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Midnight Cowboy (novel)
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 First edition (publ. Simon & Schuster)
For the 1969 film adaptation of this novel, see Midnight Cowboy.
Midnight Cowboy is a 1965 novel by James Leo Herlihy that chronicles the naïve Texan Joe Buck's odyssey from Texas to New York City, where he plans on realizing his dream of becoming a male prostitute servicing rich women.
Plot[edit]
The book opens with would-be stud-for-hire Joe Buck getting ready to leave his rural Texas town, recalling the events that set him upon his sordid path.
Joe's mother, who may or may not have been a prostitute, frequently leaves him with a succession of blondes, who may have been his aunts or other whores, until being dropped off to live with his grandmother, Sally Buck, at approximately age nine. During these years Joe becomes sexually attracted to fleshy blondes, and that imprinting is cemented once he enters into an incestuous relationship with Sally [citation needed]. Upon Sally’s death while Joe is serving in the army, he loses all sense of direction and security.
Joe loses his "virginity" during his mid-teens to Annie, a girl who would regularly take on six boys at a time upon a dirty mattress behind a movie theater screen, each waiting patiently in line for his turn. Joe was the first boy she ever enjoyed having sex with, leading to a secret relationship that is squelched when one of Annie’s many jealous “users” alerted her father to his daughter’s activities, after which Annie is swiftly institutionalized.
Joe befriends a local hustler named Perry, a beautiful young man who schools Joe on the art of dominating one’s “tricks” and gets him stoned on marijuana for the first time. It is very clear that Perry wants to have sex with Joe — and that Joe is attracted to Perry but is confused and dishonest with himself as to how to handle that. Perry eventually takes Joe to a Tex-Mex whorehouse. While Joe is having spirited sex with an underage Mexican whore, he realizes that his efforts are being watched; the house’s madame, her fat, gay half-Indian son and Perry are the voyeurs. They try to coax Joe into continuing, but a furious Joe attacks Perry, only to be pulled off of the hustler by the big gay Injun, at which point Joe is raped by both the fat man and Perry. Joe is so traumatized by the rape that he now no longer cares whom he has sex with, male or female.
Once in New York, Joe proves a failure as a hustler, and soon finds himself barely surviving while serving a mainly gay clientele. Out of desperation, he takes up with Rico "Ratso" Rizzo, a crippled con man and Joe's would-be pimp. The two form a tenuous friendship, but they still fail to make any money. Their dire poverty and Rizzo's rapidly failing health soon force Joe to rob a client in order to afford a bus ticket to Florida, where Rizzo has always dreamed of going. While on the bus to Miami, however, Rizzo dies of pneumonia, leaving Joe completely alone in the world.
Adaptations[edit]
In 1969, the novel was made into the movie Midnight Cowboy starring Dustin Hoffman as Ratso and Jon Voight as Joe. The film, by director John Schlesinger, succeeded commercially and critically, winning three Academy Awards: Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Director and Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay). Both Hoffman and Voight received nominations as Academy Award for Best Actor, but lost out to John Wayne in True Grit.
Schlesinger explained the great success of the film as its exploration of loneliness. The movie, which was adapted by screenwriter Waldo Salt, was not entirely faithful to the book; in particular, Joe's incestuous relationship with his grandmother is omitted. The cause of Joe's rape is also heavily changed.



Stub icon This article about an erotic novel of the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




Stub icon This article about a novel with a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender theme is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: 1965 novels
American novels adapted into films
Novels with gay themes
Novels about prostitution
Male prostitution in the arts
Novels set in New York City
Incest in fiction


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Midnight Cowboy (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search




