Midnight Cowboy
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Template:Infobox Movie Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 film written by Waldo Salt based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy, and directed by John Schlesinger. It stars Dustin Hoffman and newcomer Jon Voight in the title role. An assortment of much smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Barnard Hughes, Ruth White, Jennifer Salt (the screenwriter's daughter), and Bob Balaban.
The film is the only X-rated film to win the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. Both Hoffman and Voight were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, a situation which split the vote for fans of the film and helped John Wayne receive his only Oscar for his role in True Grit. For Hoffman, the role enabled him to avoid any typecasting due to his previous role in The Graduate and began his reputation as a actor of considerable dramatic range.
In 1971 the film was re-submitted to the MPAA ratings board in anticipation of a re-release. This time the board granted it an "R" rating. The re-released version of the film was identical to the original.
The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
John Barry, who supervised the music for the film, won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme. The film featured the song "Everybody's Talkin'", sung by Harry Nilsson, which won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance; Schlesinger chose that song over "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City", which Nilsson had written specifically for the film. The song "He Quit Me" was also on the soundtrack; it was written by Warren Zevon, who also included it (as "She Quit Me") on his debut album Wanted Dead or Alive.
The film follows the story of a young Texan named Joe Buck (Jon Voight) who dresses like a rodeo cowboy.
He heads to New York City in the hope of leading the life of a kept man. His naïveté becomes evident as quickly as his cash disappears. He is soon forced to hustle for a meager living as a "midnight cowboy" with a clientele that's the opposite (in gender and affluence) of what he originally set out to attract.
He meets the lame, scraggly Rico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), who first cons him out of $20, but after they cross paths a second time, they begin a partnership, with Rizzo working as Buck's "manager". Over the course of the rest of the film the two deal with the realities of all-but-homeless street life, suspended briefly by a foray into a Warhol-like party scene (with some of the Warhol superstars in cameo appearances). They form a friendship, none too soon for Rizzo, who becomes increasingly dependent upon Buck as health problems make it increasingly harder for Rizzo to cope with his situation.
The events of Buck's life are told in mostly chronological order, interspersed by flashbacks or daydream sequences which hint at Buck's back-story.
Trivia
- Rizzo the Rat, a street-wise but pesky Muppet, was named by Frank Oz after Hoffman's character (according to Steve Whitmire the puppeteer behind his performances).
- The line "I'm walkin' here!" was an accident. In the scene, the production crew blocked the street. One taxi driver got fed up and drove down, nearly hitting Dustin Hoffman. In character, Hoffman yelled "I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!", which later made #27 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.
External link
- Template:Imdb title
- Review (http://www.tvguide.com/movies/database/ShowMovie.asp?MI=6967) from the TV Guide website
- Review and scene-by-scene description (http://www.filmsite.org/midn.html) from a film buff whose ad-supported website is recommended by Roger Ebert