by Chris Marshall:
As hard as it is to believe, we are now halfway through The
Oscar Project. 42 down, 42 to go. Midnight
Cowboy is as good a film as any to be at the halfway point, if only because
it is also the first post-Hays Code Best Picture winner. And man, they used their
newfound freedom to go all out. The difference between this and previous
winners is almost impossible to describe.
But that’s my job, so I’ll do the best I can. The film
starts out with Joe Buck (Jon Voight), Fox’s A-team football and baseball
announcer a Texan who’s dumb as a rock, packing his bag and moving to New
York City, convinced he can make a living by dressing up like a cowboy and
being a “hustler.”
As you might imagine, this plan is not as successful as Buck
would have hoped. He’s soon broke, and he’s kicked out of the room he was
staying in. As an added bonus, he can’t get into his room to get his stuff back
until he can pay his back rent. With no money and no source of income, he finds
himself out on the street, his only possession being his cowboy outfit.
