Midnight Cowboy

1969 film directed by John Schlesinger

This article is about the 1969 film. For the novel on which this film is based, see Midnight Cowboy (novel). For other uses, see Midnight Cowboy (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Manhattan Cowboy, Cowboy in Manhattan, or Urban Cowboy.

Midnight Cowboy

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| John Schlesinger
Screenplay by| Waldo Salt
Based on| Midnight Cowboy
by James Leo Herlihy
Produced by| Jerome Hellman
Starring|

* Jon Voight
* Dustin Hoffman
* Brenda Vaccaro
* John McGiver
* Ruth White
* Sylvia Miles
* Barnard Hughes

Cinematography| Adam Holender
Edited by| Hugh A. Robertson
Music by| John Barry

Production
companies

* Jerome Hellman Productions
* Mist Entertainment

Distributed by| United Artists

Release date

* May 25, 1969 (1969-05-25) (New York)

Running time

| 113 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $3.2 million[1]
Box office| $44.8 million[2]

Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted by Waldo Salt from the 1965 novel of the same title by James Leo Herlihy. The film stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, with supporting roles played by Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Salt and Barnard Hughes. Set in New York City, Midnight Cowboy depicts the unlikely friendship between two hustlers: naïve prostitute Joe Buck (Voight) and ailing con man Rico Rizzo (Hoffman), referred to as "Ratso".

At the 42nd Academy Awards, the film won three awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Midnight Cowboy is the only X-rated film (equivalent of the current NC-17 rating) to win Best Picture.[3][4] It placed 36th on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time, and 43rd on its 2007 updated version.

In 1994, Midnight Cowboy was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.[5]

## Plot[edit]

Young Texan Joe Buck quits his dishwashing job, and heads by bus to New York City in cowboy attire to become a male prostitute. Initially unsuccessful, he finally beds a middle-aged woman, Cass, in her Park Avenue apartment. She is insulted when he requests payment, and Joe ultimately gives money to her.

Joe meets Rico "Ratso" Rizzo, an indigent con man with a limp who takes $20 for introducing him to a pimp. After discovering that the alleged pimp is actually an unhinged religious fanatic, Joe flees and unsuccessfully searches for Rico. Joe spends his days wandering the city, listening to his Zenith portable radio and sitting in his hotel room. When his money runs out, management locks Joe out and impounds his belongings.

In an attempt to make money, Joe receives oral sex from a meek young man in a movie theater, but the man cannot pay. Joe threatens him, but releases him unharmed. The next day, Joe spots Rico at a diner, and angrily confronts him. Rico manages to calm Joe, and invites him to share his squalid, condemned apartment squat. Joe reluctantly accepts, and the two begin a "business relationship" as hustlers. Rico asks Joe to call him "Rico" instead of "Ratso", but Joe does not oblige. They struggle with severe poverty, stealing food and failing to get work for Joe. Joe pawns his radio and sells his blood, while Rico's persistent cough worsens during a winter without heat.

In intermittent flashbacks, Joe's grandmother raises him after his mother abandons him. He has a tragic relationship with Annie, disclosed through hazy flashbacks in which they are attacked and raped by a cowboy gang. Annie shows signs of mental trauma and is taken into an ambulance.

Rico tells Joe his father was an illiterate Italian immigrant shoeshiner whose job yielded a bad back and lung damage from inhaling shoe polish. Rico learned shoeshining from his father, but considers it degrading and generally refuses to do it. When he breaks into a stand and shines Joe's cowboy boots to attract clients, two police officers arrive and sit with their dirty boots next to Joe's. Rico dreams of escaping to Miami, shown in fantasies in which he and Joe frolic on a beach and are pampered at a resort, including a boy polishing Rico's boots.

