Midnight Cowboy

Midnight Cowboy is currently streaming in Australia on Amazon Prime Video, and in the US on Amazon Prime Video and MGM Plus, and it rewards the patience it asks of you. It knows exactly what kind of film it is from the opening scene, and never loses that thread. An 8/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Dustin Hoffman anchors it with a performance that rewards close attention. Start it on Amazon Prime Video whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

Midnight Cowboy arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. Midnight Cowboy takes its time building the world its characters inhabit, and the patience pays off. Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida. Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight lead a cast that treats the material with real seriousness. Midnight Cowboy came out in 1969. Midnight Cowboy resists tidy resolutions in a way that respects how messy real consequences actually are. The hit rate here is high enough that skipping ahead never feels like an option.

For anyone looking for storytelling that takes its characters seriously, Midnight Cowboy delivers. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single evening. Dustin Hoffman carries the material with a performance that rewards close attention. Worth starting sooner rather than later.