Midnight Cowboy

Release Year: 1969

Director: John Schlesinger

Review: Sometimes plans don't work out the way you expect them to. Jon Voight plays Joe Buck, a Texan cowboy who thinks he can make it big in the city New York City as a male prostitute, but quickly learns how hard it actually is. 

For as many people as there are in the city, it can be a lonely place.  The only person that Joe connects with is an equally poor and lonely Ratso (Dustin Hoffman), a petty con man.  What is powerful is the desperation of trying to survive, and the depths a person will sink to get by in the dystopian tinted city.  The friendship that develops between the two is the true heart of the film.  It might be a friendship of circumstance, but a true bond is formed.  It shows that even if you have nothing, as long as you have one good friend its something.  I had problems with the, at times, chaotic story telling, with the backstory of Joe not effectively being integrated into the story.  but as a whole 'Midnight Cowboy' delivers as an emotional, if not at times uncomfortable, experience.
Rating: 3.5/5

Battle of Britain

Release Year: 1969

Director: Guy Hamilton

Review: Some say this is one of the most historically accurate portrayals of a battle on film, and that very well might be the case, only it still wouldn't mean much to me since I couldn't stay interested for more than a few minutes at the time.  This is very much a war epic complete with an overly bombastic score which frequently didn't fit with what was being shown.  At no point did I connect with a single character.  At no point did I feel any emotion towards any of the events that were being shown.  There was very little glue holding the action scenes together.  Perhaps I'm tainted by modern effects, but the action scenes just did not do anything for me.  The repetitive air battles blend together into one uninteresting failed air show.  If a majority of the film is going to depend on the effectiveness of the action, it had better be good.  It wasn't, and I can't see this as anything but a colossal bore.
Rating: 1.5/5

Easy Rider

Release Year: 1969

Director:  Dennis Hopper

Review: One of the films that was the spark that lead to the start of the New Hollywood. If nothing else "Easy Rider" is an important, influential and groundbreaking film.  Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper play two hippie type men who are on a road trip to Mardi Gras on their motorcycles, hoping to find freedom.  Drug use plays a prominent role throughout and Hopper uses quick cuts and bizarre film techniques to make you feel like your under the influence of some of the same drugs.  Being a counterculture film the theme of freedom is central, and what it means to be free, or if it's even possible in America is questioned.  There are some high concept attempts to convey these counterculture themes, which I can appreciate, but ultimately I didn't have a good time watching this film.  Watching two wayward bikers meander through the south in a drug induced haze wasn't entertaining.  At times it seemed the Hopper sacrificed substance for artistic experimentation. It was almost as if he was laboring to be unnecessarily abstract and actually hurt his message and sapped the film of enjoyment. 

Jack Nicholson's role in the film is a welcome reprieve from the bland, but ultimately is too short lived.  Had he been there throughout, it would have been an entirely more enjoyable ride.  The best thing about the film is it's sound track, comprised of classic rock songs which fit perfectly with long shots of the duo on their bikes cruising the highway.  After this, it became a trend to use songs to score movies, which is just one of the many ways this film influenced the film industry. It is a bold movie with a lot to say and with an unquestionable historic impact, but it doesn't make it anymore of an enjoyable or insightful film.
Rating: 2.5/5