FILMS: Midnight Stud
By MIKE SHEARER Arts & Reviews Editor
Can a naive, blond cowboy find true happiness in the lonely misery of New York City's unseemly seedy side?
Strangely enough, lovable Joe Buck, played by Jon Voight, does find a subtle happiness in his friendship with Ratso, a nasal-voiced cripple from the Bronx played by Dustin Hoffman, in the movie Midnight Cowboy.
Joe went to New York City because he just knew there were millions of rich city women there who would pay him a stud fee for sleeping with them. Unfortunately, cowboys were not on many menus and Joe was sent scrounging through the streets with the aid of the city-wise Ratso.
The essence of the film comes with the development of an interdependence between the two desperate young men. The value of human misery, Director John Schlesinger shows us, is that it strips away human arrogance and makes people willing to admit their own humanity.
Hoffman and Voight are extraordinary. Their performances brought the film's low points up to the genuinely superb level which the direction and the script alone could not have approached.
Those of you who liked Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate will have your faith in his abilities renewed. For myself, I was inspired by Hoffman for the first time. Benjamin was not only naive and stupid, but also unbelievable.
I could believe Ratso. I could believe his illness, his dialect, his pain. Hoffman's performance in Midnight Cowboy is best performance by an actor in several years, with the possibility of Oliver's Ron Moody as Fagin.
But newcomer Jon Voight was not overshadowed by Hoffman, by the script or by New York City. He displayed a remarkable ability to feel his role of a Texas cowboy, to feel his role enough to turn a stereotype into a man.
Director John Schlesinger, despite flaws, accomplished one remarkable thing. He was able to get exciting performances from not only Voight and Hoffman but also from an array of minor characters.
Schlesinger is responsible for making two sad homosexuals, two ageing women and one memorable religious nut into cherishable characters.
Schlesinger didn't really say anything new with these minor characters, but he accomplished a much greater task. He turned cliches into reality.
Throughout the film, Schlesinger was able to solicit performances which pierced masculine chests to find hearts. He was able to turn masks into faces, and one stud into a real lover. $ m_{m} $
The film could not be dismissed without abundant praise for John Barry, music superviser. Both the music itself and the timing are laudable achievements. The soundtrack affords a well-presented assortment of voices and instruments with a wide range of musical intensity.
And what was waiting for Ratso in Miami?
The film purposely leaves many questions unanswered. Did Ratso love Joe Buck above and beyond the call of friendship? What was the mark left on Joe by his doting grandmother?
Similarly, moviegoers still don't know what was waiting for Rachel (Rachel, Rachel) in Oregon
But the point of Midnight Cowboy is that enroute to our own Miamis, wherever they happen to be, all of us will learn the value of misery. All of us will learn the value of loneliness.
10 KANSAN Sept. 11 1969
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