Midnight Cowboy (1969)

A naive male prostitute and his sickly friend struggle to survive on the streets of New York City.

Director:

John Schlesinger

Writers:

Waldo Salt (screenplay), James Leo Herlihy (novel)

Stars:

Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles

Won 3 Oscars. Another 26 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

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)
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
Arlene Reeder	...	The Old Lady - Texas

Storyline

Texas greenhorn Joe Buck arrives in New York for the first time. Preening himself as a real 'hustler', he finds that he is the one getting 'hustled' until he teams up with a down-and-out but resilient outcast named Ratso Rizzo. The initial 'country cousin meets city cousin' relationship deepens. In their efforts to bilk a hostile world rebuffing them at every turn, this unlikely pair progress from partners in shady business to comrades. Each has found his first real friend.

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Plot Keywords:

friend | new york city | hustler | texas | male prostitute | 

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Taglines:

For those who have never seen it and those who have never forgotten it. (1980 re-release)

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

X

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

16 June 1969 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Perdidos en la noche

Filming Locations:

114 East 72nd Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,600,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Florin Productions, Jerome Hellman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Dolby Digital (DVD Release)

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Finnish censorship visa register number 77885 delivered on 17-9-1969.

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Goofs

After Joe Buck's encounter with Towny, he and Ratso board the bus to Miami. But the bus then enters the south tube of the Lincoln Tunnel, which only carries eastbound traffic into New York.

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Quotes

[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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Connections

Referenced in Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers (1972)

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Soundtracks

"Fun City"
(uncredited)
Music by John Barry

User Reviews

Big Joe Heads To The Big Apple

Virile, but naive, big Joe Buck leaves his home in Big Spring, Texas, and hustles off to the Big Apple in search of women and big bucks. In NYC, JB meets up with frustration, and with "Ratso" Rizzo, a scruffy but cordial con artist. Somehow, this mismatched pair manage to survive each other which in turn helps both of them cope with a gritty, sometimes brutal, urban America, en route to a poignant ending.

Both funny and depressing, our "Midnight Cowboy" rides head-on into the vortex of cyclonic cultural change, and thus confirms to 1969 viewers that they, themselves, have been swept away from the 1950's age of innocence, and dropped, Dorothy and Toto like, into the 1960's Age of Aquarius.

The film's direction is masterful; the casting is perfect; the acting is top notch; the script is crisp and cogent; the cinematography is engaging; and the music enhances all of the above. Deservedly, it won the best picture Oscar of 1969, and I would vote it as one of the best films of that cyclonic decade.