A Warhol-like filmmaker and an extrovert female artist approach Joe in a diner, taking his photograph and inviting him to a Warhol-esque art event.[a] Joe and Rico attend, but Rico's poor health and hygiene attract unwanted attention. After mistaking a joint for a cigarette and receiving uppers, Joe hallucinates. He leaves with Shirley, a socialite who pays him $20 for spending the night, but Joe cannot perform sexually. They play Scribbage, and the resulting wordplay leads Shirley to suggest that Joe may be gay; suddenly, he is able to perform. The next morning, she sets up her female friend as Joe's client, and his career appears to be progressing.

When Joe returns to the apartment, Rico is severely feverish. He refuses medical help, and begs Joe to put him on a bus to Florida. Desperate, Joe picks up an effeminate middle-aged man in an arcade. The two return to the man's hotel room, where Joe demands money. However, when the man refuses to give him more than $10, Joe brutally beats, robs, and apparently smothers him. Joe buys two bus tickets to Florida with the stolen cash. Rico again tells Joe that he wants to be called "Rico", not "Ratso", and Joe finally begins to oblige. During the bus trip, Rico's health worsens, and he suffers from urinary incontinence.

Joe buys new clothing for Rico and himself at a rest stop, discarding his cowboy outfit. Back on the bus, Joe muses that there must be an easier way to make money than hustling, and tells Rico that he will get a regular job in Miami. When he does not respond, Joe realizes that Rico has died. Joe alerts the bus driver, who asks Joe to close Rico's eyelids, saying that they will soon be in Miami. The other passengers stare. Teary-eyed, Joe sits with his arm around his dead friend as the bus continues past rows of Floridian palm trees.

## Cast[edit]

* Dustin Hoffman as "Ratso" or Enrico Salvatore "Rico" Rizzo
* Jon Voight as Joe Buck
* Sylvia Miles as Cass
* John McGiver as Mr. O'Daniel
* Brenda Vaccaro as Shirley
* Barnard Hughes as Towny
* Ruth White as Sally Buck
* Jennifer Salt as Annie
* Gilman Rankin as Woodsy Niles
* Georgann Johnson as Rich Lady
* Anthony Holland as TV Bishop
* Bob Balaban as Young Student
* Viva as Gretel McAlbertson, the Warhol-like The Factory party/happening giver
* Paul Rossilli (aka Gastone Rossilli) as Hansel McAlbertson, The Factory party/happening filmmaker
* Craig Carrington as Charlie Dealer

## Production[edit]

The opening scenes were filmed in Big Spring, Texas, in 1968. A roadside billboard, stating, "If you don't have an oil well...get one!", was shown as the New York-bound bus carrying Joe Buck rolled through Texas.[7] Such advertisements, common in the Southwestern United States in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, promoted Eddie Chiles's Western Company of North America.[8]

In the film, Joe stays at the Hotel Claridge, at the southeast corner of Broadway and West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan. His room overlooked the northern half of Times Square.[9] The building, designed by D. H. Burnham & Company and opened in 1911, was demolished in 1972.[10] A motif featured three times throughout the New York scenes was the sign atop of the facade of the Mutual of New York (MONY) Building at 1740 Broadway.[7] It was extended into the Scribbage scene with Shirley the socialite, when Joe's incorrect spelling of the word "money" matched that of the sign.[11]

Dustin Hoffman, who played a grizzled veteran of New York's streets, is from Los Angeles.[12][13] Despite his portrayal of Joe Buck, a character hopelessly out of his element in New York, Jon Voight is a native New Yorker, hailing from Yonkers.[14] Voight was paid "scale" (the Screen Actors Guild minimum wage) for his portrayal of Joe Buck, a concession he willingly made to obtain the part.[15] Harrison Ford auditioned for the role of Joe Buck.[16] Michael Sarrazin, who was Schlesinger's first choice, was cast as Joe Buck, only to be fired when unable to gain release from his contract with Universal.[17][18][19]

The character of Shirley, the bohemian socialite Joe hooks up with, was allegedly based on socialite and Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick.[citation needed]

