Midnight Cowboy (1969)

A naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.

Director:

John Schlesinger

Writers:

Waldo Salt (screenplay), James Leo Herlihy (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles

Won 3 Oscars. Another 25 wins & 15 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)
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

Storyline

Texas greenhorn Joe Buck arrives in New York City for the first time. Preening himself as a real "hustler", he finds that he is the one getting "hustled" until he teams up with down-and-out but resilient outcast 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:

hustler | new york city | gigolo | cowboy | friendship | 

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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:

PA

Did You Know?

Trivia

The crowd of sidewalk protesters that Ratso and Joe walk through have signs with pointless generic messages such as "End Madness Now" and "Liberate Freedom".

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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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Alternate Versions

ABC edited 25 minutes from this film for its 1974 network television premiere.

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Connections

Referenced in GLOW: The Libertines (2019)

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Soundtracks

Old Man Willow
Music and Lyrics by Richard Sussman (uncredited), Michal Shapiro (uncredited), Myron Yules (uncredited) and Stan Bronstein (uncredited)
Produced by Wes Farrell for Buddah Records
Sung by Elephant's Memory (as Elephants Memory)

User Reviews

This Film is The Real Thing

I worked the Times Square area for several years, circa 1969, as a NYC Police Officer. I can tell you that the title characters and many others in this fabulous movie were right on the money. There were very few "normal" folks who were regulars to Times Square at that time. Most visitors and tourists looked right through them but they were all there. Sexual perverts aka chickenhawks, Pimps, and of course the young kids coming off the buses from the heartland by the hundreds, ready to be savaged. The music, drug culture, attitudes of too many parents, and excitement of being a young, all combined to make people think they could "make it" in an area like TS. So very many never made it to adulthood because of the lifestyle: drugs, beatings and assaults were so common. Those who survived were damaged psychologically as well as physically. Personally, I never felt so overwhelmed in my life. While handling one case, you just knew there were dozens more happening at the same moment in time. Midnight Cowboy was just one little slice of life on 42nd Street. An excellent movie.

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

16 June 1969 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Macadam cowboy

Filming Locations:

Calvary Cemetery - 4902 Laurel Hill Boulevard, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,600,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$44,785,053

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$44,801,177

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jerome Hellman Productions, Florin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1