 First edition (publ. Simon & Schuster)
For the 1969 film adaptation of this novel, see Midnight Cowboy.
Midnight Cowboy is a 1965 novel by James Leo Herlihy that chronicles the naïve Texan Joe Buck's odyssey from Texas to New York City, where he plans on realizing his dream of becoming a male prostitute servicing rich women.
Plot[edit]
The book opens with would-be stud-for-hire Joe Buck getting ready to leave his rural Texas town, recalling the events that set him upon his sordid path.
Joe's mother, who may or may not have been a prostitute, frequently leaves him with a succession of blondes, who may have been his aunts or other whores, until being dropped off to live with his grandmother, Sally Buck, at approximately age nine. During these years Joe becomes sexually attracted to fleshy blondes, and that imprinting is cemented once he enters into an incestuous relationship with Sally [citation needed]. Upon Sally’s death while Joe is serving in the army, he loses all sense of direction and security.
Joe loses his "virginity" during his mid-teens to Annie, a girl who would regularly take on six boys at a time upon a dirty mattress behind a movie theater screen, each waiting patiently in line for his turn. Joe was the first boy she ever enjoyed having sex with, leading to a secret relationship that is squelched when one of Annie’s many jealous “users” alerted her father to his daughter’s activities, after which Annie is swiftly institutionalized.
Joe befriends a local hustler named Perry, a beautiful young man who schools Joe on the art of dominating one’s “tricks” and gets him stoned on marijuana for the first time. It is very clear that Perry wants to have sex with Joe — and that Joe is attracted to Perry but is confused and dishonest with himself as to how to handle that. Perry eventually takes Joe to a Tex-Mex whorehouse. While Joe is having spirited sex with an underage Mexican whore, he realizes that his efforts are being watched; the house’s madame, her fat, gay half-Indian son and Perry are the voyeurs. They try to coax Joe into continuing, but a furious Joe attacks Perry, only to be pulled off of the hustler by the big gay Injun, at which point Joe is raped by both the fat man and Perry. Joe is so traumatized by the rape that he now no longer cares whom he has sex with, male or female.
Once in New York, Joe proves a failure as a hustler, and soon finds himself barely surviving while serving a mainly gay clientele. Out of desperation, he takes up with Rico "Ratso" Rizzo, a crippled con man and Joe's would-be pimp. The two form a tenuous friendship, but they still fail to make any money. Their dire poverty and Rizzo's rapidly failing health soon force Joe to rob a client in order to afford a bus ticket to Florida, where Rizzo has always dreamed of going. While on the bus to Miami, however, Rizzo dies of pneumonia, leaving Joe completely alone in the world.
Adaptations[edit]
In 1969, the novel was made into the movie Midnight Cowboy starring Dustin Hoffman as Ratso and Jon Voight as Joe. The film, by director John Schlesinger, succeeded commercially and critically, winning three Academy Awards: Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Director and Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay). Both Hoffman and Voight received nominations as Academy Award for Best Actor, but lost out to John Wayne in True Grit.
Schlesinger explained the great success of the film as its exploration of loneliness. The movie, which was adapted by screenwriter Waldo Salt, was not entirely faithful to the book; in particular, Joe's incestuous relationship with his grandmother is omitted. The cause of Joe's rape is also heavily changed.



Stub icon This article about an erotic novel of the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




Stub icon This article about a novel with a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender theme is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




  


Categories: 1965 novels
American novels adapted into films
Novels with gay themes
Novels about prostitution
Male prostitution in the arts
Novels set in New York City
Incest in fiction


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Midnight Cowboy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about the 1969 film. For the novel upon which this film is based, see Midnight Cowboy (novel). For other uses, see Midnight Cowboy (disambiguation).



[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




##This article needs additional citations for verification.  (July 2011)


Text document with red question mark.svg

##Some or all of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. It includes attribution to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for information.  (June 2013)



Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy.jpg
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
Sylvia Miles
Brenda Vaccaro
Music by
John Barry
Cinematography
Adam Holender
Edited by
Hugh A. Robertson
Distributed by
United Artists