The line, "I'm walkin' here!", which reached number 27 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes, is often said[by whom?] to have been improvised, but producer Jerome Hellman disputes this account on the two-disc DVD set of Midnight Cowboy. The scene, which originally had Ratso pretend to be hit by a taxi to feign an injury, is written into the first draft of the original script.[20] Hoffman explained it differently on an installment of Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio. He stated that there were many takes to hit the traffic light just right so they would not have to pause while walking. In that take, the timing was perfect, but a cab nearly hit them. Hoffman wanted to say, "We're filming a movie here!", but stayed in character, allowing the take to be used.[21]

On initial review by the Motion Picture Association of America, Midnight Cowboy received an "R" ("Restricted") rating. However, after consulting with a psychologist, executives at United Artists were told to accept an "X" rating, due to the "homosexual frame of reference" and its "possible influence on youngsters". The film was released with an X rating.[1] The MPAA later broadened the requirements for the "R" rating to allow more content, and raised the age restriction from 14 to 17. The film was later rated "R" for a reissue in 1971.[1][22]

It took several hours to shoot the rape scene, and Jennifer Salt recalls the evening as a traumatic ordeal for her. The wardrobe crew had given Jennifer a nude-colored body suit to wear, but the night was so hot and sticky that she quickly stripped it off. "I felt that the most horrible thing in the world was that people were seeing my bare ass, and that was so humiliating I could not even discuss it. And this kid was just on top of me and all over me and it hurt and no one gave a fuck and it was supposed to look like I was being raped. And I was screaming, screaming, and it was traumatic in some way that couldn't be acknowledged."[23]

## Reception[edit]

Critical response to the film has been largely positive. Vincent Canby's lengthy 1969 review in The New York Times was blunt: "a slick, brutal (but not brutalizing) movie version of ... Herlihy's 1965 novel. It is tough and good in important ways, although its style is oddly romantic and at variance with the laconic material. ... As long as the focus is on this world of cafeterias and abandoned tenements, of desperate conjunctions in movie balconies and doorways, of ketchup and beans and canned heat, Midnight Cowboy is so rough and vivid that it's almost unbearable. ... Midnight Cowboy often seems to be exploiting its material for sensational or comic effect, but it is ultimately a moving experience that captures the quality of a time and a place. It's not a movie for the ages, but, having seen it, you won't ever again feel detached as you walk down West 42nd Street, avoiding the eyes of the drifters, stepping around the little islands of hustlers and closing your nostrils to the smell of rancid griddles."[24]

Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune said of the film: "I cannot recall a more marvelous pair of acting performances in any one film."[25]

In a 25th-anniversary retrospective in 1994, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Midnight Cowboy's peep-show vision of Manhattan lowlife may no longer be shocking, but what is shocking, in 1994, is to see a major studio film linger this lovingly on characters who have nothing to offer the audience but their own lost souls."[26]

As of 2022, Midnight Cowboy holds an 89% approval rating on online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.50/10, based on 116 reviews. The website's critical consensus states: "John Schlesinger's gritty, unrelentingly bleak look at the seedy underbelly of urban American life is undeniably disturbing, but Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight's performances make it difficult to turn away."[27]

The Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa cited this movie as one of his 100 favorite films.[28]

### Box office[edit]

The film opened at the Coronet Theatre in New York City, and grossed a house record $61,503 in its first week.[29] In its tenth week of release, the film became number one in the United States, with a weekly gross of $550,237,[30] and was the highest-grossing movie in September 1969.[31] The film earned $11 million in rentals in the United States and Canada in 1969,[32] and added a further $5.3 million the following year when it won the Academy Award for Best Picture.[33] It eventually earned rentals of $20.5 million in the United States and Canada.[34] By 1975, it had earned rentals of over $30 million worldwide.[35]

### Television premiere[edit]

More than five years after its theatrical release, Midnight Cowboy premiered on television November 3, 1974. Twenty-five minutes were edited from the film due to censorship regulations and a desire for broader appeal.[citation needed] Although the cuts were approved by director John Schlesinger, critic Kay Gardella of the New York Daily News said the film was "hacked up pretty badly".[36]

