. Joe accusing Ratso of never having been laid also adds an interesting contrast between them. Ratso may be more sexually innocent and inexperienced than Joe but ultimately is much more street smart and capable within the cold and unforgiving environment of New York, a reversal of a common dynamic we see in most movies.

[@ExMachina70]

Great job Bill on your commentary. I came in wondering about what people thought the movie was about, and I think you nailed it.

[@jab414]

WOW! My head is exploding about this memorable film!!! Thanks Bill

[@hardyboy1959]

@ 00:28 '... he meets a man named Rico Ratso...' I think it's ironic that the character played by Dustin Hoffman spends half the movie trying to get Joe Buck to say his name properly instead of calling him Ratso and you don't once call him by his proper name which is, by the way, Enrico Salvatore Rizzo!

[@williamlandolfi7858]

Spoilers: At the very end of the movie, Joe and Ratso arrive in Florida. While at a bus layover, Joe gets rid of his cowboy outfit and buys more suitable clothes. Once back on the bus, he is talking to Ratso about how he plans to turn his life around in Miami. He says "You know Ratso? Rico, I mean...." "OK Rico. Rico?" At that point, Joe realizes that Rico has just died. It is sad that Rico died just when Joe finally stopped calling him "Ratso."

[@hebneh]

And he hates the derogatory nickname "Ratso", so calling him that in this video is an insult to the character.

[@bluecanary1note]

One of my fave movies of all time.

[@squidward6187]

My bf had a friend like Joe. He was SA'd as a child and had sorta of an outlaw/renegade thing going. I get it. I'm female and I was SA'd as a child too and I know how to enlarge myself like a blowfish. I've made several bullies literally from me when I've finally had enough and I tell them what I think in no uncertain terms and I'm only 4'10 and 90lbs, tiny. They are shocked because normally I am sweet and smiley and easy going. They're gone so fast I'm like, "where did they go?" because I am so built up to expect a fight my vision narrows to a pin point.

[@vishansilva8546]

Saw this film today not gonna lie it was a bit slow but man this movie hits what a sad movie the bond between ratso and Joe is so good and him tryna save ratso at the end was so beautiful and powerful it was so sad yet beautiful.

[@avalondreaming1433]

I can't even look at young Jon Voight without seeing Shiloh

[@user-gt9ig6vk1b]

Thank you for an excellent video. A truly wonderful film. An interesting take on "The American dream".

[@blanchefan]

Very nice job, Bill, on a very powerful, sad, brilliant film. Blessings to you--

[@theBIGBLUTO]

Great job, you have a very pleasant voice for this. You’re a story teller ❤️

[@GrasshopperRDG]

That was a very WELL expressed convey and conclusion shared very thoughtfully! Also, Harry Nielsen's song: :🎶Everybody's talking at me...is just OUTSTANDING for the film's opening and just period. Huge Fan❣ Great review and I am happy to subscribe to your channel! 👍🏼💚*🙏🏼

[@ramasubramonianramasamy3909]

lovely review for a lovely movie bro. eventhough the movie ending is broke my heart, the duo will be in my innermost part of heart..

[@fablethewolf825]

I watched this movie this passed semester for my cinimatogeophy class. It was fun.

[@TiamattheDestroyerofWorlds]

I felt like ratzo had to die, so the audience felt like the two main characters were punished enough for their ‘sins’.

[@angeloiodice9304]

Thank you. You clarified much that I missed.

[@gaynordurdy7689]

This film is perfrection

[@hebneh]

This film was extremely raw and nasty and profane at the time it was released. The dirtier parts of real life hadn't appeared in Hollywood movies before this, but that's what was suddenly happening starting in 1968, the year before this.

[@rh5591]

In the end there is a love between Joe and Rico that transcends sex and the gay/straight dichotomy, and that's what makes it beautiful.