Release dates

May 25, 1969


Running time
 113 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$3.2 million[1]
Box office
$44,785,053[2]
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy.
The script 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; M. Emmet Walsh appears in an uncredited cameo.
The film won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. To date, it is the only X-rated film ever to win Best Picture.[3] It has since been labeled as one of the greatest American movies of all time.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot summary
2 Cast
3 Production Notes
4 Accolades
5 Soundtrack
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot summary[edit]
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.
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, who turns out to be a Bible thumper (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 he 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 his apartment 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, though his grandmother frequently neglects him as well. Ratso's back story comes through stories he tells Joe. His father was an illiterate Italian immigrant shoe-shiner, who worked down 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 to it. 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 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 cash, 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 seated with his arm around his dead friend, alone and afraid.
Cast[edit]
Jon Voight as Joe Buck
Dustin Hoffman as Enrico Salvatore "Ratso" Rizzo
Sylvia Miles as Cass
John McGiver as Mr. O'Daniel
Brenda Vaccaro as Shirley
Barnard Hughes as Towny
Ruth White as Sally Buck
Jennifer Salt as Annie
Viva as Gretel
Bob Balaban as Young Student
Tina Scala as the pregnant woman in the Laundromat
Production Notes[edit]
Midnight Cowboy was Adam Holender's first cinematography assignment; he was recommended to Schlesinger by Holender's childhood friend, filmmaker Roman Polanski.[4]
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.[5] Such advertisements, common in the Southwestern United States in the late-1960s and through the 1970s, promoted Eddie Chiles' Western Company of North America.[6]
Joe first realises the bus is nearing New York when he hears a Ron Lundy broadcast on WABC while listening to his pocket radio.[7] At the time of filming in 1968, Lundy worked the midday shift (10 AM–1 PM) Monday through Saturday at the radio station.[8]
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.[9] The building, designed by D. H. Burnham & Company and opened in 1911, has since been demolished.[10]
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.[5] 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.[11]
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.[12] Dustin Hoffman, who played a grizzled veteran of New York's streets, is from Los Angeles.[13][14]
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.[15]
The line "I'm walkin' here!", which reached #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.[16]
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.[17] 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.[17][18]
Accolades[edit]
The film earned $11 million in rentals at the North American box office.[19]
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). In addition, the film won six BAFTA Awards. It was also entered into the 19th Berlin International Film Festival.[20][21]
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[edit]
John Barry, who supervised the music and composed the score, won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme, although he—as well as a few other significant contributors—did not receive an on-screen credit.[22] 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.)
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, Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson, and electronic music passages performed by Moog Synthesizer pioneer Walter Sear.
The movie's main theme, "Midnight Cowboy", was covered by instrumental duo Ferrante & Teicher as a single, and reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart in January 1970.[23]
See also[edit]
List of films featuring hallucinogens
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company The Changed the Film Industry, Uni of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p 292
2.Jump up ^ "Box Office Information for Midnight Cowboy". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
3.Jump up ^ Ditmore, Melissa Hope (2006). "Midnight Cowboy". Encyclopedia of prostitution and sex work 1. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 307–308. ISBN 0-313-32968-0.
4.Jump up ^ Goldstein, Patrick (February 27, 2005). "'Midnight Cowboy' and the very dark horse its makers rode in on". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Midnight Cowboy (1969) locations – Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches.
6.Jump up ^ "If you don't have an oil well, get one!" (Eddie Chiles of Western Company) – The Big Apple.
7.Jump up ^ Ron Lundy Retires From Radio – Musicradio77.com.
8.Jump up ^ WABC Schedule 1966–1970 – Musicradio77.com.
9.Jump up ^ Midnight Cowboy (1969) – OntheSetofNewYork.com.
10.Jump up ^ Hotel Claridge – SkyscraperPage.com.
11.Jump up ^ Midnight Cowboy (1969) – amc filmsite.
12.Jump up ^ Retrieved April 19, 2014.
13.Jump up ^ "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly (1219) (Time Inc.). August 10, 2012. p. 27.
14.Jump up ^ Retrieved April 19, 2014.
15.Jump up ^ "Voight Worked for Scale for 'Midnight Cowboy' Role". New York Times. Aug 29, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
16.Jump up ^ Onda, David. "Greatest Unscripted Movie Moments". Xinfinity. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
17.^ Jump up to: a b United Artists: The Company that Changed the Film Industry by Tino Balio
18.Jump up ^ Monaco, Paul (2001). History of the American Cinema: 1960–1969. The Sixties, Volume 8. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-520-23804-4. p. 166
19.Jump up ^ "Big Rental Films of 1969", Variety, 7 January 1970 p 15
20.Jump up ^ "IMDB.com: Awards for Midnight Cowboy". imdb.com. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
21.Jump up ^ "Tri City Herald – Jul 6, 1969". Google News. Retrieved 2010-03-07.[dead link]
22.Jump up ^ "Midnight Cowboy (1969)". IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
23.Jump up ^ Smith, Jeff (1998). The Sounds of Commerce. Columbia University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-231-10863-8.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy at the Internet Movie Database
Midnight Cowboy at Rotten Tomatoes


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Categories: 1969 films
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Cowboy









Midnight Cowboy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about the 1969 film. For the novel upon which this film is based, see Midnight Cowboy (novel). For other uses, see Midnight Cowboy (disambiguation).



[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.




##This article needs additional citations for verification.  (July 2011)


Text document with red question mark.svg

##Some or all of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. It includes attribution to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for information.  (June 2013)



Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy.jpg
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
Sylvia Miles
Brenda Vaccaro
Music by
John Barry
Cinematography
Adam Holender
Edited by
Hugh A. Robertson
Distributed by
United Artists

