1969 ( USA ) ( Drama )
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles
Director: John Schlesinger
Convinced of his irresistible appeal to women, Texas dishwasher Joe Buck (Jon Voight) quits his job and heads for New York City, thinking he’ll latch on to some rich dowager. New York, however, is not as hospitable as he imagined, and Joe soon finds himself living in an abandoned building with a Dickensian layabout named Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). The two form a rough alliance, and together they kick-start Joe’s hustling career just as Ratso’s health begins to deteriorate. In the process, Voight and Hoffman bring to life one of the least likely and most melancholy love stories in the history of American film.
Fifty years on, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman’s squabbling amid the squalor of low-rent New York remains a heart-breaking triumph.
(1hr 53min)