Midnight Cowboy

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Midnight Cowboy
Directed byJohn Schlesinger
Produced byJerome Hellman
Written byJames Leo Herlihy (novel)
Waldo Salt (screenplay)
Music byFred Neil ("Everybody's Talkin'", sung by Harry Nilsson) Jeffrey Comanor,
Floyd Huddleston
Warren Zevon (songs),
John Barry
CinematographyAdam Holender
Edited byHugh A. Robertson
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
May 25, 1969
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
Budget$3.6 million




Storyline[change | change source]

Joe Buck (played by Voight, in his first major acting role) was raised by his grandmother in Texas. She died after Joe grew up, when he was drafted into the US Army. He had a girlfriend, who was called Crazy Annie, but she had been sent to a psychiatric hospital. With both women gone from his life, Joe had no-one in his life. After he left the Army, he worked as a dishwasher, and dreamed of moving to New York City, to become a "hustler" – a male prostitute. He saved money to make the trip, bought some stylish cowboy clothes, and travels to NYC on a bus.

Joe knows little about the realities of both New York and his chosen job, and he soon finds himself homeless, with no money and only rare chances to earn any. When he first meets Rico "Ratso" Rizzo (Hoffman's character), Ratso swindled (tricks) Joe out of $20, but when they met again, Ratso offered to share his "place", which turned out to be a room in a condemned building. The two became friends. Ratso shares what he knew about New York with Joe, and became his "manager" (pimp), and Joe shares any money he makes with Ratso. Ratso is sick, probably with tuberculosis, and as time goes on he depends more and more on Joe. Ratso plans to move to Florida before winter starts.

The weather turns cold as the year ended, but Joe and Ratso got a break, when they were invited to a big party. Along with eating (and stashing for later) as much of the food there as they could, Joe meets a socialite who finally treated him the way he had always wanted to be, in New York City, and paid him likewise. Ratso, however, became even more ill, and was unable to walk or stand for long. He refuses to go to a doctor or a hospital, and insists Joe takes him to Florida.

Joe tries to set up another encounter with the socialite, to raise travel money, but failed. He donated blood to get grocery money, and by chance meets a traveling salesman. The salesman invites Joe to spend the night with him, but later feels guilty, and sends Joe home with a St. Christopher medal. When Joe finds Ratso sicker than ever, he returns to beat and rob the salesman, for the money they needed.

Joe and Ratso leaves for Florida on a bus, headed to Miami. Joe buys new clothes for them both, and throws away his cowboy clothing. "I ain't no kinda hustler," Joe decided, and he plans to find a regular job once they reached Florida. Joe and Ratso talk and joke during the trip, but Ratso dies before they arrived. Joe realizes how much he had cared about Ratso as a person, and that what he had missed most in his life was someone to be close with. Joe had lost his grandmother and his sweetheart. Now he had lost his best friend, and Joe is scared to go on alone.

Awards and honors[change | change source]





Sources[change | change source]

  1. "BBC NEWS - In Depth - Oscars 2000 - Academy Awards A-Z". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  2. "IMDB.com: Awards for Midnight Cowboy". imdb.com. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  3. "Tri City Herald – Jul 6, 1969". Google News. Retrieved 2010-03-07.

Other websites[change | change source]

Preceded by
Academy Award for Best Picture
Succeeded by