[@nedsketit5334]

great movie can relate

[@blozzom2]

Thanks Bill- I don't watch a ton of movie reviews but I did my time in literary criticism classes etc and I really appreciate your sensibility and way of making the videos. I'm definitely going to watch this movie again! Also- if you read this comment, a Jon Voight movie that messed with me when I was a kid was The Champ. Do you know that film? I remember when I saw Zoolander it all came flooding back to me that Voigt is a real heavy. I appreciated that Ben Stiller let Voigt hold the only probably serious/high form moment in that whole movie. I'm remembering now that there's also that movie Table for Five. That was on cable TV somehow at my house and it messed with me too. I was like 13 or 14. Did Voigt do only sad af movies??

[@riffraffrichard]

It’s a beautiful film❤

[@mamumaumau7205]

This is one of my favorite movies !!! Joe Buck went to N.Y.C. fully believing that he would clean up as a hustler. He learned a cruel lesson in the process but he was not a quitter....By the end of the movie Joe was In Miami and in his own way he payed a tribute to Rico Ratzo who so wanted to move there ................................................

[@williamlandolfi7858]

I want to comment on a small but poignant scene in the movie. One Joe and Ratso arrive in Florida, Joe gets rid of his cowboy outfit. He then goes into a coffee shop. The waitress asks Joe where he is from and he says "New York." She responds by saying "I hope you have a good time in Florida." This scene shows that despite all the bad luck Joe had in New York City, he came into his own there.

[@soniablades7031]

I think you commentated this beautifully.

[@hopsakee]

Thanks for the great video!

[@higashioosaka]

A masterpiece ！

[@dante22723]

Masterpiece film

[@KillaZero]

Great video dude!

[@GamingOnTheComputer]

I really liked this analysis a lot, but I think I would have liked it a lot more if you had given yourself the freedom to elaborate in much deeper ways regarding the essential parts of the film, even so, I liked your work, you have definitely earned Another subscriber, and I hope your other videos are full of more freedom in scriptwriting (if you have a script when it comes to movies). Greetings and good vibes from Chile!

[@blugastidiofable9517]

Good video and great movie

[@PPCAPOGAMING]

Great analysis!

[@CosasdeOswaldo]

Great review!

[@sauluribe7082]

The theme song brings me back to the age 5 or 6 and is now a bit haunting. A character death is usually sad. This one was particularly also anti climatic and less than calculated like those of "Less Than Zero"

[@JL-re1rx]

Thanks for sharing!

[@cameronpickard7456]

greatest drama of all time

[@franciscovega2042]

I don't think Joe's grandmother sexually abused Joe. I think Joe was emotionally neglected. I never heard that theory before. It's interesting and I'd have to rewatch the film but based on my memory of the movie I don't think joe was molested. Rather he was neglected by his grandmother's who was emotionally unavailable for Joe's needs. The abandonment by his mother and living with a older surrogate mother and her various romantic relationships is what I mean. Whatever he witnessed formed his mental makeup. The kid definitely walked in on something traumatic. Maybe even bathed with two adults. Something like that. I don't believe that to be sexual abuse.

[@meccamason7882]

Rewatch and take note of the way she puts emphasis on his looks, her tone when she calls to him, and the scene where she's first introducing him to a new man then all three lay in bed together shirtless. It's heavily implied he was abused as well as neglected. Its also a theory that Joe buck was sexually assaulted at the same time as the girl in his flashbacks

[@emmabennett7699]

That's interesting because when I watched this movie, I thought the fact that he had been sexuallt abused was heavily implied. The way his grandma treated him just didn't seem right.

[@throwaway6405]

@@meccamason7882I think it was very clear he was abused by his grandmother and raped at the same time. My favorite movie. Dustin Hoffman is goated

[@slyslaughter5115]

He was gang raped. That was traumatic enough.

[@lucasr621]

I mean... she gave him an enema as a boy in a flashback scene.. why else would they make a point to show that?

