Having watched MIDNIGHT COWBOY again recently, it holds up beautifully and is as powerful as ever. Schlesinger also won the Best Director Oscar for that. It was a great success, critically and commercially. I don't think there's anything anti-American about it. His career suffered for the usual reason: too many of his films didn't make money. I thought LOCUST was brilliant, but less anti-American than anti-Hollywood (as was the book it's based on). HONKY TONK didn't work at all and it probably didn't help that he had developed a cocaine habit during its' production (according to co-star Daniel Stern who also indulged). It lost money and probably put him in director jail for a few years. Personally, I was never a fan of Kael and her ilk. |