Seven Nomination at the oscar and winner of three Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Let me say Midnight Cowboy was the most diverse movie of 1969s, in that time critics said "Boldest Movie". But What makes Midnight Cowboy So special than other movies of that time. So let's dive in.
Midnight Cowboy depicts the unlikely friendship between two hustlers: naïve prostitute Joe Buck (Voight), and ailing con man"Ratso" Rizzo (Hoffman).
Directed by John Schlesinger. I have only watched only two movies of his Marathon Man (1976) and Midnight Cowboy. This movie is based on the book the same name by James Leo Herlihy. And Adapted Screenplay is written by Waldo Salt. He wrote a couple of famous screenplay for movies like Serpico (1973), and Coming Home (1978).
In a way, Midnight Cowboy is a buddy/Drama movie. An unlikely friendship between two hustlers. It's also a movie about dreams. Joe Buck wants to be the best lover in the world, he only wants love by women and earns lots of bucks. And Rizzo a con man with a limp earns money by con others and stealing. Ratso has also big dreams he wants to be respected by all and he starts daydreaming when met Joe Buck and thinks He will make Buck best pimp and will earn lots of money and go to Miami.
We can relate to this movie its about dreams, broken dreams that's worth driving for. We see how tough it is to income a penny in this brutal world with the characters, they are struggling, and with them we the audience struggles too. We feel sorry for them, we want these two guys to succeed in their dream. We do not want to see the city to consume them. Midnight Cowboy is a very sad and emotional movie.
Why Midnight Cowboy is the boldest movie of that time? because the maker did not make it larger than life. What was on the screen was true that's why it was very striking. That was the world of the late 60s and the 70s. Joe Buck wears Cowboy clothes in a movie and it was ironic in a way because that was the time when Cowboy movies were in decline.
New York plays a big role in the movie. In big studios movies, we see how beautiful New York is but in Midnight Cowboys New york is dark, gritty, and merciless. The movie depicts the vibe and photography of the lower side of city dwellers. The old buildings, cinema halls, poor hotels and in night prostitute at the streets.
In the late sixties and the 70s, we kind of start see characters like this Rizzo, Joe Buck, and Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver (1976). These movies and characters changed cinema forever.
Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight Performance is timeless. Hoffman's performance is one of the best performances I have ever seen on screen. You just cannot look away from him, his performance is so vulnerable, it touches your heart. My favorite line of this movie is "I am Walking Here.." and this was improvised when suddenly a taxi comes and hit his legs in between shooting, and Hoffman did not break his character, it is just amazing.
Movies like this are magic, movies like these comes once in a lifetime. If you missed out than it is your great loss. It is a beautiful movie, it came straight from the heart.
There is one featured song in this movie Harry Nilsson's Everybody's Talking. This song gives this movie the vibe you need, it is a soothing beautiful song, and it plays by your ear even after the movie ends.
And One Fun Fact - What was unusual about Midnight Cowboy winning the best picture Oscar for 1969?
"The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) originally rated the film an R, changed it to an X for its depiction of prostitution and homosexuality, and then changed it back to an R only two years later, a tacit acknowledgment that the board had gotten it right the first time"
- The guardian
So, Watch this gem if you have not, you will not regret this.