Midnight Cowboy

Midnight Cowboy. 1969 United Artists, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight
Director: John Schlesinger
Available at Amazon (two-disc special edition).

"I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!"

A young Texan named Joe Buck (Voight) quits his job washing dishes in a diner, packs a suitcase, and departs on a bus for New York City dressed as a cowboy, hoping to lead the life of a "kept" man. Upon arrival in the Big Apple, Joe goes broke quickly, and is a hilarious failure in his attempts of being hired as a "stud" for wealthy women. He soon meets Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Hoffman), a crippled, third-rate con man who fleeces Joe out of twenty dollars. Ratso briefly drops out of sight while Joe goes totally flat broke, gets thrown out of his hotel room, and finds himself attempting to sleep with another man in hopes of making cash (this fails).

After encountering Ratso, who is suffering from something that gradually worsens over the course of the film, at a diner, Joe shakes him down for every cent, but Ratso offers to help Joe by sharing his "place", an apartment in a condemned building. Ratso refuses medical attention, saying his condition will improve when he finally goes to Florida for good.

We also see flashbacks from Joe's life, starting with a bad experience while being baptized, and growing up with the only two people he ever loved: his grandmother Sally, and a former girlfriend known as "Crazy Annie". After being gangraped by a mob, Annie was sent to a mental institution, and she remains a constant presence in Joe's mind.

After being invited to a party that's very Warhol-esque, Joe gets very stoned, and goes home with a socialite offering him twenty dollars. Ratso falls down a flight of stairs, but insists he's okay, and goes back home. Joe has some performance issues at first, but is eventually able to earn that twenty. After returning home, Joe finds Ratso in bed, sweating and feverish. Ratso again refuses medical attention, preferring to go to Miami instead. Joe goes out to find some money, picking up an older male customer who he ends up beating and robbing after the gentleman suddenly chickens out. With the stolen money, Joe gets two bus tickets for Florida, but sadly, Ratso dies before the final stop.

Highly recommended.