midnight cowboy be never a great movie to start with but it be a classic . you know it a classic the moment it insistent theme song and everybody talk start up on the soundtrack and ( actually not write for the film ) and and the way the camera introduce u to joe buck and ( naked and in the shower ) . we have see jon voight before but have never really noticed him but when he tell u he one helluva stud who to doubt him . this be a great performance that have iconic star status as well a a complete grasp of the character and if voight have never do anything else and his performance here would still be legendary . a it be voight have seldom disappoint on screen while even a piece of ham a well cure a his performance in that glorious rubbish anaconda be a source of pleasure ) . the film become famous and infamous almost overnight . it be a crowd pleaser and ( even with it downbeat end ) and funny and sexy and recognizably real while ( it be the tail end of the sixty and all the character ring true ) . it be also the first x rat film to win the oscar a the year best picture . adapt and ( brilliantly ) and by waldo salt from a james leo herlihy novel it be probably the first main stream commercial american movie to deal with taboo subject such a homosexuality and drug taking in a matter of fact manner . everyone be recognizably human and wart and all and and everyone be treat sympathetically . voight joe buck be an innocent abroad and a candide who come to new york to seek his fortune a a hustler and ( a profession he see a glamorous and not seedy while he a cross between a gigolo and a social worker ) . but when he himself be hustle by a scraggy and wormy little con man call ratso rizzo and ( dustin hoffman and fresh from the graduate and he a revelation ) and he realize that perhaps the reality be a little different from the pipe dream . essentially it a male love story and ( though totally platonic ) and between these two not so unlikely bedfellow . both totally alone and both totally needy each become the protector of the other and ( voight with his physical prowess and hoffman with his street wise savvy ) . they be misfit adrift from the mainstream and tolerant of their own peculiarity and the deviance of others . though traight voight isn not beyond a homosexual encounter in a 42nd street cinema with a boy even lonely than himself . ( the whole film posit a strangely christian attitude ) . it also magnificently act . while voight and hoffman hold the screen throughout there be superb vignette from the like of brenda vaccaro and sylvia mile as well a john mcgiver and bob balaban and bernard hughes a sundry customer and hanger on and beautifully delineate little character study that seem to transcend act altogether while john schlesinger direction give the film the feel of a documentary as well a an alien totally detach eye view of the american under belly without rancor and without criticism . on second thought and maybe it be a great movie after all .