Midnight Cowboy - 76

1970 Winner.  Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight.  No other major awards besides Best Director, though Voight and Hoffman were nominated for the roles they portrayed. Garnered 7 Oscar nominations even though it was a rated 'X' movie.

I am aware that Jon Voight (on the left in this poster) appears to completely tower over Dustin Hoffman, but Hoffman plays a man with a limp and you can tell if you check out his right ankle.  Here is some fun trivia about Dustin Hoffman's performance in the movie;

• Dustin Hoffman used to keep pebbles in his shoe to ensure his limp would be consistent from shot to shot
• Before Dustin Hoffman auditioned for this film, he knew that his all-American image could easily cost him the job. To prove he could do it, he asked the auditioning film executive to meet him on a street corner in Manhattan, and in the meantime, dressed himself in filthy rags. The executive arrived at the appointed corner and waited, barely noticing the "beggar" less than ten feet away who was accosting people for spare change. At last, the beggar walked up to him and revealed his true identity.
• In one particular scene, Ratso and Joe get into an argument over cowboys. Ratso states that "Cowboys are fags!" Joe's response is "John Wayne is a cowboy! Are you calling John Wayne a fag?" Coincidentally, Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight were nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for their roles as Ratso and Joe, respectively. They lost out - to John Wayne for his role in True Grit.

Two things out of the gate; Jon Voight is soooo young, and Dustin Hoffman has always looked old.  Case and point with just how young Jon Voight looks in this movie;

Not so young.

So very young.

It was almost like when I was watching Nicole Kidman in The Hours, I had to do a double take on the cast list to verify it was actually Voight that my eyes were gazing upon.  I mean, he wasn't hard on the eyes... by any means... annnnnnd moving on.... (sorry boys)

In short Jon Voight plays young stud Joe Buck.  Joe Buck lives in Texas and works as a dishwasher.  He decides to quit his job, pack up and move to the Big Apple where he plans to use his "manly talents" as a hustler.  He ends up befriending Ratso (Dustin Hoffman), who is a man with many.....issues.. to say the least.  He is not only crippled, but his health is ailing as he suffers from tuberculosis.Which would explain the limp... so maybe he's not crippled he just has tuberculosis which causes his limp... moving right along now shall we?

Apparently hustling (errday I'm shufflin') wasn't all it was cracked up to be and Jon Voight falls into a world of debt and misfortune.  Rico Rizzo, "Ratso" (Dustin Hoffman) takes Joe into his condemned apartment so they can both rely on each other to survive.  And from there the movie takes off as they struggle to make ends meet, barely scrapping by.  Joe finally lands his first regular customer but Ratso becomes very ill, so Joe buys two bus tickets to Miami to fulfill Ratso's life dream.  On their journey to Miami, Ratso dies in the seat next to him.  The movie ends with Joe staring out the bus window, arm around Ratso and Palm trees passing them by.

There is so much more to this movie than this chopped up terrible nut shell that I have put it in.  From a psychological standpoint it is very intriguing.  Joe Buck goes to a party and smoke a joint, which he naively thinks is a cigarette, then mixes it with some coke.  He ends up having vivid flashbacks of his past, where him and his girlfriend at the time are raped by a local group of boys who are jealous that she chose Joe over them.

The entire film revolves around homophobia and the current state of society.  To put it simply; Drugs, Sex and Rock n' Roll.  In my opinion it was rated 'X' originally not because of the sexual content (though fairly graphic, but seldom) but because of the portrayal of society at the time.  I believe that people were trying to hide from the fact that the younger generations were becoming more "liberal" and experimental.  The current generation did not want to confront homosexuality or face the truth about drug addictions that was becoming more prevalent.  The same kind of thing happened to Requiem for a Dream when it first came out. (Which is an absolutely mind wrenching movie that you should see if you haven't yet.  But I warn you that the ending scene is VERY difficult to watch...)   People wanted to hide from the truth, they wanted to shelter themselves from reality so Requiem for a Dream did not get very positive reviews when it first came out.

