Midnight Cowboy

1969 "For those who have never seen it and those who have never forgotten it."
7.8| 1h53m| NC-17| en| More Info
Released: 30 July 1969 Released
Producted By: United Artists
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: https://www.mgm.com/#/our-titles/1251/Midnight-Cowboy
Info

Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.

Genre

Drama

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Director

John Schlesinger

Production Companies

United Artists

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Midnight Cowboy Audience Reviews

Konterr Brilliant and touching
ShangLuda Admirable film.
Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
juhanparna I personally thought it was gonna be cool movie, but it was really harsh. This film is about a cowboy who wants to get "some" and get money for it, quite sick but acceptable. The unacceptable is that when that guys' times get hard, he starts to sell himself to boys, it's like he'll do everything for money. And it's very disturbing to see him do that, 'cause the guy is so positive and happy all the time, you can really relate to him, but hard to think he really is a disgusting fellow. It is also implied that he was raped once. A really confusing thing is that the music in the film is so happy, but movie itself is not- really confusing. Mabye it wanted to show the point of view of the cowboy, happy all the time. The warmest part is the friendship between the main characters, Cowboy and Ratso. Although they both didn't get along well in the beginning, but they ended up only having each other, quite emotional. The directing, editing and acting in this film is amazing, really influencal. This movie deserves R rating, if you can you should see it. It's very eye opening and very well made. It was quite disgusting, but overall a good movie.
j-maloney13 It's easy to see why this film won so many awards, even with all of the controversy surrounding it's nudity and explicit images for the time. The camera work was done really well, and many different types of shots were used such as close ups, tracking, medium and medium- long, long, and high and low angle shots. There were several great, establishing shots of the city as well. Tilt shots were used often too. Aside from this, the non-diegetic soundtrack was very good even though there wasn't a whole lot of music in this film. Some interesting things I found while watching were the "montage" type shot of Joe Buck in bed with a woman. While they were in bed, the television in the room was fully displayed, and the channel was changing rapidly. Every once in a while the two in bed would be displayed as if they were on the TV as well. Another thing I enjoyed in this film was how close we could get to Buck's character. There were several shots of him imagining something happening, which helps us get into the mind of his character. Lastly, I liked the costume choice, and how Buck was wearing a cowboy outfit while in New York City, making him appear out of place. Overall, I really thought Hoffman and Voight did a tremendous job in this film, as they obviously won awards for their roles.
inemjaso An X-rated film at the time of its release, Midnight Cowboy is the definition of the Hayes Code ending and New Hollywood beginning. The film centers around Joe Buck, a young Texan dishwasher played by Jon Voight, whose confidence in his looks and southern charisma lead him to pack for New York with the intention of becoming a male prostitute. The irony being, his first "taker' ends up being a working woman herself and Buck ends up giving her money instead. In New York, Buck meets Ratso, a street smart New Yorker with a limp whose blunt nature and smart mouth are a perfect compliment to Buck's dry Texan humor. In addition to exploring sexuality and the boundaries of sexual explicitness which with the American public was comfortable in the late 1960s, the film does a fine job touching upon mental illness, with the local girl Annie, drug use and experimentation, as observed in the party scene, and also the alienation many felt during this period. Alienated characters were a staple in film noir and loneliness and finding one's purpose are themes most people can identify with. However, something about the loneliness of the two main characters in this film whose bond with one another is the only thing preventing the other from emotionally crumbling is too real and strikingly well executed in the film's end. A must watch for any fan of classic New Hollywood movies.
tonypeacock-1 I am struggling to be positive about this film that somehow won the 1969 Best Picture, Director (Brit John Schlesinger) and screenplay.Perhaps best known for the sing "Everybody's Talking' at Me' sung by Harry Nilsson. The film stars Jon Voight as a Texan dishwasher Joe Buck. The film begins with Buck starting a new life in New York City as a hustler hoping to earn money as a Texan stud for sex. Being not very successful he meets a streetwise con man Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). Ratso is not in the best of physical health and has fantasies of a new life in Miami, Florida. Meanwhile Buck has flashbacks of a shocking sexual assault on himself and his his girlfriend.The pair struggle by in their squat until towards the end of the film where the pair take a 31 hour bus journey to a Miami (presumably far cheaper than air travel, and it's 1969?) I found the film depressing and through periods boring. I don't know what the other films were at those Academy Awards. Perhaps some of the subject matter was a bit X rated at the time but by modern standards is rather tame.