Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

7/10

Starring

Dustin Hoffman

Jon Voight

Directed by John Schlesinger

Here’s a movie I really enjoyed, even though I didn’t think I would. The acting was soul-consuming. You’ll be so engrossed in how the characters of Joe Buck and Ratso are portrayed that you’ll forget you’re watching a film.

The movie is based on a 1965 book of the same name by James Leo Herlihy, and this is the first movie where I got to see a young Jon Voight in action. When it was released, it was met with critical acclaim, winning three Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay) and BAFTA awards for Best Film, Best Actor for Dustin Hoffman, Best Director for John Schlesinger, and Best Screenplay.

The movie merges three stories running simultaneously, and that—along with the incredible acting duo of Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman—is the best thing this film has to offer.

The film starts with Joe Buck deciding to become a male prostitute and heading to New York, where he meets Ratso. The director uses flashbacks to tell Joe’s backstory, conversations between Joe and Ratso to reveal Ratso’s past, and the present events to show Joe’s struggles as a male prostitute and the beginning of his friendship with Ratso.

I won’t lie to you—the flashbacks were tough to follow. I had to read the book to really understand them, and after doing so, I appreciated the screenplay adaptation even more. The pacing in the movie also suffers, especially with those confusing flashbacks that break up the flow.

The movie begins with Joe Buck (Jon Voight), dressed as a cowboy, heading to New York to become a male prostitute. When he arrives, he tries to pick up women, but when he finally succeeds, he ends up giving money instead of getting paid for his services.

While at a diner, he meets a guy named Ratso. After discussing his predicament, Ratso tells Joe he needs representation to get clients. Joe pays Ratso for the supposed connections, but it turns out to be a scam, and Ratso runs off with his money.

Now down on his luck and broke, Joe runs into Ratso again after another failed attempt at getting paid for a sexual favor—this time with a male customer. Ratso offers to let Joe stay with him while they figure out ways to make money together.

Nice film to watch, but I have to add that, the plot itself, though ambitious, often feels disjointed, making it harder to stay fully engaged. Regardless, the movie was a financial success at the box office, raking in over $44 million on a $3.2 million budget. It’s also rated 43rd on AFI’s list of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time. This movie is worth seeing.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

8/10

 

Starring

Clint Eastwood

Lee Van Cleef

Eli Wallach

Directed by Sergio Leone

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has, over the years, stood out as a classic Western film. The movie is the final addition to the Dollars Trilogy, starring Clint Eastwood as the "Man with No Name" and directed by Sergio Leone. The story is set against the backdrop of the ongoing American Civil War between 1861 and 1865. The cinematography in this movie is notably different from the previous films, featuring many wide shots. Thanks to a bigger budget (the movie cost more to produce as For a Few Dollars More (1965)), Sergio was able to add more effects.

The movie focuses on three gunslingers, all trying to make a fortune from a buried cache of Confederate gold worth $200,000. The gunslingers are a bounty hunter (Clint Eastwood), Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef), and Tuco (Eli Wallach).

Lee Van Cleef plays a completely opposite role here compared to his character in For a Few Dollars More (1965), where he was a good guy seeking revenge. In this film, he’s the main antagonist, killing at will and driven purely by greed. Missing from this movie is Gian Maria Volontè, who played different unconnected villain characters in the first two films (A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965)).

The movie made $25 million on its $1.2 million budget and has received critical acclaim as one of the best films in history and one of the greatest Westerns ever made.

After introducing our leads—The Ugly: Tuco, a bandit; The Bad: Angel Eyes, a mercenary and sergeant; and The Good: a bounty hunter whose name is never revealed—the bounty hunter and Tuco strike a deal. Tuco is captured and turned into the sheriff, and the bounty on his head is claimed. When Tuco is about to be hanged, the bounty hunter orchestrates his escape so he can catch him again and claim the bounty in another state.

Things go sour when the bounty hunter betrays Tuco, leaving him for dead in the desert. Tuco survives and is hell-bent on revenge. Meanwhile, Angel Eyes goes around killing people to find out where the Confederate gold is hidden. Tuco’s quest for revenge leads him to cross paths with the custodian of the gold. However, Tuco’s greed causes him to lose the location of the gold to the bounty hunter, who uses it as insurance to ensure Tuco doesn’t kill him and run off with the money.

Eventually, all their paths cross, with greed in their eyes.

If you haven’t decided to add this classic trilogy to your archive, then your movie collection is incomplete. Now, as much as I love this movie, I need to warn you that the plot slows down between action scenes. Also, I found the use of wide shots to be excessive, which disrupts the flow. And as the three gunslingers chase the gold, the plot starts to feel predictable and repetitive.

For a Few Dollars More (1965)

For a Few Dollars More (1965)

8/10

Starring

Clint Eastwood

Directed by Sergio Leone

For a Few Dollars More is a continuation of Sergio Leone’s “Man with No Name” character and is Leone’s second Spaghetti Western film. This movie doesn’t follow or continue the story of the first film, A Fistful of Dollars (1964). It’s an entirely new story, but just as good and worthy of being classified as a classic.

Clint Eastwood returns to play the lead role (the Man with No Name), alongside Lee Van Cleef as Colonel Douglas Mortimer (who wasn’t in the first movie). This movie is just as dark as A Fistful of Dollars (1964)—death is apparent every 20 minutes or so—and the story is catchy, keeping you guessing.

Many characters from the first film were cast again in this one, as new characters. Gian Maria Volontè, who played Ramón in the first film, plays El Indio here, and many actors who acted as gang members from the first movie, also acted as part of his gang in this one.

The setting of the movie is awesome, and you’re sucked into the characters’ lives as you see them converge for a grand ending. Unlike A Fistful of Dollars (1964), where the budget was minimal and the effects weren’t worth noting, this film had a larger budget, and the effects were much better. The dialogue and screenplay also saw significant improvements.

The movie introduces Eastwood’s character and Mortimer as bounty hunters who are among the best in the field. They go after big targets, and their paths cross when they both go after the same man, El Indio, who has a $10,000 bounty on his head. His gang members also have reasonable bounties. The two decide to work together to capture Indio and his gang, with Eastwood’s character infiltrating the gang and Mortimer working on the outside.

Eastwood’s character is more focused on the financial gain, while Mortimer is driven by a personal vendetta against Indio. Just when things start lining up the way they hoped, Indio outsmarts them.

In this movie also, Eastwood’s character, remains a mystery, which is the whole point of his persona. Critically, the movie has a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was a huge box office success, making over $15 million on a $600,000 budget.

There is an improvement in this movie overall in comparison to the first one, but the pacing drags during the slower, dialogue-heavy scenes, which can feel drawn out. The plot also becomes predictable and a bit repetitive, as it sticks closely to familiar Western tropes, with the bounty hunt and showdown being the main focus.

If you haven’t had the privilege of seeing the Dollars Trilogy, I highly recommend it. Start with A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and work your way down to the final film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).