| Midnight Cowboy | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | John Schlesinger |
| Screenplay by | Waldo Salt |
| Based on | Midnight Cowboy byJames Leo Herlihy |
| Produced by | Jerome Hellman |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Adam Holender |
| Edited by | Hugh A. Robertson |
| Music by | John Barry |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
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Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.2 million[1] |
| Box office | $44.8 million[2] |
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 Americandrama film directed byJohn Schlesinger, adapted byWaldo Salt fromthe 1965 novel byJames Leo Herlihy. The film starsDustin Hoffman andJon Voight, with supporting roles played bySylvia Miles,John McGiver,Brenda Vaccaro,Bob Balaban,Jennifer Salt andBarnard Hughes. Set inNew York City,Midnight Cowboy depicts the unlikely friendship between two lost and lonely[3] hustlers: naïveprostitute Joe Buck (Voight) and ailingcon man Rico Rizzo (Hoffman), referred to as "Ratso".
At the42nd Academy Awards, the film won three awards:Best Picture,Best Director, andBest Adapted Screenplay.Midnight Cowboy is the onlyX-rated film (equivalent of the currentNC-17 rating) to win Best Picture and the onlyX-rated film ever to win an Academy Award.[4][5] It placed 36th on theAmerican Film Institute's 1998list of the 100 greatest American films of all time, and 43rd on its 2007updated version.
In 1994,Midnight Cowboy was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by theLibrary of Congress, and selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registry.[6]
YoungTexan Joe Buck quits his dishwashing job, and heads by bus toNew York City in cowboy attire to become amale prostitute. Initially unsuccessful, he finally beds a middle-aged woman, Cass, in herPark Avenue apartment. She is insulted when he requests payment, and Joe ultimately gives money to her.
Joe meets Rico "Ratso" Rizzo, an indigentcon man with a limp who takes $20 for introducing him to apimp. After discovering that the alleged pimp is actually an unhingedreligious fanatic, Joe flees and unsuccessfully searches for Rico. Joe spends his days wandering the city, listening to hisZenithportable radio and sitting in his hotel room. When his money runs out, management locks Joe out and impounds his belongings.
In an attempt to make money, Joe receivesoral sex from a meek young man in a movie theater, but the man cannot pay. Joe threatens him, but releases him unharmed. The next day, Joe spots Rico at a diner, and angrily confronts him. Rico manages to calm Joe, and invites him to share his squalid, condemned apartmentsquat. Joe reluctantly accepts, and the two begin a "business relationship" as hustlers. Rico asks Joe to call him "Rico" instead of "Ratso", but Joe does not oblige. They struggle with severe poverty, stealing food and failing to get work for Joe. Joe pawns his radio and sells his blood, while Rico's persistent cough worsens during a winter without heat in the freezing apartment.
In intermittentflashbacks, Joe's grandmother raises him after his mother abandons him. He has a tragic relationship with Annie, disclosed through hazy flashbacks in which they are attacked and raped by a cowboy gang. Annie shows signs of mental trauma and is taken into an ambulance.
Rico tells Joe his father was an illiterate Italian immigrantshoeshiner whose job yielded a bad back and lung damage from inhalingshoe polish. Rico learned shoeshining from his father, but considers it degrading and generally refuses to do it. When he breaks into a stand and shines Joe's cowboy boots to attract clients, two police officers arrive and sit with their dirty boots next to Joe's. Rico dreams of escaping toMiami, shown in fantasies in which he and Joe frolic on a beach and are pampered at a resort, including a boy polishing Rico's boots.
AWarhol-like filmmaker and an extrovert female artist approach Joe in a diner, taking his photograph and inviting him to aWarhol-esque art event.[a] Joe and Rico attend, but Rico's poor health and hygiene attract unwanted attention. After mistaking ajoint for a cigarette and receivinguppers, Joe hallucinates. He leaves with Shirley, asocialite who pays him $20 for spending the night, but Joe cannot perform sexually. They playScribbage, and the resulting wordplay leads Shirley to suggest that Joe may be gay; suddenly, he is able to perform. The next morning, she sets up her female friend as Joe's client, and at last his career appears to be progressing.
When Joe returns to the apartment, Rico is severely feverish. He refuses medical help, and begs Joe to put him on a bus toFlorida. Desperate for cash, Joe picks up an effeminate middle-aged man in an arcade. The two return to the man's hotel room, where Joe demands money. However, when the man refuses to give him more than $10, Joe brutally beats, robs, and apparentlysmothers him. Joe buys two bus tickets to Florida with the stolen cash. Rico again tells Joe that he wants to be called "Rico", not "Ratso", and Joe finally begins to oblige. During the bus trip, Rico's health worsens, and he suffers fromurinary incontinence.
