Midnight Cowboy

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Midnight Cowboy
Image:Midnight Cowboy.gif
Directed by	John Schlesinger
Produced by	Jerome Hellman
Written by	James Leo Herlihy (novel) Waldo Salt (screenplay)
Starring	Jon Voight Dustin Hoffman
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	May 25, 1969 (US premiere)
Running time	113 min
Language	English
Budget	$3,600,000 USD (est.)
IMDb profile

Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and then-newcomer Jon Voight in the title role. An assortment of much smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Barnard Hughes, Ruth White, Jennifer Salt (the screenwriter's daughter), and Bob Balaban.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Controversy 4 Awards 5 Legacy 6 Popular culture references 6.1 Parodies 7 External links

Plot

The film follows the story of a young Texan named Joe Buck (Jon Voight) who dresses like a rodeo cowboy. (As he tells people he meets, "I ain't a for-real cowboy, but I am a hell of a stud!") He heads to New York City in the hope of leading the life of a kept man. His foolishness becomes evident as quickly as his cash disappears. He is soon forced to hustle for a meager living as a "midnight cowboy" with a clientele that is the opposite (in affluence, and often gender) of the wealthy women he had originally set out to attract.

He meets the lame, scraggly Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), who first cons him out of twenty dollars, but after they cross paths a second time, they begin a partnership, with Ratso working as Buck's "manager". Over the course of the rest of the film the two deal with the realities of all-but-homeless street life (living in an abandoned building waiting to be torn down), suspended briefly by a foray into a Warhol-esque party scene (with some of the Warhol superstars in cameo appearances), but even here, when Joe leaves with a woman from the party, he suffers from temporary impotence. They form a friendship, none too soon for Ratso, who becomes increasingly dependent upon Joe as mounting health problems (probably including tuberculosis) begin to take their toll on him. Joe wants to take Ratso to a doctor, but he spurns the offer, not wanting to end up in Bellevue Hospital or someplace worse, and Ratso dreams of leaving New York for Florida before winter comes.

The events of Joe Buck's life are told in mostly chronological order, interspersed by flashbacks or daydream sequences which hint at his back-story. These are the only people Joe ever cared about. One was his grandmother Sally, who raised him in a troubling atmosphere: it is implied that Joe is abandoned by his mother to live with Sally, that Sally has some sort of inappropriate relationship with Joe, and dies without leaving word for him while he was away serving in the Army. Joe's onetime girlfriend, apparently his one true love, is a promiscuous girl called Crazy Annie. One night, Joe and Annie seem to be having sex in a car, and a group of men storm into the car, grab Joe and Annie, and take Annie away - it is implied that both she and Joe are raped by the gang, and when police arrive Annie repeats, "He's the only one," seemingly implying Joe was her sole rapist, perhaps another betrayal. Although Annie seems to have psychological problems, it is not clear whether they are a cause or effect of her relationship with Joe. Joe is forever haunted by memories of her, "You're the only one, Joe. You're the best, Joe." Losing them both had left Joe completely alone in the world.

Ratso Rizzo's story comes mostly through things he tells Joe; his father was an illiterate shoe shiner who worked at a subway station, developed a bad back, and "coughed his lungs out breathin' in that wax every day!" Ratso learned shining from his father, but he refused to follow (such as he could, with a bad leg) in the old man's footsteps.

Ultimately, Ratso collapses, unable to walk at all, as winter sets in. Joe beats and robs a customer to raise the money to take them to Florida, where Ratso can hopefully recover in the warm weather and Joe can find honest work. They leave on a southbound bus, with Joe discarding his cowboy clothes enroute, but Ratso dies as they approach Miami. Joe is alone once more, and wary of the future.

Production

The opening scenes were filmed in Big Spring, Texas.

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. The cab was driven by a hired actor during a scripted take, and production team filmed it to look like an ad-lib. However, Hoffman told it differently on an installment of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio. He stated that there were many takes to hit that traffic light just right so they didn't have to pause while walking. That take, the timing was perfect and the cab came out of nowhere and nearly hits them. Hoffman wanted to say "We're filming a movie here!" But from brain to mouth, it came out in the now famous line.

Schlesinger chose the song "Everybody's Talkin'" over "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City" as the theme song heard throughout the movie. The song was written by Fred Neil and performed by Harry Nilsson. (Other songs considered for the movie included Randy Newman's "Cowboy", and reportedly Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay".) The song "He Quit Me" was also on the soundtrack; it was written by Warren Zevon, who also included it (as "She Quit Me") on his debut album Wanted Dead or Alive.^{[citation needed]}

Controversy

The sex scenes in this movie were considered shocking in 1969, even though nothing more than bare breasts and buttocks are seen in the film. This resulted in the film receiving an X rating from the MPAA in the United States[1], making it the first (and only) X-rated film to win an Academy Award. At the time, X ratings had not yet become associated with the pornography industry.

In 1971 the film was re-submitted to board in anticipation of a re-release. By 1971, the sex scenes were not considered to be as explicit and the X rating had become associated with pure pornography, so the board granted it an R rating.

Nothing in the film hints at any type of homosexual relationship between Joe and Ratso, and other indications in the film make it clear that they are essentially heterosexual. Joe's attempt to earn money as a male prostitute may or may not indicate bisexuality, as he pursues it only as a way to make money when acting as a prostitute for women fails. Despite this, some modern critics assume an unstated homosexual relationship between the main characters; and at the 2006 Academy Awards, host Jon Stewart joked about Brokeback Mountain being an Oscar contender despite its subject matter, saying "It's been more than 35 years when people would watch Midnight Cowboy and say 'What the hell was that all about?' Well, now we have fully accepted this new genre of cinema: gay westerns!"