### Accolades[edit]

Award  | Category  | Nominee(s)  | Result  | Ref.

|
|
|
|

Academy Awards | Best Picture | Jerome Hellman | Won  | [37]
Best Director | John Schlesinger | Won
Best Actor | Dustin Hoffman | Nominated
Jon Voight | Nominated
Best Supporting Actress | Sylvia Miles | Nominated
Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium | Waldo Salt | Won
Best Film Editing | Hugh A. Robertson | Nominated
Berlin International Film Festival | Golden Bear | John Schlesinger  | Nominated  | [38]
OCIC Award | Won
Bodil Awards | Best Non-European Film | Won  | [39]
British Academy Film Awards | Best Film | Won  | [40]
Best Direction | Won
Best Actor in a Leading Role | Dustin Hoffman  | Won
Best Screenplay | Waldo Salt  | Won
Best Editing | Hugh A. Robertson  | Won
Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles | Jon Voight  | Won
David di Donatello Awards | Best Foreign Director | John Schlesinger  | Won  |
Best Foreign Actor | Dustin Hoffman  | Won[b]
Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures | John Schlesinger  | Won  | [41]
Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated  | [42]
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | Dustin Hoffman  | Nominated
Jon Voight  | Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Brenda Vaccaro | Nominated
Best Director – Motion Picture | John Schlesinger  | Nominated
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture | Waldo Salt  | Nominated
Most Promising Newcomer – Male | Jon Voight  | Won
Grammy Awards | Best Instrumental Theme | John Barry | Won  | [43]
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards  | Best Film  | Won  | [44]
Best Director  | John Schlesinger  | Won
Laurel Awards | Top Drama  | Won  |
Top Male Dramatic Performance  | Dustin Hoffman  | Won
Top Female Supporting Performance  | Brenda Vaccaro  | Nominated
Top Male New Face  | Jon Voight  | Won
Nastro d'Argento | Best Foreign Director  | John Schlesinger  | Won  |
National Board of Review Awards | Top Ten Films | 10th Place  | [45]
National Film Preservation Board | National Film Registry | Inducted  |
National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actor | Jon Voight  | Won  | [46]
New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | Dustin Hoffman  | Runner-up  | [47]
Jon Voight  | Won
Best Supporting Actor | Dustin Hoffman  | Nominated
Online Film & Television Association Awards  | Hall of Fame – Motion Picture  | Honored  | [48]
Turkish Film Critics Association Awards | Best Foreign Film  | 5th Place  |
Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Drama – Adapted from Another Medium | Waldo Salt  | Won  | [49]

## Soundtrack[edit]

John Barry composed the score, winning a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Theme, although he did not receive an on-screen credit.[50] Fred Neil's song, "Everybody's Talkin'", won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Male for Harry Nilsson. Schlesinger chose the song as its theme, and the song underscores the first act. Other songs considered for the theme included Nilsson's own "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City" and Randy Newman's "Cowboy". Bob Dylan wrote "Lay Lady Lay" to serve as the theme song, but did not finish it in time.[51] The movie's main theme, "Midnight Cowboy", features harmonica by Toots Thielemans, but the album version is played by Tommy Reilly. The soundtrack album was released by United Artists Records in 1969.[52]

### Track listing[edit]

Side oneNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Arranger / Producer| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "Everybody's Talkin'" (Nilsson)| Fred Neil| George Tipton (arranger)| 2:30
2.| "Joe Buck Rides Again" (instrumental)| John Barry|  | 3:46
3.| "A Famous Myth" (The Groop)| Jeffrey Comanor|  | 3:22
4.| "Fun City" (instrumental)| John Barry|  | 3:52
5.| "He Quit Me" (Leslie Miller)| Warren Zevon| Garry Sherman (arranger)| 2:46
6.| "Jungle Gym at the Zoo" (Elephants Memory)| R. Sussmann, Rick Frank Jr., Stan Bronstein| Wes Farrell (producer)| 2:15

