Midnight Cowboy

"Everybody's talking at me
I don't hear a word they're saying
Only the echoes of my mind"

-Harry Nilsson

    (Everybody's Talkin')

For whatever reason ever since I moved to L.A. about a month ago I've been watching a lot of movies about New York. I finally move here and now New York is somehow calling me through these random movies. I know this is just my subconscious telling me no matter what I do I can always be doing something better. As if somehow I moved to the wrong city and because of that I can never live to my full potential. To me this is something that everyone has to deal with at some point. Never being content with what you have is what makes humans so amazing as a species but it's also one of out greatest flaws on a personal level. This is why it was so good for me to watch the movie "Midnight Cowboy" at this point in my life. 

The main character Joe Buck has a similar mindset about moving to a big city. He has idealized New York so much in his head that no one can possibly change his mind about moving. This movie handles a lot of themes including: loneliness, hope, religious guilt, masculinity and desperation. To me this movie says a lot about the dangers of dreaming too much. If you spend too much time hoping and praying for what you want sometimes you forget the fact that what your dreaming of usually has to do with changing your mindset rather than changing your lifestyle. If your complaining about your glass being half empty, instead of wishing for more water, just wish for a smaller glass. You may not have as big of a glass as that guy next to you but at least it's full and content. Besides you never liked that guy anyways.

I wrote some thoughts in a notebook while watching this movie for the first time and I'm gonna post some of them here. They are in chronological order with the movie so if you've seen it you'll probably have an idea of what part I was on while reading it. 

*Spoilers*: Do I still need this for movies that are 46 years old?

Notes:

Little boy riding a fake horse in front of a stable of real horses. Symbolism for the modern cowboy? The real cowboys are all gone and all we have now are just little kids riding plastic horses?

Drops the soap. Insight into this characters sexuality?

"Where is that Joe Buck!?" Being repeated is a really good way for the audience to remember a characters name.

Right to the song. Love it (I was already a big fan of Harry Nilsson at this point so I knew this song really well)

Cowboy outfit. Clinging to the past? Maybe he see's the past as being better than his present? Trying to distance himself from the people around him?

"I can't hear a word their saying,

Only the echoes of my mind"

He doesn't listen to what anyone has to say about his decision. He's already made up his mind.

"Going where the weather suits my clothes"

He's trying to find a place where he belongs.

(At different points in the movie there are various flashbacks to his childhood)

His dad was possibly a cowboy type. Maybe he is trying to cling to his only idea of masculinity growing up?

I love the shot of him walking through the crowd (This is the picture I posted above)

He seems to be going for a lot of mother figures to pick up on. Definitely something up with this guys childhood (Earlier there was another weird scene where he was watching this little boy giving his mom a massage that was shown for a really long time so this just added to that)

The idea of the channel changing because they are on the remote while having sex is genius and it gives us something to turn to.

So she was upset when he wants money for the sex but she isn't offended when he pays her? She is worried about how she would seem if she paid him but doesn't him paying her make her look like a prostitute?

His handheld radio is such a good addition,

While going back to find a city job he see's himself in the restaurant employee. Why go such a long way just to end up in the same place?

Florida is Rico's New York. If he could just get there everything else in his life would work out.

The way Joe gets so defensive about his cowboy outfit is hilarious. It reminds me a lot of Don Cheadle's character in "Boogie Nights"

Throughout the movie Joe is clinging to his father figure while Rico is rejecting his.

Loneliness strikes again...