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Midnight Cowboy (1969)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
16 June 1969 (Brazil) moreTagline:
Whatever you hear about Midnight Cowboy is true. morePlot:
A naive male prostitute and his sickly friend struggle to survive on the streets of New York City. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
Won 3 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 12 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(23 articles)
Voight, Hoffman Reminiscence In Tempo For Midnight Cowboy Screening At Laff (From Filmmaker Magazine. 26 June 2009, 3:37 PM, PDT)
Asshat Smackdown! for June 10, 2009
(From AfterElton.com. 10 June 2009, 3:06 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
Two Stellar Performances and a Pervasive Honesty Make This One Still a Winner moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Dustin Hoffman | ... | Ratso | |
| Jon Voight | ... | Joe Buck | |
| Sylvia Miles | ... | Cass | |
| John McGiver | ... | Mr. O'Daniel | |
| Brenda Vaccaro | ... | Shirley | |
| Barnard Hughes | ... | Towny | |
| Ruth White | ... | Sally Buck - Texas | |
| Jennifer Salt | ... | Annie - Texas | |
| Gilman Rankin | ... | Woodsy Niles - Texas (as Gil Rankin) | |
| Gary Owens | ... | Little Joe - Texas | |
| T. Tom Marlow | ... | Little Joe - Texas | |
| George Eppersen | ... | Ralph - Texas | |
| Al Scott | ... | Cafeteria Manager - Texas | |
| Linda Davis | ... | Mother on the Bus - Texas | |
| J.T. Masters | ... | Old Cow-Hand - Texas |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
113 minCountry:
USAAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreCertification:
Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (DVD rating) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) (original rating) | Iceland:16 | South Korea:18 | Brazil:16 | Canada:18A (Canadian Home Video rating) | Norway:15 (TV rating) | USA:TV-MA (TV rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Netherlands:12 (re-rated) | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1988) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R (re-rating) (1971) | USA:X (original rating) | West Germany:16Fun Stuff
Trivia:
In 1971, United Artists successfully reissued this film in the USA on a double bill with Women in Love (1969). moreGoofs:
Continuity: Ratso limps on both legs (not at the same time, obviously). moreQuotes:
[first lines]Joe Buck: Whoopee-tee-yi-yo. Get along little dogies. It's your misfortune and none of my own.
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Soundtrack:
Florida Fantasy moreFAQ
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It's not quite the timeless masterpiece you would hope it would be based on the acclaim it garnered, but 1969's "Midnight Cowboy" is still a powerhouse showcase for two young actors just bursting into view at the time. Directed by John Schlesinger and written by Waldo Salt, the movie seems to be a product of its time, the late 1960's when American films were especially expressionistic, but it still casts a spell because the story comes down to themes of loneliness and bonding that resonate no matter what period. The film's cinematic influence can still be felt in the unspoken emotionalism found in Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain".
The meandering plot follows Joe Buck, a naive, young Texan who decides to move to Manhattan to become a stud-for-hire for rich women. Full of energy but lacking any savvy, he fails miserably but is unwilling to concede defeat despite his dwindling finances. He meets a cynical, sickly petty thief named "Ratso" Rizzo, who first sees Joe as an easy pawn. The two become dependent on one another, and Rizzo begins to manage Joe. Things come to a head at a psychedelic, drug-infested party where Joe finally lands a paying client. Meanwhile, Rizzo becomes sicker, and the two set off for Florida to seek a better life. This is not a story that will appeal to everyone, in fact, some may still find it repellent that a hustler and a thief are turned into sympathetic figures, yet their predicaments feel achingly authentic.
In his first major role, Jon Voight is ideally cast as he brings out Joe's paper-thin bravado and deepening sexual insecurities. As Rizzo, Dustin Hoffman successfully upends his clean, post-college image from "The Graduate" and immerses himself in the personal degradation and glimmering hope that act as an oddly compatible counterpoint to Joe. The honesty of their portrayals is complemented by Schlesinger's film treatment which vividly captures the squalor of the Times Square district at the time. The director also effectively inserts montages of flashbacks and fantasy sequences to fill in the character's fragile psyches. Credit also needs to go to Salt for not letting the pervasive cynicism overwhelm the pathos of the story. The other performances are merely incidental to the journeys of the main characters, including Brenda Vaccaro as the woman Joe meets at the party, Sylvia Miles as a blowsy matron, John McGiver as a religious zealot and Barnard Hughes as a lonely out-of-towner.
The two-disc 2006 DVD package contains a pristine print transfer of the 1994 restoration and informative commentary from producer Jerome Hellman since unfortunately neither Schlesinger nor Salt are still living. There are three terrific featurettes on the second disc - a look-back documentary, "After Midnight: Reflections on a Classic 35 Years Later", which features comments from Hellman, Hoffman, Voight and others, as well as clips and related archive footage such as Voight's screen test; "Controversy and Acclaim", which examines the genesis of the movie's initial 'X' rating and public response to the film; and a tribute to the director, "Celebrating Schlesinger".