And this week's Friday night movie has been... Midnight Cowboy!
Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 42 (1969)
Last week, I talked about that particular movie being the last of the old guard. Well, here we have the first of the new.
Nowadays we may debate about the Oscars getting it wrong but personally, I think such a debate is a disservice to the times when the Academy shows a spine and gives the top prize to something daring.
Of course, a film that has a heavy gay theme, helmed by a director who is gay, would be the type of film that, nowadays, the Academy would be falling over themselves to shower accolades. Thing is, this won big in 1969. And is, so far, the only R18+ movie to win Best Picture.
Furthermore, given the passage of time, this seems worlds apart from the type of movie that was winning big in the 1950s and 60s. Coming off the back of Oliver!, one would think that the movie-making rulebook changed overnight.
Indeed, this movie comes across as incredibly cynical: The two leads are a pair of lost souls, the streets of New York shown here look anything but attractive, the struggle of making a living is a key theme, likewise for the pursuit for identity, the editing is fast paced, and the spotlight is shown on the misfits of life. Heavy themes indeed, and it is indeed ballsy for a movie to demand the audience meet it on it's own terms.
There's no way around it: This is the announcement that the New Hollywood had begun and audiences everywhere had no choice but to get used to it.
That being said, what do I think of this movie? Well it still has a power that still resonates decades later and still has a brutality that few other movies can match. It may be a game-changer but, thankfully, for the right reasons.
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