MovieChat Forums > Midnight Cowboy (1969) Discussion > Why does Cass blow Joe off only to invit...

Why does Cass blow Joe off only to invite him upstairs anyway?

posted 11 years ago by Tidewatcher
10 replies | jump to latest

That seems kind of funny in the movie, where Joe Buck approaches Cass and her dog and acts friendly with it and then apologizes and asks her how to find the Statue Of Liberty only to be coldly blown off by her when she says "Its up in Central Park taking a leak, if you hurry you'll catch the four o'clock show." and then walks away, Joe thinks as the audience does that Cass has blown him off and rejected his advances and then she turn around and gives him a look and Joe now realizes that she wants him to come upstairs with her and has not blown him off after all.

That scene is funny because Joe looks like he has been rejected by Cass who was not impressed by his statue of liberty question and weak attempt to pick her up but in the end he wins because she wants him to come upstairs and tells the doorman that Joe is picking something up for her and the guy looks impressed and lets Joe follow her, now why was she rude to Joe if she wanted him to come upstairs?

What happens if Joe had walked down the sidewalk and not looked back at Cass again? Seems like there is more going on there than meets the eyes, she obviously was not impressed by him and he doesn't look like he has money either, the rich lady that Joe earlier stops and talks to just blew him off too at least until he followed her and got her attention, then after Joe told her she was a pretty lady she realized that he was a Male Prostitute and blew him off, Cass didn't realize this at all because she was shocked when Joe asked her for money, she did not know that Joe was hustling her but manages to outhustle him, great scene.

[–] mike-848 11 years ago

Cass was just a stereotypical middle aged arrogant NY Jewess. As he's walking towards the building entrance, she motions for Joe to follow her. Her blowing him off was just her attitude she probably exhibited towards everyone.

After she's done with her Goy Toy, she knows she can con him out of some money because he's just a slow bumpkin. It was just another example of the con. She's no different than Rizzo.

[–] ThereWillBeBeer 11 years ago

She had to put up some token resistance before inviting him up. After all, she's not some ol' slut on 42nd Street!

It's all in a day's work for...Bicycle Repairman

[–] Tidewatcher 10 years ago

She is a high class Hooker that is like Julia Roberts character in Pretty Woman except she has gotten old and lost her looks over the years, she was probably a street walker when she first started out and then became a high class hooker later on, so she was right lol.

[–] InherentlyYours 10 years ago

You answered the question with your title: Why does Cass "blow Joe" off

Seriously, though. I don't know if we can call her a high class hooker, but rather a kept-woman. Poor 'Murray" may not know that she sees men on the side.
She did did ask for money for a cab, but that's not really what a hooker charges. (yeah sure, she "forget to go to the bank"

[–] Matthew7819 10 years ago

She was probably a Kept Woman that Hustled men on the side, Maurie was probably giving her a lot of stuff and she learned how to play and hustle other rich guys to get the same things too, Joe Buck looks like he might be well off when she first encounters him, he is from Texas seemingly on a visit and dresses like a real Cowboy complete with the Cowboy Hat and all that stuff boots and everything, she might have assumed that he had a lot of money on him and that she could use him and ask him to give her some money afterwards.

And she is friendly at first but decides to turn around and signal for him to follow her and he follows her, a fool and his money are quick to part, he seemed to be a sucker and she noticed that, tossed him a move and a line and he was baited and caught, it was all a part of her hustle and it worked, Joe never saw it coming.

Now personally i think that Joe should have said no when she asked him for money and tried to leave, but he was naive and couldnt bear to see a woman crying, he should have left after she asked for money because it was obvious that she was trying to play him, especially after her rant about him going to ask her for money, that was played poorly by Joe when he could have laughed and left.

[–] InherentlyYours 10 years ago

Or he should had just passed her a 10 bill, not let her choose how much a simple cab ride cost, which is not 20.00

[–] Matthew7819 10 years ago

You respond fast lol, but i second what you say, but i would lower the rate, like how Ratso charges $1.00 for taxi fare from Shirley, that was all that Cass was worth.

[–] InherentlyYours 10 years ago

he didn't think it thru. While we're at: he should had made the boy give him the watch, or something else. What's' this nicey-nicey attitude he's doing

[–] Matthew7819 10 years ago

In the commentary Jerome Hellman said that Joe was just a nice guy and that he would never make it because of that, whenever he saw someone else suffering his anger was defeated and he wanted to be nice and help them out, both the boy and Cass started crying and Joe gave up, had the boy not started begging i think that Joe would have taken the watch and left but he realized that the watch was not worth much so he gave it back and kept his pride saying "I dont want your damn watch." trying to say that it was crap and not worth taking because the boy said it a few seconds before.

[–] InherentlyYours 10 years ago

He should had just done nudies for money, if he could find advertisement in 1968