The most moving aspect of the movie is very simple; the relationship between Joe Buck and Ratso.  Two strangers that end up meeting by chance. Ratso takes the Cowboy under his wing, lets him live in his apartment and they end up supporting each other, becoming best friends in the process.  A true story of camaraderie and the human nature of friendships.

Until next time, thank you Academy #76  

No Country for Old Men - 80

2008 Oscar winner. Joel & Ethan Cohen, Javier Bardem (Best Supporting Actor), Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson and that guy with the red stapler from Office Space.

I think the best way to start off explaining this movie is by describing it as delightfully creepy.  You don't really understand what is going on until about an hour into the movie, but the whole time you're riddled with curiosity while the movie generates a great amount of suspense.  Then the movie hits the 65 minute mark and ALL HELL breaks loose.  You understand more of what is going on and then an intense series of scenes happen back to back, and you're hooked.  The Cohen brothers don't leave much to the imagination, including some fairly graphic scenes with no lack of blood. Including a fairly remarkable scene where Javier Bardem has to clean a shotgun wound on his thigh. Graphic, and for the film it almost seemed necessary to show.

Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men

Which leads me to my favorite scene in the entire movie. Javier Bardem blows up a car as a diversion so he can gather supplies from a drug store. At first you think he it going to siphon out gasoline from a car to somehow clean his wound, but instead he shoves a handkerchief down the gas cap and ignites it.  He then turns around without hesitation and walks into the store knowing exactly what was about to happen.  This is the first point in the entire movie you notice his character is harried.  He doesn't walk calmly into the store, he is visibly shaken and you can see a hint of concern on his face.  I mean, what else to expect when he's been shot in the leg and it losing more and more blood by the minute...

Our other main character, Josh Brolin, has also been shot.  He escapes to Mexico and wakes up in a daze to Woody Harrelson telling him he's in over his head.  Then of course, after Josh Brolin has committed all of these immoral acts, the one act that SPOILER ALERT gets him killed is when he flirts with the idea of adultery.  And it wasn't even Javier Bardem who caught up with him in the end.  More killing, more blood, more creeptastic events are preformed by Javier Bardem and somehow the Cohen brothers still have you on edge more than three quarters of the way through the movie.

The most suspenseful scene, in my opinion of course, happens near the end of the movie.  Tommy Lee Jones comes back to the crime scene at the hotel room and he sees that the locks have been "blown" in by the same device that has been breaking into other rooms (scariest friggin compressed air weapon ever...) and takes out his pistol before he walks into the room.  Meanwhile we see Javier lurking in the shadows of the dark in a room, staring at the same lock, well lack of lock I suppose.  And then Tommy Lee Jones throws the door open and stands in the doorway.  The shot of him illuminated by the light from the street lamps in the doorway, staring into imminent danger, unable to see his face but only the outline of his frame was so well done by the cinemetographers.  You want to hold your breath with Tommy as he enters the room, your body tenses as he takes that first step willing to put money down that Javier was going to attack him at any second....  I have started to realize how similar vantage points and camera angles are across Cohen Brother's movies.  Seriously check that out.  Think of comparing this with "True Grit".  I think it's a little uncanny actually.


Not to give away any spoilers for those of you who have not seen the movie, do we every really know what he does at the end?  The end I believe is left up to the viewers interpretation.  I spoke with two people and they both had different takes on the ending.  Which I believe, makes for great discussion and in turn is characteristic of an enthralling movie.

Picking between "There Will be Blood" and this movie is a no brainer.  It's this movie hands down.  Suspense that takes off like a rocket and then pair that with your curiosity throughout the entire film... a definite must see.  The ending is perfect for the story as well.  You get the idea that Javier Bardem's character is a ghost.  That he is still out there and still a psychotic killer on the loose, that will never be found or brought to judgement.

Just a thought; cowboy boots are very loud when you're trying to run away quietly from a psychopathic killer.  For future reference if any of my faithful readers are thinking about purchasing cowboy boots and trying to be sneaky like whilst wearing them....


Until next time, thank you Academy #80