Midnight Cowboy

Midnight Cowboy
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Schlesinger
Produced by	Jerome Hellman
Screenplay by	Waldo Salt
Based on	Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy
Starring	Dustin Hoffman Jon Voight
Music by	John Barry
Cinematography	Adam Holender
Edited by	Hugh A. Robertson Jim Clark (creative consultant)
Distributed by	United Artists
Release dates	May 25, 1969 (1969-05-25)
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 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Jon Voight in the title role alongside Dustin Hoffman. Notable smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Salt and Barnard Hughes.

The film won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was the only X-rated film ever to win Best Picture, though its rating has since been changed to R.^[3] It has since been placed 36th on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time, and 43rd on its 2007 updated version.

Plot summary

As the film opens, Joe Buck (Jon Voight), a young Texan working as a dishwasher, dresses in new cowboy clothing, packs a suitcase, and quits his job. He heads to New York City hoping to succeed as a male prostitute for women. Initially unsuccessful, he succeeds in bedding a well-to-do middle-aged New Yorker (Sylvia Miles), but Joe ends up giving her money when he discovers that she is actually a high end call girl herself.

Joe then meets Enrico Salvatore "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a street con man with a limp who takes $20 from Joe by offering to introduce him to a known pimp (John McGiver). Joe flees the encounter in pursuit of Ratso. Joe spends his days wandering the city and sitting in his hotel room. Soon broke, he is locked out of his hotel room and most of his belongings are impounded.

He tries to make money by agreeing to receive oral sex from a young man (Bob Balaban) in a movie theater. When Joe learns that the young man has no money, Joe threatens him and asks for his watch, but eventually lets him go. The following day, Joe spots Ratso and angrily shakes him down. Ratso offers to share the apartment in which he is squatting in a condemned building. Joe accepts reluctantly, and they begin a "business relationship" as hustlers. As they develop a bond, Ratso's health, which has never been good, grows steadily worse.

Joe's story is told through flashbacks. His grandmother raises him after his mother abandons him, and his grandmother shows him affection but spends time with men much the way Joe's mother did. He also has a tragic relationship with Annie, a local mentally unstable girl. Ratso's backstory comes through stories he tells Joe. His father was an illiterate Italian immigrant shoe-shiner, who worked in a subway station. He developed a bad back, and "coughed his lungs out from breathin' in that wax all day". Ratso learned shining from his father but won't stoop so low as to do so. He dreams of moving one day to Miami.

An unusual couple approach Joe and Ratso in a diner and hand Joe a flyer, inviting him to a party. They enter a Warhol-esque party scene (with Warhol superstars in cameos). Joe smokes a joint, thinking it's a normal cigarette and, after taking a pill someone offered, begins to hallucinate. He leaves the party with a socialite (Brenda Vaccaro), who agrees to pay $20 for spending the night with him, but Joe cannot perform. They play scribbage together and Joe shows his limited academic prowess. She teasingly suggests that Joe may be gay and he is suddenly able to perform.

In the morning, the socialite sets up her friend as Joe's next customer and it appears that his career is on its way. When Joe returns home, Ratso is bedridden and feverish. Ratso refuses medical help and begs Joe to put him on a bus to Florida. Desperate, Joe picks up a man in an amusement arcade (Barnard Hughes), and when things go wrong, robs the man when he tries to pay with a religious medallion instead of cash. With the stolen money, Joe buys bus tickets. On the journey, Ratso's frail physical condition further deteriorates. At a rest stop, Joe buys new clothing for Ratso and himself, discarding his cowboy outfit. As they near Miami, Joe talks of getting a regular job, only to realize Ratso has died. The driver tells Joe there is nothing else to do but continue on to Miami. The film closes with Joe, tears welling in his eyes as he sits with his arm around his dead friend.

Cast

Production notes

Midnight Cowboy was Adam Holender's first cinematography assignment; he was recommended to Schlesinger by Holender's childhood friend, filmmaker Roman Polanski.^[4]

According to Schlesinger his inspiration to make the movie came from the 1967 Yugoslav film When I Am Dead and Gone by a Serbian director Živojin Pavlović.^[5]

The opening scenes were filmed in Big Spring, Texas. A roadside billboard 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.^[6] Such advertisements, common in the Southwestern United States in the late-1960s and through the 1970s, promoted Eddie Chiles's Western Company of North America.^[7]

Joe first realizes the bus is nearing New York when he hears a Ron Lundy broadcast on WABC while listening to his pocket radio.^[8] At the time of filming in 1968, Lundy worked the midday shift (10 AM–1 PM) Monday through Saturday at the radio station.^[9]

Joe stayed at the Hotel Claridge, at the southeast corner of Broadway and West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan. His room overlooked the northern half of Times Square.^[10] The building, designed by D. H. Burnham & Company and opened in 1911, has since been demolished.^[11]