Side twoNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Arranger / Producer| Length

|
|
|
|

1.| "Midnight Cowboy" (instrumental)| John Barry|  | 2:34
2.| "Old Man Willow" (Elephants Memory)| R. Sussmann, Michal Shapiro, Myron Yules, Stan Bronstein| Wes Farrell (producer)| 7:03
3.| "Florida Fantasy" (instrumental)| John Barry|  | 2:08
4.| "Tears and Joys" (The Groop)| Jeffrey Comanor|  | 2:29
5.| "Science Fiction" (instrumental)| John Barry|  | 2:46
6.| "Everybody's Talkin'" (Nilsson; reprise)| Fred Neil| George Tipton (arranger)| 1:54

### Theme song[edit]

"Midnight Cowboy"

Single by Ferrante & Teicher
from the album  Midnight Cowboy
B-side| "Rock-A-Bye Baby"
Released| June 1969
Recorded| 1969
Genre| Easy listening
Length| 3:20
Label| United Artists Records
Songwriter(s)| John Barry
Ferrante & Teicher singles chronology
| "Andrea"
(1969)  | "Midnight Cowboy"
(1969)  | "Lay Lady Lay"
(1970)

|
|

* John Barry's version, used on the soundtrack, charted at No. 116 in 1969. It also charted at No. 47 in the U.K. in 1980.[53]
* Johnny Mathis' rendition, one of only two known recordings containing lyrics (the other being the Ray Conniff Singers), reached No. 20 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart in the fall of 1969.
* Ferrante & Teicher's version, the most successful, reached No. 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and No. 2 on the easy listening chart.[54] It went to No. 11 in Canada[55] and No. 91 in Australia[56]: 110 in 1970.
* Faith No More released a version as the final track on their 1992 album Angel Dust.

### Charts[edit]

Chart (1970)  | Position

|

Australia (Kent Music Report)[56]: 281 | 22

### Certifications[edit]

Region  | Certification | Certified units/sales

|
|

United States (RIAA)[57] | Gold  | 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

## See also[edit]

* List of American films of 1969
* List of Academy Award records
* List of films featuring hallucinogens
* Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ This sequence incorporates actual Warhol superstars Viva, Ultra Violet, Taylor Mead, Joe Dallesandro, and filmmaker Paul Morrissey.[6]
2. ^ Tied with Peter O'Toole for Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

