Is Hutch a gay cowboy?

If you’ve never seen the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy, you should stop reading and GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. Then come back here when you’re done. If you prefer not to, just be warned there are spoilers below.

I first saw Midnight Cowboy eons ago and the only thing I remembered about it was how much I loved the very sweet and slashy relationship between Texas wannabe cowboy Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight) and ailing con man Ratso Rizzo (played by Dustin Hoffman). Which is the most important part, anyway. Oh, and of course, the ending. I think I had seen the edited version on TV and not the uncut X-rated version, which I recently watched twice and now I. Am. Obsessed.

So what does this have to do with Starsky & Hutch? This screencap:

This is from the famous scene where Dustin Hoffman’s character yells “I’m walkin’ here! I’m walkin’ here!” at the cab driver who almost hits him (a scene that was famously ad-libbed). What struck me when I saw it was how much their getups reminded me of these two guys in the Bait:

Do you see how similar their outfits are? Here’s a handy comparison:

Here’s a vid of the scene. It’s one of the most famous scenes in movie history, which means that whoever decided to dress S&H like that had almost certainly seen it:

In the Bait (Season 1, Episode 9) Starsky & Hutch go undercover as O’Brien and Rafferty, a gay drug-dealing cowboy and his drug-dealing pimp partner who dresses in a noticeably flashy white suit.

In the film, it’s heavily implied that Joe and Ratso are lovers. But whether they’ve had sex with each other or not (which is reasonably debatable due to Ratso’s declining health), it’s clear that they love each other, are devoted to each other, and are the most important person in each other’s lives. Sound familiar?

But wait, there’s more. Hutch, dressed as the undercover drug-dealing cowboy O’Brien in the Bait, is a lot like Joe Buck (minus the drug-dealing), in that they’re both tall, blond, and handsome men from Texas who are partnered (and in love with) their shorter, dark-haired, ethnic, streetwise partner from New York City who wears flashy white suits.

And OMG their names: O’Brien/Joe Buck and Rafferty/Ratso Rizzo.

Also, Joe calls Ratso “Boy” and Hutch calls Starsky “Boy” in the exact same Texas accent. OMFG.

Also also, Starsky complains about the pimp shoes Hutch bought for him to go undercover in, saying “They’re killin’ my instep.” In Midnight Cowboy, Dustin Hoffman filled his shoe with pebbles so his character’s pronounced limp would be consistent from scene to scene.

Also also also (I warned you I was obsessed) when S&H have to run from the cops, the shoes hurt Starsky’s feet so he half-runs, half-limps down the alley. Coincidence?

In the film, Joe Buck acknowledges he isn’t a real cowboy, just a “stud.” He moves to New York City because he naively thinks that wealthy, older women will pay money to have sex with him, so he decides that being a gigolo is the key to his livelihood, but the women mostly just laugh at him. After Joe keeps striking out with the ladies, Ratso tells Joe that the only people who are turned on by his cowboy shtick are gay men looking for a trick on 42nd Street. In other words, Ratso says guys who cosplay as cowboys are gay. Did you hear that, Hutch? Here’s the scene:

When Midnight Cowboy came out in 1969, it was a huge hit. Starsky & Hutch premiered in 1975. The Bait aired in November 1975, where they dress just like Joe and Ratso, when the entire world knew that Joe and Ratso were a gay couple and that the whole cowboy thing was super gay. And yet, not only does Hutch dress up like a cowboy in the Bait, but also in the season 2 ep, Tap Dancing Her Way Right Back into Your Hearts. Aww, Hutch.

Aaaaand there’s also the whole gay, gay, gay, really gay running on the beach scene in the film:

In this scene, Ratso is looking at Joe and daydreaming/fantasizing about them moving to Miami together. It’s significant in that Ratso, who walks with a pronounced limp (most likely from childhood polio) and is increasingly suffering from a serious illness during the course of the film, imagines himself healthy and running in his daydream, but the way it’s filmed, and the really gay flutey musical accompaniment which is unfortunately stuck in my head forever, is SUPER gay. I mean, the director could have had Ratso imagining himself running on the beach with a sexy, beautiful woman or by himself, but he doesn’t. For a reason. And BTW, director John Schlesinger was gay, so he would know.

And boy howdy, that sure does make me wonder about this lovely promotional photo shoot that David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser did in the summer of 1975, before Season 1 of Starsky & Hutch premiered. Do you see them RUNNING ON THE BEACH?

One last thing: the scene at the end of the movie with Joe and Ratso on the bus REALLY reminds me of Shootout (S1, Ep 14). In the film, Ratso has been slowly dying from (most likely) tuberculosis, which in addition to his physical disability, shows him portrayed as a lonely, physically damaged person, while Joe Buck is portrayed as a lonely man who has been psychologically damaged from years of neglect and childhood sexual abuse.

In Shootout, Starsky is physically damaged as he comes close to dying from a gunshot wound in the back of his shoulder, while Hutch is psychologically damaged from the trauma, as he desperately tries to keep his partner alive while trying to disarm the two hitmen who are holding them hostage, and at the same time, protect the innocent customers in the restaurant. At one point, we see Hutch leaning against the wall, looking as if he’s about to cry, as he’s overwhelmed with worry and angst and the responsibility of it all weighing heavily on his shoulders.

In the final scene of Midnight Cowboy, Ratso, very sick and close to death, is feverish, sweating, and unable to walk, and he begins to cry when he realizes he’s pissed himself due to unexpected incontinence. In the scene near the end of Shootout where Starsky jokes about Hutch always wanting to get his teeth capped, Starsky looks as if he’s about to cry (because he’s worried about Hutch having to face off with the hitmen alone). Starsky even makes a reference to dying of tuberculosis when he jokes about having played “Camille” in high school, a tragic romance about a woman who dies of consumption (i.e. tuberculosis) in her lover’s arms.

Another thing I noticed is that Hutch helps prop up Starsky against the beige couch pillows just like Joe props up Ratso on the beige bus seat when he starts to slip down.

Bonus pics, just because they’re so lovely and slashy and hurt/comforty and also remind me a lot of S&H: