jon voight brilliant midnight cowboy hoffmans performance though reminiscent later turn rainman kind performance keeps watching movies portrayal new york character daniel day lewis portrayal bill butcher gangs new york comes mind comparable day give character emotional depth hoffman gives ratso br br its typical hoffmans way acting actor tend identify midnight cowboy voight think hoffman one   best actors history film playing people around way raises performances far normal levels br br voights buck naive would float film altogether except ratso pulls  pulls down also teaches him lot survive and importantly livebr br midnight cowboy movie escape turns movie finding yourself think that gritty movie is beautiful message matter much loser might ratso clearly defines loser find way true yourself possession secret life might even able share insight someone else br br i cant help compare midnight cowboy klute years later think like movie finding turns movie escape