Everybody’s talkin’ at me

Midnight Cowboy is a cinematic masterpiece; one of those films that, for some reason, stirs some of my most inscrutable emotions.

Today’s splashy, action-oriented opening sequences dripping in CGI have nothing on the brilliance of economy. John Schlesinger leads us gently and simply into the film: the camera gently tracks Joe Buck, full of unbridled optimism, as he leaves his ramshackle hutch in Texas for what he is sure will be a life of fortune as a hustler in New York City.

Backed by Harry Nilsson’s now-classic version of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’”, this is a fantastic example of nearly subliminal emotional exposition in film.