Joe buys new clothing for Rico and himself at a rest stop, discarding his cowboy outfit and boots. Back on the bus, Joe muses that there must be an easier way to make money than hustling, and tells Rico that he will get a regular job in Miami. When he does not respond, Joe realizes that Rico has died. Joe alerts the bus driver, who asks Joe to close Rico's eyelids, saying that they will soon be in Miami. With tears in his eyes, Joe sits with his arm around his dead friend as the bus continues past rows of Floridianpalm trees.
The opening scenes were filmed inBig Spring, Texas, in 1968. A roadsidebillboard, stating, "If you don't have an oil well...get one!", was shown as the New York-bound bus carrying Joe Buck rolled through Texas.[8] Such advertisements, common in the Southwestern United States in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, promotedEddie Chiles'Western Company of North America.[9]
In the film, Joe stays at theHotel Claridge, at the southeast corner ofBroadway and West 44th Street inMidtown Manhattan. His room overlooked the northern half ofTimes Square.[10] The building, designed byD. H. Burnham & Company and opened in 1911, was demolished in 1972.[11] A motif featured three times throughout the New York scenes was the sign atop of the facade of theMutual of New York (MONY) Building at 1740 Broadway.[8] It was extended into theScribbage scene with Shirley the socialite, when Joe's incorrect spelling of the word "money" matched that of the sign.[12]
Dustin Hoffman, who played a grizzled veteran of New York's streets, is fromLos Angeles.[13][14] Despite his portrayal of Joe Buck, a character hopelessly out of his element in New York, Jon Voight is a native New Yorker, hailing fromYonkers.[15] Voight was paid "scale" (theScreen Actors Guild minimum wage) for his portrayal of Joe Buck, a concession he willingly made to obtain the part.[16]Harrison Ford auditioned for the role of Joe Buck.[17]Michael Sarrazin, who wasSchlesinger's first choice, was cast as Joe Buck, only to be fired when unable to gain release from his contract withUniversal.[18][19][20]
The line, "I'm walkin' here!", which reached number 27 onAFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes, is subject to differing accounts. ProducerJerome Hellman disputes the notion that it was an ad-lib on the two-discDVD set ofMidnight Cowboy. The scene, which originally had Ratso pretend to be hit by a taxi to feign an injury, is written into the first draft of the original script.[21] Hoffman, however, on an installment ofBravo'sInside the Actors Studio, stated that there were manytakes, with the actors hoping to get to the crosswalk at a red light so as not to have to wait for traffic while talking. In that take, they were able to cross the road without waiting, but a cab unexpectedly ran the red light and nearly hit them. Hoffman wanted to say, "We're doing a movie here!" and can be heard beginning to say as such in the final film, but he ultimately changed his sentence halfway and stayed in character as he berated the driver. As such, the latter's angry response is also unscripted.[22]
On initial review by theMotion Picture Association of America,Midnight Cowboy received an "R" ("Restricted") rating. However, after consulting with a psychologist, executives atUnited Artists were told to accept an "X" rating, due to the "homosexual frame of reference" and its "possible influence on youngsters". The film was released with an X rating.[1] The MPAA later broadened the requirements for the "R" rating to allow more content, and raised the age restriction from 16 to 17. The film was later rated "R" for a reissue in 1971.[1][23]
It took several hours to shoot the rape scene, andJennifer Salt recalls the evening as a traumatic ordeal for her. The wardrobe crew had given Jennifer a nude-colored body suit to wear, but the night was so hot and sticky that she quickly stripped it off. "I felt that the most horrible thing in the world was that people were seeing my bare ass, and that was so humiliating I could not even discuss it. And this kid was just on top of me and all over me and it hurt and no one gave a fuck and it was supposed to look like I was being raped. And I was screaming, screaming, and it was traumatic in some way that couldn't be acknowledged."[24]
Critical response to the film has been largely positive.Vincent Canby's lengthy 1969 review inThe New York Times was blunt: "a slick, brutal (but not brutalizing) movie version of ... Herlihy's 1965 novel. It is tough and good in important ways, although its style is oddly romantic and at variance with the laconic material. ... As long as the focus is on this world of cafeterias and abandoned tenements, of desperate conjunctions in movie balconies and doorways, of ketchup and beans andcanned heat,Midnight Cowboy is so rough and vivid that it's almost unbearable. ...Midnight Cowboy often seems to be exploiting its material for sensational or comic effect, but it is ultimately a moving experience that captures the quality of a time and a place. It's not a movie for the ages, but, having seen it, you won't ever again feel detached as you walk down West 42nd Street, avoiding the eyes of the drifters, stepping around the little islands of hustlers and closing your nostrils to the smell of rancid griddles."[25]
