Posts Tagged ‘Midnight Cowboy’
A.O. Scott on “Midnight Cowboy”
I like A.O. Scott’s Critics’ Picks video blog on the New York Times Web site, but his take on “Midnight Cowboy” was off. I was glad to see it highlighted, but I don’t agree with the assessment, which seems not only off-base but condescending. The review concentrates on the movie’s achievement as a time capsule and notes that the story of Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo is a heroic tale of friendship.
I think the movie is a classic buddy picture. Buddy pictures were hot in that era (“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” was also nominated that year and “The Sting” won a few years later). It’s not a heroic tale, however. Joe Buck doesn’t, as Scott contends, learn anything but more anguish by the end. In fact it’s one of the ultra-rare Hollywood films that ends on a down note, without any redemption. And as far as being a time capsule, that seems a narrow and insignificant attribute compared to the movie’s timelessness as a universal statement.
- Wayne