Awards

The film won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay; it is currently the only X-rated film to win an Oscar in any category. (Coincidentally, the previous year had seen the sole G-rated Best Picture winner, Oliver!.) Both Hoffman and Voight were nominated for Best Actor awards.

The film won the BAFTA Award for Best Film.

John Barry, who supervised the music for the film, won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme. The film features the song "Everybody's Talkin'", written by Fred Neil and sung by Harry Nilsson, which won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Legacy

For Hoffman, the role enabled him to avoid any typecasting due to his previous role in The Graduate and began his reputation as an actor of considerable dramatic range.

Popular culture references

• Rizzo the Rat, a street-wise but pesky Muppet, was named by Frank Oz after Hoffman's character (according to Steve Whitmire the puppeteer behind his performances).
• A hustler dressed up like a cowboy in The Boys in the Band is called a "midnight cowboy."
• In an episode of Mission Hill Kevin goes to an x-rated film festival, which he assumes is showing pornographic films only to find out that it is showing classic films that were rated X in the 60's and 70's. One of the films shown was Midnight Cowboy. In fact, Kevin ends up asking Wally, "Wait, how can a porno movie win an Oscar?"
• Urban Decay Cosmetics Company [2] named one of its eyeshadow shades "Midnight Cowboy" in homage to the movie and have followed up with other shades such as "Midnight Cowgirl", and "Midnight Cowboy Rides Again" The original shade is their best seller and described by the Urban Decay Website as "light beige with lots of silver glitter."
• One of the 'chapters' (levels) in the video game Viewtiful Joe for the Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2 is called "The Midnight Thunderboy". All of the game's 'chapters' are adapted from movie titles.
• Faith No More did a studio version of the theme song for this movie, using the same title, for their 1992 album, Angel Dust.
• When Borat arrives to New York, the background music is Everybody's talkin'

Parodies

• In the Seinfeld episode "The Mom & Pop Store," the film is parodied at the very end when Jerry and Kramer are on a bus to New Jersey. Jon Voight was the subject of a subplot of the episode.
• The Black Books series one episode "He's Leaving Home" where the character Manny runs away and becomes a kept man. "Everybody's Talkin'" provides the musical backdrop for the homeless street scene.
• In the Futurama episode "Brannigan Begin Again," the movie is parodied as Zapp Brannigan and Kif Kroker lose their jobs and work as gigolos, with Zapp standing in as Joe and Kif standing in as Ratso. The movie's theme song is also played and at one point Kif smacks the hood of a passing hovercraft that nearly hits them, saying "Hey, we're walking here!"
• In the American Dad! episode "Irregarding Steve," Steve Smith and Roger move to New York for a better life and it takes a turn for the worse. They parody the movie with Steve as Joe and Roger as Ratso (who also has a horrible cough and is very sick). The movie's theme song plays as the episode ends.
• In Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, several shots of Borat's arrival in New York City closely resemble shots of Joe Buck's arrival in New York. "Everybody's Talkin'" plays in the background.
• In the Simpsons episode, Marge's son poisioning, there is a scene when Marge is riding a bus to Miami with a tandem bicycle that is supposed to be Dustin Hoffman's character, with the song Midnight Cowboy by John Barry playing in the background.
• A Growing Pains episode is entitled "Midnight Cowboy", in which Mike runs away to New York City to pursue a career in acting. "Everybody's Talkin'" plays as Mike drives into Manhattan, and Mike sees a poster of the movie in a diner he's attempting to sleep in.
• Other parodies of the famous "I'm walkin' here!" line include:
  • In the Simpsons episode "A Star is Burns", a plane from New York lands at Springfield airport and pushes its way in front of another plane. "Hey! I'm landing here!" the pilot yells.
  • In the film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) in full drag smacks a cab hood and calls out "I'm walkin' here!"
  • In the film Back to the Future Part II, Marty's son walks into the street, and when a car honks at him he shouts out, "Hey I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!"
  • In the film Forrest Gump, there is a scene in which Forrest is pushing Lieutenant Dan in his wheelchair across the street in New York City. A reckless cab driver nearly hits them and honks, after which Dan hits the cab's hood and yells "Hey, I'm walkin' here!" The song, "Everybody's Talkin'" can be heard in the background.
  • In the first episode of Clerks: The Animated Series, Randall is nearly trampled by a crowd of people running past, and says "Hey, hey, I'm walkin' here!"
  • During the Lost episode "Two for the Road", Jack's father, Christian Shepard, opens his door into Sawyer, who belligerently yells, "Hey, I'm walking here!"
  • In Miss Congeniality, when Victor Melling (Michael Caine) is teaching Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) how to glide in the streets of New York City, Gracie smacks the hood of a taxi cab and yells, "Hey, I'm gliding here!"
  • In the recent movie Apocalypto (directed by Academy Award Winner Mel Gibson), the leader of the warband, Zero Wolf, yells "I'm walking here," when a tree almost falls on his group making their way to the temple.
  • In the Disney animated feature "Hercules", the satyr Phil yells "I'm Walkin' Here!" to a driver in a chariot during the 'Thebes' sequence.
  • In the video game Grand Theft Auto 2, several people shout out the famous line as you drive around recklessly.

Wikipedia information about Midnight Cowboy This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Midnight Cowboy". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.