Midnight Cowboy Overview:

Midnight Cowboy (1969) was a Drama - Film Adaptation Film directed by John Schlesinger and produced by Jerome Hellman and Kenneth Utt.

The film was based on the novel of the same name written by James Leo Herlihy published in 1965.

Midnight Cowboy was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1994.

Academy Awards 1969 --- Ceremony Number 42 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorDustin HoffmanNominated
Best ActorJon VoightNominated
Best Supporting ActressSylvia MilesNominated
Best DirectorJohn SchlesingerWon
Best Film EditingHugh A. RobertsonNominated
Best PictureJerome Hellman, ProducerWon
Best WritingWaldo SaltWon
.

BlogHub Articles:

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

By Beatrice on May 3, 2020 From Flickers in Time

Midnight Cowboy Directed by John Schlesinger Written by Waldo Salt from a novel by James Leo Herily 1969/US IMDb link Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die I have always loved this movie. ?Somehow I came out of it exhilarated rather than depressed, making it ... Read full article


Midnight Cowboy (1969, John Schlesinger)

By Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 20, 2016 From The Stop Button

Midnight Cowboy gets to be a character study, but doesn?t start as one, which is an interesting situation. About forty-five minutes into the film, which runs just shy of two hours, Midnight Cowboy chucks the narrative urgency. Maybe not chucks, maybe just shuts down, because it does take the film a ... Read full article


Midnight Cowboy (1969)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Sep 18, 2012 From 4 Star Films

The film stars Jon Voight as a naive Texan and Dustin Hoffman as Ratso Rizzo, the bum who initially cons him and eventually befriends him. Voight comes to New York expecting to make money off of rich city women as a male hustler. However, his callowness leaves him broke. That’s when the crippl... Read full article


Midnight Cowboy (1969)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Sep 18, 2012 From 4 Star Films

The film stars Jon Voight as a naive Texan and Dustin Hoffman as Ratso Rizzo, the bum who initially cons him and eventually befriends him. Voight comes to New York expecting to make money off of rich city women as a male hustler. However, his callowness leaves him broke. That’s when the crippl... Read full article


Midnight Cowboy

By Alyson on Jan 24, 2011 From The Best Picture Project

In the film industry, an X or NC-17 rating for a mainstream film is a kiss of death. ?When Midnight Cowboy first opened, many theaters would not show the film and newspapers would not run printed ads because of its X rating being associated with pornography. ?Yet, the film went on to win the Academy... Read full article


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Quotes from

Ratso Rizzo: I'm walking here! I'm walking here!


Towny: Oh, Joe it's... it's so difficult, I - You're a nice person, Joe, I- I- I should never have asked you up here, you're... You're a lovely person, really. Oh, God, I loathe life, I loathe it! Please go, please.


[first lines]
Joe Buck: Whoopee-tee-yi-yo. Get along little dogies. It's your misfortune and none of my own.


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Facts about

The film was rated "X" (no one under 17 admitted) upon its original release in 1969, but the unrestricted use of that rating by pornographic filmmakers caused the rating to quickly become associated with hardcore sex films. Because of the stigma that developed around the "X" rating in the ratings system's early years, many theaters refused to run "X" films and many newspapers would not run ads for them. The film was given a new "R" (children under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian) rating in 1971, without having anything changed or removed. It remains the only X-Rated film ever to win the Oscar for Best Picture, be shown on network TV (although the R reclassification had taken place by then), or be screened by a sitting U.S. President, Richard Nixon.
This film contains the first recorded use of the word "scuzzy", as a description of Ratso Rizzo. At its root, "scuzzy" is apparently a combination of "scummy" and "fuzzy".
Bette Davis appears in this film via a clip from Dark Victory seen in a television montage sequence.
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Best Picture Oscar 1969






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National Film Registry

Midnight Cowboy

Released 1969
Inducted 1994
(Sound)




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Also directed by John Schlesinger




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Also produced by Jerome Hellman




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