Gene Siskel of theChicago Tribune said of the film: "I cannot recall a more marvelous pair of acting performances in any one film."[26]
In a 25th-anniversary retrospective in 1994,Owen Gleiberman ofEntertainment Weekly wrote: "Midnight Cowboy's peep-show vision of Manhattanlowlife may no longer be shocking, but what is shocking, in 1994, is to see a major studio film linger this lovingly on characters who have nothing to offer the audience but their own lost souls."[27]
As of 2022,Midnight Cowboy holds an 89% approval rating on online review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.50/10, based on 116 reviews. The website's critical consensus states: "John Schlesinger's gritty, unrelentingly bleak look at the seedy underbelly of urban American life is undeniably disturbing, but Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight's performances make it difficult to turn away."[28]
The Japanese filmmakerAkira Kurosawa cited this movie as one of his 100 favorite films.[29]
The film opened at theCoronet Theatre in New York City, and grossed a house record $61,503 in its first week.[30] In its tenth week of release, the film became number one in the United States, with a weekly gross of $550,237,[31] and was the highest-grossing movie in September 1969.[32] The film earned $11 million in rentals in the United States and Canada in 1969,[33] and added a further $5.3 million the following year when it won the Academy Award for Best Picture.[34] It eventually earned rentals of $20.5 million in the United States and Canada.[35] By 1975, it had earned rentals of over $30 million worldwide.[36]
More than five years after its theatrical release,Midnight Cowboy premiered on television November 3, 1974. Twenty-five minutes were edited from the film due to censorship regulations and a desire for broader appeal.[citation needed] Although the cuts were approved by director John Schlesinger, criticKay Gardella of theNew YorkDaily News said the film was "hacked up pretty badly".[37]
John Barry composed the score, winning aGrammy Award forBest Instrumental Theme, although he did not receive an on-screen credit.[52]Fred Neil's song, "Everybody's Talkin'", won aGrammy Award for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Male forHarry Nilsson. Schlesinger chose the song as its theme, and the song underscores the first act. Other songs considered for the theme included Nilsson's own "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" andRandy Newman's "Cowboy".Bob Dylan wrote "Lay Lady Lay" to serve as the theme song, but did not finish it in time.[53] The movie's main theme, "Midnight Cowboy", features harmonica byToots Thielemans, but the album version is played byTommy Reilly. Thesoundtrack album was released byUnited Artists Records in 1969.[54]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Arranger / Producer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Everybody's Talkin'" (Nilsson) | Fred Neil | George Tipton (arranger) | 2:30 |
| 2. | "Joe Buck Rides Again" (instrumental) | John Barry | 3:46 | |
| 3. | "A Famous Myth" (The Groop) | Jeffrey Comanor | 3:22 | |
| 4. | "Fun City" (instrumental) | John Barry | 3:52 | |
| 5. | "He Quit Me" (Leslie Miller) | Warren Zevon | Garry Sherman (arranger) | 2:46 |
| 6. | "Jungle Gym at the Zoo" (Elephants Memory) | R. Sussmann, Rick Frank Jr., Stan Bronstein | Wes Farrell (producer) | 2:15 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Arranger / Producer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Midnight Cowboy" (instrumental) | John Barry | 2:34 | |
| 2. | "Old Man Willow" (Elephants Memory) | R. Sussmann, Michal Shapiro, Myron Yules, Stan Bronstein | Wes Farrell (producer) | 7:03 |
| 3. | "Florida Fantasy" (instrumental) | John Barry | 2:08 | |
| 4. | "Tears and Joys" (The Groop) | Jeffrey Comanor | 2:29 | |
| 5. | "Science Fiction" (instrumental) | John Barry | 2:46 | |
| 6. | "Everybody's Talkin'" (Nilsson; reprise) | Fred Neil | George Tipton (arranger) | 1:54 |
| "Midnight Cowboy" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single byFerrante & Teicher | ||||
| from the album Midnight Cowboy | ||||
| B-side | "Rock-A-Bye Baby" | |||
| Released | June 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 1969 | |||
| Genre | Easy listening | |||
| Length | 3:20 | |||
| Label | United Artists Records | |||
| Songwriter | John Barry | |||
| Ferrante & Teicher singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Chart (1970) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[58]: 281 | 22 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[59] | Gold | 500,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
The songCrazy Annie from the albumAny Way That You Want Me byEvie Sands and co-written byChip Taylor was inspired by the film.[60]
The final scene on the bus was parodied in theSeinfeld episode "The Mom & Pop Store". Jon Voight guest stars in the episode as himself.[61]
Australian singer-songwriterVance Joy references the film in his songRiptide.[62]
The making of the film, as well as the time it was made, is subject of the 2022 documentary featureDesperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy byNancy Buirski.[63]
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