A motif featured three times throughout the New York scenes was the sign at the top of the facade of the Mutual of New York (MONY) Building at 1740 Broadway.^[6] It was extended into the Scribbage scene with Shirley the socialite, when Joe's incorrect spelling of the word "money" matched that of the signage.^[12]

Despite his portrayal of Joe Buck, a character hopelessly out of his element in New York, Jon Voight is a native New Yorker, hailing from Yonkers.^[13] Dustin Hoffman, who played a grizzled veteran of New York's streets, is from Los Angeles.^[14][15]

Voight was paid "scale", or the Screen Actors Guild minimum wage, for his portrayal of Joe Buck, a concession he willingly made to obtain the part.^[16]

The line "I'm walkin' here!", which reached No. 27 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes, is often said to have been improvised, but producer Jerome Hellman disputes this account on the 2-disc DVD set of Midnight Cowboy. However, Hoffman explained it differently on an installment of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio. He stated that there were many takes to hit the traffic light just right, so, they didn't have to pause while walking. In that take, the timing was perfect, and a cab came out of nowhere and nearly hit them. Hoffman wanted to say, "We're filming a movie here!", but decided not to ruin the take.^[17]

Upon initial review by the Motion Picture Association of America, Midnight Cowboy received a "Restricted" ("R") rating. However, after consulting with a psychologist, executives at United Artists were told to accept an "X" rating, due to the "homosexual frame of reference" and its "possible influence upon youngsters". The film was released with an X.^[18] The MPAA later broadened the requirements for the "R" rating to allow more content and raised the age restriction from sixteen to seventeen. The film was later rated "R" for a reissue in 1971 with no edits made. The film retains its R rating.^[18][19]

It was during the making of Midnight Cowboy that Schlesinger met his long-time partner, the photographer Michael Childers, whom he hired as his assistant.^[20]

Accolades

The film earned $11 million in rentals at the North American box office.^[21]

The film won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay; it is the only X-rated film to win an Oscar in any category, and one of three X-rated films nominated for an Oscar (the others being Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange and Bernardo Bertolucci's 1972 film Last Tango in Paris). Both Hoffman and Voight were nominated for Best Actor awards and Sylvia Miles was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, in what is one of the shortest performances nominated (clocking at about five minutes of screen time). Hugh A. Robertson was nominated for the best film editing Academy Award. In addition, the film won six BAFTA Awards. It was also entered into the 19th Berlin International Film Festival.^[22][23]

In 1994, this film was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Soundtrack

John Barry, who supervised the music and composed the score, won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme.^[24] Fred Neil's song "Everybody's Talkin'" won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, for Harry Nilsson.

Schlesinger chose the song "Everybody's Talkin'" (written by Fred Neil and performed by Harry Nilsson) 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" and Randy Newman's "Cowboy". Bob Dylan wrote "Lay Lady Lay" to serve as the theme song, but did not finish the song in time.^[25]

The song "He Quit Me" was on the soundtrack, performed by Lesley Miller; it was written by Warren Zevon, who included it (as "She Quit Me") on his debut album Wanted Dead or Alive. The soundtrack also features music from Elephant's Memory, as well as electronic music passages performed by Moog Synthesizer pioneer Walter Sear.

The movie's main theme, "Midnight Cowboy", featured harmonica by Toots Thielemans, but on its album version it was played by Tommy Reilly.^[26] It was covered by instrumental duo Ferrante & Teicher as a single, and reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart in January 1970.^[27]

A soundtrack album for the film was released by United Artists Records in 1969.^[28]

Track listing

1. Nilsson - "Everybody's Talkin'" (Fred Neil) 2:30 Arranged By, Conductor – George Tipton
2. John Barry - "Joe Buck Rides Again" 3:46
3. The Groop - "A Famous Myth" 3:22 Arranged By, Conductor – Garry Sherman
4. John Barry - "Fun City" 3:52
5. Leslie Miller - "He Quit Me" (Warren Zevon) 2:46 Arranged By, Conductor – Garry Sherman
6. Elephant's Memory - "Jungle Gym at the Zoo" 2:15 Producer – Wes Farrell
7. John Barry - "Midnight Cowboy" 2:34
8. Elephant's Memory - "Old Man Willow" 7:03 Producer – Wes Farrell
9. John Barry - "Florida Fantasy" 2:08
10. The Groop - "Tears and Joys" 2:09 Arranged By, Conductor – Garry Sherman
11. John Barry - "Science Fiction" 1:57
12. Nilsson - "Everybody's Talkin'" (Fred Neil) 1:54 Arranged By, Conductor – George Tipton

See also

• List of American films of 1969
• List of Academy Award records
• List of films featuring hallucinogens

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Midnight Cowboy

• Midnight Cowboy at the Internet Movie Database
• Midnight Cowboy at Rotten Tomatoes