I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!
I just finished this movie a couple minutes ago, and I feel like crying. What a sad movie.
It follows Joe Buck (Jon Voight) as he moves to New York. He has the idea that there are lots of rich women looking for men like him, and that he can basically be a male prostitute: "Lotta rich women back there, Ralph, begging for it, paying for it, too...and the men - they're mostly tutti fruttis. So I'm gonna cash in on some of that, right?...Hell, what do I got to stay around here for? I got places to go, right?" He is young, not overly bright, big-hearted, polite, and very naive. He dresses in cowboy outfits and has a generally sweet disposition. Joe has a bright outlook when he arrives and starts walking the streets looking for rich ladies.
Pretty quickly he discovers that his plan is flawed. Rich women are not flocking to his Texas charm. His tactic of approaching women in broad daylight on crowded streets isn't working. Before too long, he's out of money and homeless.
Then he meets Rizzo, called Ratso much to his chagrin ("You know, in my own place my name ain't Ratso. I mean, it just so happens that in my own place, my name is Enrico Salvatore Rizzo...At least call me Rico in my own god-damn place."), played by Dustin Hoffman. They become friends and start living together in a condemned building, living off the meager funds they obtain through petty theft. They alternately bicker and look out for each other:
Rizzo: I gotta get outta here, gotta get outta here. Miami Beach, that's where you could score. Anybody can score there, even you. In New York, no rich lady with any class at all buys that cowboy crap anymore. They're laughin' at you on the street.Joe: Ain't nobody laughin' at me on the street.
Rizzo: Behind your back, I've seen 'em laughin' at you, fella.
Joe: Aw, what the hell you know about women anyway? When's the last time you scored, boy?
Rizzo: That's a matter I only talk about at confession. We're not talkin' about me now.
Joe: And when's the last time you've been to confession?
Rizzo: It's between me and my confessor. And I'll tell ya another thing. Frankly, you're beginning to smell. And for a stud in New York, that's a handicap.
Joe: Well, don't talk to me about clean. I ain't never seen you change your underwear once the whole time I've been here in New York. And that's pretty peculiar behavior.
Rizzo: I don't have to do that kind of thing in public. I ain't got no need to expose myself.
Joe: No, I bet you don't. I bet you ain't never even been laid! How about that? And you're gonna tell me what appeals to women!
Rizzo: I know enough to know that that great big, dumb cowboy crap of yours don't appeal to nobody except every jockey on 42nd Street. That's faggot stuff! You wanna call it by its name? That's strictly for fags!
Joe: John Wayne! You wanna tell me he's a fag? I like the way I look. It makes me feel good. It does. And women like me, god-dammit. Hell, only one thing I've ever been good for is lovin'. Women go crazy for me. That's a really true fact. Ratso, hell: Crazy Annie, they had to send her away.
Rizzo: Then how come you ain't scored once, the whole time you've been in New York?
Joe: 'Cause, 'cause I need management, god-dammit. 'Cause you stole twenty dollars offa me. That's why you're gonna stop crappin' around about Florida. And, and get your skinny butt movin.' And earn twenty dollars worth of management which you owe me.
Rizzo is clearly lonely, and dreams of moving to Florida ("The two basic items necessary to sustain life, are sunshine and coconut milk... didya know that?"), and the two seem to fill a void in each others lives. Rizzo's health deteriorates, however, just when Joe's "career" as a male hooker actually starts to take off: "I don't think I can walk anymore. I've been fallin' down a lot. I'm scared...You know what they do to ya when, when they know you can't, when they find out that you can't walk-walk. Oh Christ." He begs Joe to get him to Miami.
Joe gets them on a bus, and tries his best to care for Rizzo on the way:
Rizzo: I've been thinkin'. I hope we're not gonna have a lot of trouble about my name down there. Because, I mean, like what's the whole point of this trip anyway, you know?Joe: Keep your blankets on you.
Rizzo: Can you see this guy runnin' around the beach all sun-tanned, and he's goin' in swimmin' like, and somebody yells 'Hey, Ratso!' What's that sound like to you?
Joe: It sounds like I knew ya.
Rizzo: It sounds like crap, admit it. I'm Rico all the time, OK? We're gonna tell all these new people my name's Rico. OK?
Joe: OK.
But Rizzo is clearly worsening. "Here I am, goin' to Florida, my leg hurts, my butt hurts, my chest hurts, my face hurts, and like that ain't enough, I gotta pee all over myself," Rizzo laments miserably, "That's funny? I'm fallin' apart here!" Joe tells him it's not a big deal, making him laugh by saying "It's just - Know what happened? You just took a little rest stop that wasn't on the schedule!" At a rest stop, he picks up a couple of new Florida shirts for the two of them and continues to try to cheer Rizzo up: "Yours was the only one left with a palm tree on it. The clothes are damn cheap here too, you know that?"
Just shy of Miami, Joe wistfully describes how they are going to live in Florida: "Everything we got only set us back ten and some... Hey you know, Ratso. Rico, I mean. I got this damn thing all figured out. When we get to Miami, what we'll do is get some sort of job, you know. Cause hell, I ain't no kind of hustler. I mean, there must be an easier way of makin' a living than that. Some sort of outdoors work. What do ya think? Yeah, that's what I'll do. OK Rico? Rico? Rico? Hey, Rico? Rico?"
While Joe is talking, Rizzo dies. Joe puts his arms around Rizzo and holds him as they finish the ride.
So so sad. Feeling melancholy now. Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman were terrific. It's hard to believe they didn't win best actor and best supporting. Apparently this was the only X-rated film ever to win an Oscar, though it got re-rated R later.
It had some strange scenes in it -a weird hallucinogenic party, disturbing flashbacks of Joe's life, and the oddest sex scene involving scribbage I've ever seen (ok, the only sex scene involving scribbage, but it was weird) -but definitely a poignant movie.
I've included way too many excerpts, but it's hard to capture Rizzo and Joe's relationship without quoting them directly. This is the easiest way for me to capture the complexities of their bromance. Also, the last 15 minutes of the script were so heart-wrenching, I hate to leave anything out.
I think I need to watch this.
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