katrowellpa

Simply put, a masterpiece. Jon Voight is superb as the enthusiastic Joe Buck, who is through a series of jarring flashbacks, shown to be haunted by events from his childhood, particularly regarding his grandmother. At the beginning of the movie, Joe Buck quits his job and hops on a bus to New York City, where he becomes a very unsuccessful hustler. His hustling leads him to Ratso Rizzo, played by Dustin Hoffman. The unlikely pair develop a great friendship and some of my favorite parts of the movie are the scenes where the 2 of them are walking the busy streets of New York City together, with Joe Buck and his cowboy hat towering about a foot over Ratso. It is a visual that will stay in your mind long after the movie is over.

There are many big themes going on in this movie, including death, Americana and spirituality, albeit a very dark spirituality. This movie would probably never get made today, and that is just a shame. The acting and cinematography are both excellent.