Could "Midnight Cowboy" possibly be the best downer depressing movie ever?

I think it is, closely followed in some ways by "Last Picture Show".

Not just a depressing non-Hollywood ending, but the whole thing seems to wallow in a funk that's impossible for me to resist.
Maybe it's the "man if you think YOUR life sucks..." aspect to it, I dunno.

Our optimistic but damaged hero starts off in a creepy, dying small Texas town, quits his worthless bus boy job, hops a bus to New York with dreams of being a male whore, has disturbing flashbacks on the way, gets conned in the big city, meets "Ratso" Rizzo, gets conned, kicked out of his cheap hotel, gets conned again, makes friends with Rizzo, lives in a condemned building, tries to hustle some more but can't, pawns radio, goes to party, gets a "customer" while Rizzo's dying, tries to hustle a homosexual man but ends up killing him, hops a bus with Rizzo to Florida, Rizo dies on the bus, end of movie.

All along the dirty side of New York City is a supporting character, with the gray skies, grimy aging buildings, all night theaters, cafeterias, and empty subways surrounding and engulfing us. Is this the Times Square that is now a shiny corporate facade? It fascinates me to see this raw concrete jungle the way it was.

And then there's the music.

Some bits don't age will. Ebert said he never bought our boys at the psychedelic party, but it's still fun to watch this late-60's time capsule. Most of the film has a timeless feel to it despite gazing back into a long lost era.

I have the 25th anniversary VHS, which is P&S but sports an excellent transfer and has a nice documentary at the end. SHAME that the DVD has NO extras. No documentary, no director's commentary (essential!), no original mono soundtrack option, nada.

Show me another movie that has such a brilliant sense of dread yet remains so highly entertaining and I'll watch it, but I doubt it'll surpass "Midnight Cowboy".

Dan C

 

It's amazing that there are no extras on the DVD. They must be preparing a special version and wailting so people will have to buy the movie twice.

I have the Criterion LD, so I can wait!

 

My "downer" film is "Days of Wine and Roses." Most interesting is how the couple ends up having reversed roles at the end of the film...and how they got there.

 

I have never found Apocalypse Now to be particularly uplifting but it is one hell of a movie as is Taxi Driver but at least the ending has the an air of redemption around it. Less impressive as a movie but up there in the depressing stakes is PinK Floyd's The Wall.

All the best - Andrew

 

Midnight Cowboy is up there, but the Viet Nam era produced a number of fine films with what are now considered by some critics to have endings that are gratuitously depressing. I wouldn't say there's any such 'best' of this genre, that's up to the beholder, but other nominees might include

Bonnie and Clyde
Chinatown
The Conversation
The Wild Bunch
McCabe and Mrs. Miller

My own personal favorites in this category are both by David Cronenberg, The Fly and Dead Ringers.

 

Oh yes, and one that I forgot that's a bit more obscure is Aram Avakian's adaptation of the John Barth novel End of the Road starring Stacey Keach and James Earl Jones. I don't even know if this one's on video. Because of it I was introduced to a great Billie Holiday song from late in her career (talk about downers), Don't Worry About Me.

 

For me, the big downer movies are RUSH, based on an undercover agent's experiences in the drug war, small town, Texas; and AT CLOSE RANGE, about a gang of thieves, this time in nowhere, Pennsylvania.

RUSH stars Jason Patric and Jennifer Jason Leigh as two undercover narcotics officers in Texas, assigned to infiltrate a suspected drug ring. In due time they become drug addicts themselves and lose track of their assignment and loyalties. (Incidentally, Gregg Allman delivers an almost silent, but extrememly menacing performance.)

Also based on actual events, AT CLOSE RANGE stars Sean Penn as the abandoned son of regional crime lord Christopher Walken. Walken takes in the bored, unemployed youth, with catastrophic results for both men and the community. This may be one of the grimmer films I've ever seen.

These movies are a real antidote to Hollywood-glamorized cops and robbers. It's hard to watch another LETHAL WEAPON-style buddy cop film after seeing RUSH or AT CLOSE RANGE.

 

Rush

Man, I forgot about that one. A brilliant and underrated movie. I have the VHS somewhere, think I'll watch it today.
Thanks for the reminder.
Haven't seen "At Close Range", will check it out someday.
Dan C

 

I'm just back from Netflix, and it seems that End of the Road belongs on the thread of movies that need to be released on DVD. However, another Stacy Keach film that should be added to the list of great downer films is John Huston's Fat City, and you can throw in his Wise Blood as well. But I still vote for The Fly and Dead Ringers as my one and two.

 

Cinematic downers? Try these:

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
THE SEVENTH SEAL
PERSONA
CONTEMPT
WEEKEND
IKIRU
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
PAPILLON
SECONDS
ON THE BEACH

There's ten to make you feel reaallllllllllllllll goooooooooooood

And...just to add more misery...............HUD

ED

 

Of course there's no "best", but we can play can't we?

Great list of movies, but I still think Cowboy has an overall sense of dread and despair that few can match. "Chinatown" is actually somewhat lighthearted in comparison before coming to the tragic conclusion.

I agree with Cronenberg, especially Dead Ringers.

Dan C

 

I just got around to seeing The Hours last night, not a very cheerful movie either!

Still, the most depressing movie I've ever seen is called Threads, a British made-for-TV effort from 1984. It's based on the British government's study of the likely aftermath of a nuclear war. Things get sadder and sadder as the movie progesses, and then the very last frame rips your spleen out. Makes the US TV movie The Day After (same subject matter) seem like a picnic.

 

Threads doesn't fill you with the joys of spring that's for sure. I remember going to the theatre to see When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs and in its own way that is just as saddening.

All the best - Andrew

 

A few more to add to this joyful list:

Requiem For a Dream
In Cold Blood
Cries and Whispers
Naked
The Bicycle Thief

 

Well, Dan, we've done it....you came up with the depressing movie thread, I did the depressing music thread. What's left? Books? Audio Hardware?(Bose horror stories, anyone? )

ED

 

Hmm. How about "Depressing Movies With Bose Product Placements".
Dan C

 

Midnight Express

 

Animated movie called Grave of the Firefly's...it will leave you speechless and haunted by the end of the movie. Even though its animation, it's really effective at showing you how cinema can make you feel something, in this case sad and depressed.

on a happier note..woooooo hooooooo i am a senior member...lol

 

The only Figgis film I've seen is "Leaving Las Vegas" and yes, that's a good call. Terribly depressing throughout. Brilliant acting as well, just like "Midnight Cowboy".
Dan C

 

In 1982, my wife and I went to see a matinee of "Frances". A biographical movie starring Jessica Lang about Seattle actress Frances Farmer who ends up being committed to a state mental hospital by her mother and given shock treatment and a lobotomy. We left the theater pretty down and as we walked to our car we went by another theater that just happened to have a movie starting in a few minutes. It was a new Meryl Streep movie and we were not familiar with story line, but decided to take a chance. The movie was "Sophie's Choice". 'Nuff said.

 

I've seen most of the titles mentioned thus far and couldn't agree more on most of 'em.

Two more worth mentioning: Pollack's They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and Schlesinger's The Day of the Locust. The Depression never looked so, well, depressing.

 

Ordinary People and Kramer vs. Kramer were two of the most depressing movies I ever watched in a theater.