[@simshengvue4642]

Movie is two gay guys who won’t hook up meets dumb and dumber

[@drock6966]

Pretty good analysis of the film. A few misunderstandings here and there but still a pretty good analysis. For starters, Joe wasn't sexually abused by his grandmother or her lovers. He was EXPOSED to his grandmother's lifestyle... He wasn't a VICTIM of it. Being in bed with his grandmother while her and her lover were unclothed drinking either before or after she had sex was probably pretty traumatic for a young kid 😕 He also was raped by those cowboys too 😢 While Crazy Annie was getting raped, he was sexually assaulted as well (per his flashbacks of the ordeal) Also, he didn't use the Cowboy persona to imitate his grandmother's lovers... He lived in Texas 🤷 When he was a kid, there were TONS of Westerns on TV. Cowboys were looked at as heroes in the 40's, 50's, and early 60's. That's all you saw 😕 But of course that began to change in the late 60's... And Joe held on to that persona for too long 😢 Dressed as a cowboy in Texas was still cool in the 60's. But in a big city like New York, that was considered "Odd". And there were only one group of people who dressed up like cowboys there... Gay men 🤷 Hence Ratso's explanation to Joe about his attire. I LOVED his hint to Joe about the biggest Cowboy of all-time (John Wayne) being gay 😊 Back then, Hollywood KNEW who was gay and who wasn't. They just refrained from outing them. But every now and then they would drop little "Easter Eggs" about star's personal lives... With "The Duke" being one of them. That's why Ratso never responded to Joe when he said "You think John Wayne is a f**!!"... He just looked at him 😉 Although it was never revealed what Ratso died of, one could only assume he had either Tuberculosis or Pneumonia. Living in an abandoned building in the dead of winter with no heat wasn't good for either scenario 😢 Even though Midnight Cowboy is almost 55 years old, it still holds up in today's world as far as the struggles some people go through in life. It is a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ movie in my honest opinion 👍👍👍

[@onecoolcat2478]

Very well done commentary

[@slystone4892]

I saw this movie already twice recently, and oh boy did u love this masterpiece. What beautiful albeit sad movie. For me is al about Voight performance, just beautiful and earnest, of course Hoffman performance was incredible as well. And that song that I fell in love with ever since I discovered the song on a Watchmojo top classic Hollywood movies songs.

[@MyName-pl7zn]

That or because he got blood on them from the assault 🤣

[@annshr9917]

Enjoyable commentary!

[@yeah_dude03]

Very good analysis

[@sangeovr]

Amazing video

[@arizona1105]

I dont think he was abused by his grandmother she was more of a mother to him

[@pepperjordan3773]

This is the story of Joseph and Jimmy.

[@johngomes4278]

Rico "ratzo" Rizzo

[@allonedalit2124]

The name's rizzo

[@anthonypeters6861]

Good movie, better book.......

[@JamesMeyers1996]

You should read the book

[@jamesjones9807]

"For 1969 standards"? 1969 films are several orders of magnitude better than today's rubbish.

[@user-zn1gd4jh4e]

It's nothing to do with fragile masculinity. Complete misunderstanding

[@kaiw256]

Imagine being this media illiterate

[@yassinechih7620]

nytimes rephrased

[@grey.7828]

lower the music next time! good video besides that!

[@grey.7828]

OH MY GOD NVM THE MAIN THEME JUST HAPPENED TO PLAY AT THE SAME TIME OF THIS VIDEO AND I WAS LIKE WTF I CANT HEAR YOU! HAA..

[@mike_bywater]

Ricco Razzo? No that's not correct.

[@johnmoreno96]

Enrico Salvatore “From the Bronx” Rico for short, nicknamed Razo by Joe Buck

[@anima6035]

@@johnmoreno96 Ratso and I'm pretty sure it came from the person in the bar at the beginning. Not to be that person 🙈

[@vicinvesta8349]

There is nothing masculine about Midnight Cowbow main protagonist fragile or not. He is obviously gay. It is like written all over the movie (I did not read the book).

[@cabellero1120]

A poignant film

[@slystone4892]

Great analysis. Thanks ❤

[@slystone4892]

What a tragic ending.

[@frankdenardo8684]

Rizzo kicked the bucket 🪣.