Release dates

May 25, 1969


Running time
 113 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$3.2 million[1]
Box office
$44,785,053[2]
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy.
The script 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; M. Emmet Walsh appears in an uncredited cameo.
The film won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. To date, it is the only X-rated film ever to win Best Picture.[3] It has since been labeled as one of the greatest American movies of all time.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot summary
2 Cast
3 Production Notes
4 Accolades
5 Soundtrack
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot summary[edit]
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.
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, who turns out to be a Bible thumper (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 he 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 his apartment 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, though his grandmother frequently neglects him as well. Ratso's back story comes through stories he tells Joe. His father was an illiterate Italian immigrant shoe-shiner, who worked down 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 to it. 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 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 cash, 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 seated with his arm around his dead friend, alone and afraid.
Cast[edit]
Jon Voight as Joe Buck
Dustin Hoffman as Enrico Salvatore "Ratso" Rizzo
Sylvia Miles as Cass
John McGiver as Mr. O'Daniel
Brenda Vaccaro as Shirley
Barnard Hughes as Towny
Ruth White as Sally Buck
Jennifer Salt as Annie
Viva as Gretel
Bob Balaban as Young Student
Tina Scala as the pregnant woman in the Laundromat
Production Notes[edit]
Midnight Cowboy was Adam Holender's first cinematography assignment; he was recommended to Schlesinger by Holender's childhood friend, filmmaker Roman Polanski.[4]
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.[5] Such advertisements, common in the Southwestern United States in the late-1960s and through the 1970s, promoted Eddie Chiles' Western Company of North America.[6]
Joe first realises the bus is nearing New York when he hears a Ron Lundy broadcast on WABC while listening to his pocket radio.[7] At the time of filming in 1968, Lundy worked the midday shift (10 AM–1 PM) Monday through Saturday at the radio station.[8]
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.[9] The building, designed by D. H. Burnham & Company and opened in 1911, has since been demolished.[10]
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.[5] 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.[11]
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.[12] Dustin Hoffman, who played a grizzled veteran of New York's streets, is from Los Angeles.[13][14]
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.[15]
The line "I'm walkin' here!", which reached #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.[16]
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.[17] 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.[17][18]
Accolades[edit]
The film earned $11 million in rentals at the North American box office.[19]
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). In addition, the film won six BAFTA Awards. It was also entered into the 19th Berlin International Film Festival.[20][21]
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[edit]
John Barry, who supervised the music and composed the score, won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme, although he—as well as a few other significant contributors—did not receive an on-screen credit.[22] 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.)
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, Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson, and electronic music passages performed by Moog Synthesizer pioneer Walter Sear.
The movie's main theme, "Midnight Cowboy", was covered by instrumental duo Ferrante & Teicher as a single, and reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart in January 1970.[23]
See also[edit]
List of films featuring hallucinogens
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company The Changed the Film Industry, Uni of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p 292
2.Jump up ^ "Box Office Information for Midnight Cowboy". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
3.Jump up ^ Ditmore, Melissa Hope (2006). "Midnight Cowboy". Encyclopedia of prostitution and sex work 1. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 307–308. ISBN 0-313-32968-0.
4.Jump up ^ Goldstein, Patrick (February 27, 2005). "'Midnight Cowboy' and the very dark horse its makers rode in on". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Midnight Cowboy (1969) locations – Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches.
6.Jump up ^ "If you don't have an oil well, get one!" (Eddie Chiles of Western Company) – The Big Apple.
7.Jump up ^ Ron Lundy Retires From Radio – Musicradio77.com.
8.Jump up ^ WABC Schedule 1966–1970 – Musicradio77.com.
9.Jump up ^ Midnight Cowboy (1969) – OntheSetofNewYork.com.
10.Jump up ^ Hotel Claridge – SkyscraperPage.com.
11.Jump up ^ Midnight Cowboy (1969) – amc filmsite.
12.Jump up ^ Retrieved April 19, 2014.
13.Jump up ^ "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly (1219) (Time Inc.). August 10, 2012. p. 27.
14.Jump up ^ Retrieved April 19, 2014.
15.Jump up ^ "Voight Worked for Scale for 'Midnight Cowboy' Role". New York Times. Aug 29, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
16.Jump up ^ Onda, David. "Greatest Unscripted Movie Moments". Xinfinity. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
17.^ Jump up to: a b United Artists: The Company that Changed the Film Industry by Tino Balio
18.Jump up ^ Monaco, Paul (2001). History of the American Cinema: 1960–1969. The Sixties, Volume 8. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-520-23804-4. p. 166
19.Jump up ^ "Big Rental Films of 1969", Variety, 7 January 1970 p 15
20.Jump up ^ "IMDB.com: Awards for Midnight Cowboy". imdb.com. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
21.Jump up ^ "Tri City Herald – Jul 6, 1969". Google News. Retrieved 2010-03-07.[dead link]
22.Jump up ^ "Midnight Cowboy (1969)". IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
23.Jump up ^ Smith, Jeff (1998). The Sounds of Commerce. Columbia University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-231-10863-8.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy at the Internet Movie Database
Midnight Cowboy at Rotten Tomatoes


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Categories: 1969 films
English-language films
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1960s drama films
American drama films
American LGBT-related films
Best Picture Academy Award winners
Buddy films
Films about prostitution
Films based on American novels
Films directed by John Schlesinger
Films set in New York City
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Films shot in New York City
Films shot in Texas
Films whose director won the Best Director Academy Award
Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award
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