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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
See More Oscar Winners

Midnight Cowboy 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 ... 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 Acade... Read full article

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Midnight Cowboy Quotes:

Cass: You were gonna ask me for money? Who the hell do you think you're dealing with, some old slut on 42nd Street? In case you didn't happen to notice it, ya big Texas longhorn bull, I'm one helluva gorgeous chick!
Joe Buck: I only get carsick on boats.
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.
Ratso Rizzo: Here I am, goin' to Florida, my leg hurts, my butt hurts, my chest hurts, my face hurts, and like that ain't enough, I gotta pee all over myself.
[Joe Buck laughs]
Ratso Rizzo: That's funny? I'm fallin' apart here!
Joe Buck: It's just - Know what happened? You just took a little rest stop that wasn't on the schedule!
Shirley: You fell. Hey fella, you fell.
See More Quotes from Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy Facts
One studio executive sent director John Schlesinger a memo stating, "If we could clean this up and add a few songs, it could be a great vehicle for Elvis Presley." Presley wanted to be taken seriously as an actor, and was interested in the role of Joe Buck. Presley went on instead to do Change of Habit with Mary Tyler Moore, which bombed, and became his last theatrical movie.
Charles Durning was going to act in this film but dropped out.
During the filming of the snowstorm sequence in which Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo walk down Mercer Street and arrive at the Warhol party, the snow machines made so much noise (filming was in July) that sound recording was impossible. After filming was finished for the scene, "looping" was necessary. Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight recorded their dialog and then with a hundred or so cast and crew standing silent in 10 inches of Styrofoam snow, Bernice, the Saint Bernard tied to the railing in front of the loft building where the party was being held looped her "dialog": barking furiously at Dustin Hoffman's menacing Ratso.
Dustin Hoffman kept pebbles in his shoe to ensure his limp would be consistent from shot to shot.
Dustin Hoffman was originally chosen for the role of Ratso on the basis of an off-Broadway one-man show called "Eh!" in which producer Jerome Hellman saw him in 1965.
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