Midnight Cowboy (1969)

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Directed by John Schlesinger.

Starring John McGiver, Sylvia Miles, Brenda Vaccaro, Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight.

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Based on a James Leo Herlihy novel, British director John Schlesinger's first American film dramatized the small hopes, dashed dreams, and unlikely friendship of two late '60s lost souls. Dreaming of an easy life as a fantasy cowboy stud, cheerful Texas rube Joe Buck (Jon Voight) heads to New York City to be a gigolo, but he quickly discovers that hustling isn't what he thought it would be after he winds up paying his first trick (Sylvia Miles). He gets swindled by gimpy tubercular grifter Rico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) but, when Joe falls in the direst of straits, Ratso takes Joe into his condemned apartment so that they can help each other survive. Things start to look up when Joe finally lands his first legit female customer (Brenda Vaccaro) at a Warhol-esque party; Ratso's health, however, fails. Joe turns to a final homosexual trick to get the money for one selfless goal: taking Ratso out of New York to his dream life in Miami. One of the first major studio films given the newly minted X rating for its then-frank portrayal of New York decadence, Midnight Cowboy was critically praised for Schlesinger's insight into American lives, with the intercut mosaic of Joe's memories and Ratso's dreams lending their characters and actions greater psychological complexity. While they may have been drawn by the seamy content (tame by current standards), the young late '60s audience responded to Joe's and Ratso's confusion amidst turbulent times and to the connection they make with each other despite their alienation from the surrounding culture. Midnight Cowboy became one of the major financial and artistic hits of 1969, winning Oscars for Best Picture (the first for an X-rated film), Best Director, and former blacklistee Waldo Salt's screenplay. Though the one-two punch of Midnight Cowboy and The Graduate (1967) proved Hoffman's range and Voight's Joe Buck made him a star, both lost Best Actor to classical cowboy John Wayne for True Grit. Even though it was a hit, the Academy ignored the theme song "Everybody's Talking," sung by Harry Nilsson. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Discussion with Ron Henderson, co-founder and artistic director of the Starz Denver Film Festival
Opening night at the Starz Denver Film Festival is a huge success, in large part thanks to this man.
(11/10/2006 Starz Denver Film Festival)

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hasn't rated it.

"In the mid-2010s, the most important technological breakthrough since the invention of sound hits Hollywood. In a feat nobody thought possible, recent advances in both computer generated animation and artificial intelligence have come together to actually make it possible to reanimate the great cinema characters from the past 100 years, and program them to flawlessly interact with other reanimated characters in order to create completely new performances in original new material. Early attempts are no doubt crude, but in 2024, a remake of Ghostbusters, as acted out cinema history’s greatest clowns, including Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, and a young Eddie Murphy, sweeps all Oscar categories – with the obvious exception of acting categories (which has been abolished due to lack of demand for new talent). Not having a critical or commercial success in 20 years, a 60 year-old Quintin Tarintino decides he’s going to remake Reservoir Dogs starring his favorite cin ... " [More]

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by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

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0 out of 2 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Are you a supporter of gay marriage? “I know nothing about it. I don’t follow that.” Why doesn’t it interest you? “The same reason heterosexual marriage doesn’t seem to interest me.” –From Questions for Gore Vidal in The New York Times Magazine, 6/15/08. Amen, sister. One of the perks of being queer is that you’re not expected to engage in unnatural acts like high school proms and monogamy. So in honor of the hedonistic right to our own guilt-free, queer Mardi Gras, here are some subversive suggestions that will get you in the mood and take you back to that more innocent, less commercial “Over The Rainbow” time. For vintage gay porn nothing beats George Butler’s Pumping Iron (1977) – and not just because the governor of California unapologetically indulges in a big fat phallic joint straight to the camera. Ostensibly a smackdown between pre-Governator Schwarzenegger and pre-Incredible Hulk Lou Ferrigno, captured in a pre-reality show documentary about the pro-bodybuilding path ... " [More]

A great film...ahead of its tim ...
by dunedonkey in film phlegm

liked it.

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"One of Jon Voight's first films, this was the one that kicked off his film career. This would be the film that also exploited Dustin Hoffman's true acting talent. This would also be the first X-rated film ever to win an Oscar for Best Picture (although by today's standards, it would barely even be rated-R). This would also be one of the first great films that kicked off one of the best decades of American film, the 1970s. I'd been dying to see this film for some time. It was a landmark film in so many ways and it was great in so many ways. It's a story about a very positive, though very naive boy from Texas named Joe Buck (Jon Voight) whose past haunts him and wants to escape his hometown Texas life (and his past) for a life of sex and gigolo-ism in New York City. He finds that the New York life isn't all it's made out to be and he struggles, all the while getting hustled himself and having to subject himself to the pains and horrors of a small-town kid ... " [More]

The Grand Daddy Of The Gritty R ...
by JakeStevens in JakeStevens Blog

is neutral about it.

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"This is the film that opened the gate for films like "The Panic In Needle Park", "Drugstore Cowboy" and even "Requiem For A Dream". Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight shine in their respective roles, and while the film feels a little dated (thanks to some not-so-subtle direction by John Schlesinger) it's still an interesting time capsule to the mind set of the era. As Roger Ebert says, this is a good movie with a masterpiece trapped inside. I think that sums up my feelings exactly about this film. 'Nuff said. " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

loved it.

After earning notoriety as one of the first major studio films to be given an X rating, Midnight Cowboy made history as the first X-rated film to win an Oscar for Best Picture. A brutal depiction of broken dreams and lives asunder in the fetid backwash of the swinging Sixties, Cowboy shocked audiences with its squalid subject matter and signaled a trend towards films that explored lurid and personal material. Whereas the mere suggestion of a blow job in Cowboy was scandalous in 1969, the film helped pave the way for later mainstream films in which a blow job might have as much shock value as the weather forecast. For that reason, Cowboy loses a substantial part of its impact when viewed all these years after its original release. That said, as a buddy film and as an ode to the impossibility of liberation from reality, the film retains a certain timelessness. Jon Voight's handsome but stupid Joe Buck and Dustin Hoffman's desperate, verminous Ratso Rizzo remain iconic figures, symbolic of the resigned, bitter ending of a decade built on the tenets of liberation, progressive change, and the promise of collective struggle. The fate of Buck and Rizzo suggests that such liberation is illusory, and that human relations, no matter how tender they ultimately may be, are part of a quiet, desperate bid for acceptance and belonging. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Tags: friendship , gigolo , homosexual , hustler , Classic
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