MovieChat Forums > Midnight Cowboy (1969) Discussion > Dustin Hoffman in this...

Dustin Hoffman in this...

posted 9 years ago by sonofbeach-sheet
3 replies | jump to latest

I'm not positive, but think this is his first movie after The Graduate. I cannot imagine how audiences reacted to seeing him in this after playing an academically brilliant, but socially dumb 21 year old Southern California WASP ( that looked more Jewish than WASP'Y,) and then playing a prematurely aged 30-something Italian street hustler in this just 2 years later.

No other actor has ever been more versatile. Even Robert Duvall and Gene Hackman have been, but their appearances always remain the same.

[–] prismabird 9 years ago

Hoffman was apparently very gun ho to take the roll for that very reason - reviews of his performance in the Graduate read like Mike Nichols had just happened to find a guy who was "like that," (rich, neurotic, Californian), and he wanted to show that he could do a 180. Which he certainly did. Hoffman is, IMO, one of the best, if not the best of his generation.

[–] Edward_de_Vere 9 years ago

then playing a prematurely aged 30-something Italian street hustler in this

I wonder what Ratso's intended age in the film was, since there wasn't anything explicitly stated about it. In the novel, he was in his early 20's, but I doubt that the film Ratso was meant to be quite that young.

[–] InherentlyYours 9 years ago

But he didn't look 21 in the Graduate in actuality, and his age in MC is unknown (he looked his real age)