Saw Midnight Cowboy for the first time.

I agree that "Midnight Cowboy" is a tremendous film, an excellent, emotionally shattering experience. Putting everything else aside, it is about the unlikely friendship that develops between two men who can never find their way in. Joe Buck is such a sweet, good-hearted person. One of my favorite scenes in the movie has Joe and Rico sitting in the diner, looking at the party invite those kids gave to Joe. After a bit of back and forth and some good-natured from Joe, he reveals his true blue colors about his friend... Did I say that? Did I? You watch me, I'll them... I don't go nowhere without my buddy here...

"Midnight Cowboy" is a love story in the purest way possible. I couldn't care less that the characters can be homophobic from time to time. To me, it feels pretty authentic and neither one of the main characters is obsessed with hating gay people. It almost feels incidental and I would take an honest depiction like this over shallow, sterile, soulless PC platitudes any day.

The book allows for more characterization. The ending of the movie stays faithful to the book's ending, where Joe, who has just the only real friend he has ever had, is now alone and scared.

And then he did something he'd wanted to do from the very beginning, from the very first night he'd met Ratso at Everett's bar on Broadway. He put his arm around him to hold him for a while, for these last few miles, anyway. He knew this comforting wasn't doing Ratso any good. He was doing it for himself. Because of course he was scared now. Scared to death.