## References[edit]

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2. ^ "Midnight Cowboy". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on January 30, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
3. ^ Mitchell, David (2014). "Gay Pasts and Disability Future(s) Tense". Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies. 8 (1): 1–16. doi:10.3828/jlcds.2014.1. S2CID 145241198.
4. ^ Ditmore, Melissa Hope (2006). "Midnight Cowboy". Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work. Vol. 1\. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 307–308. ISBN 9780313329685.
5. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". National Film Registry. The Library of Congress. Archived from the original on October 31, 2016. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
6. ^ Blake Gopnik, Warhol: A Life as Art London: Allen Lane. March 5, 2020. ISBN 978-0-241-00338-1 p. 629
7. ^ a b Chris (October 5, 2006). "Midnight Cowboy locations". Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches. Archived from the original on January 6, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
8. ^ Popik, Barry (August 22, 2007). "The Big Apple: "If you don't have an oil well, get one!" (Eddie Chiles of Western Company)". The Big Apple. Archived from the original on March 19, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
9. ^ "Midnight Cowboy Film Locations". On the Set of New York. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
10. ^ "Hotel Claridge, New York City". Skyscraper Page. Skyscraper Source Media. Archived from the original on March 26, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
11. ^ "Midnight Cowboy (1969)". AMC Filmsite. AMC Network Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
12. ^ Smith, Grady (August 10, 2012). "Monitor: August 10, 2012". Entertainment Weekly. Time. p. 27\. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
13. ^ "The Birth of Dustin Hoffman". California Birth Records, 1905 Thru 1995. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
14. ^ Votruba, Martin. "Jon Voight". Slovak Studies Program. University of Pittsburgh. Archived from the original on February 19, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
15. ^ "Voight Worked for Scale for 'Midnight Cowboy' Role". The Denver Post. Digital First Media. Associated Press. August 29, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
16. ^ Duke, Brad (July 1, 2008). Harrison Ford: The Films. McFarland. ISBN 9780786440481 - via Google Books.
17. ^ Frankel, Glenn (2020). SHOOTING MIDNIGHT COWBOY: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 175–176. ISBN 9780374209018.
18. ^ "15 Uncensored Facts About Midnight Cowboy". www.mentalfloss.com. May 25, 2019.
19. ^ "Michael Sarrazin". 21 April 2011. Archived from the original on 2022-01-11.
20. ^ "Midnight Cowboy by Waldo Salt; Based on a novel by James Leo Herlihy; Draft: 2/2/68". Archived from the original on 2018-11-30. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
21. ^ Onda, David. "Greatest Unscripted Movie Moments". Xfinity. Archived from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
22. ^ Monaco, Paul (2001). History of the American Cinema: 1960–1969. The Sixties. Vol. 8\. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 166\. ISBN 9780520238046.
23. ^ Shooting Midnight Cowboy, p. 132, p. 132, at Google Books
24. ^ Canby, Vincent (26 May 1969). "Film: 'Midnight Cowboy'". The New York Times. Vol. 118, no. 40665.
25. ^ Siskel, Gene (October 15, 1999). "The Movie Reviews". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
26. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (March 4, 1994). "Midnight Cowboy". Entertainment Weekly. Time. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
27. ^ "Midnight Cowboy (1969)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
28. ^ Thomas-Mason, Lee (12 January 2021). "From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time". Far Out Magazine. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
29. ^ "'Men' Meek $17,219 on Slow B'way; But 'Cowboy' Tall $54,460 2d., 'West' Fast $54,324 in 2 Sites, 'Che' 52G". Variety. June 11, 1969. p. 8.
30. ^ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety. August 13, 1969. p. 11.
31. ^ Wear, Mike (October 8, 1969). "Sept. Totals Soar to High Plateau; 'Cowboy,' 'True Grit,' 'Easy Rider,' 'Daddy,' 'Oliver,' 'Curious' Leaders". Variety. p. 7.
32. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1969". Variety. January 7, 1970. p. 15\. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
33. ^ Fredrick, Robert B. (January 6, 1971). "Top 10 Films Yield 40% Of Rentals". Variety. p. 11.
34. ^ Cohn, Lawrence (October 15, 1990). "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. p. M172.
35. ^ Verrill, Addison (May 14, 1975). "Why Crix Give Producers The Brush". Variety. pp. 3, 64. Retrieved April 12, 2024 - via Internet Archive.
36. ^ "What's On". November 18, 1974. p. 82.
37. ^ "The 42nd Academy Awards (1970) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
38. ^ "19th Berlin International Film Festival". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
39. ^ "1970 Winners". Bodil Awards. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
40. ^ "BAFTA Awards (1970)". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
41. ^ "22nd DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America Awards. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
42. ^ "Midnight Cowboy – Golden Globes". HFPA. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
43. ^ "1969 Grammy Award Winners". Grammy.com. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
44. ^ "KCFCC Award Winners – 1966-69". kcfcc.org. 11 December 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
45. ^ "1969 Archives". National Board of Review. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
46. ^ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. 19 December 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
47. ^ "1969 New York Film Critics Circle Awards". New York Film Critics Circle. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
48. ^ "Film Hall of Fame Productions". Online Film & Television Association. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
49. ^ "Awards Winners". Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
50. ^ "Midnight Cowboy (1969)". IMDb. 25 May 1969. Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
51. ^ Heylin, Clinton (1991). Dylan: Behind The Shades: The Biography. New York: Viking Books. p. 193\. ISBN 978-0-6708-36024.
52. ^ "Midnight Cowboy — John Barry". Music Files. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
53. ^ "midnight cowboy | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com.
54. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 91.
55. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - January 17, 1970" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on June 12, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
56. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
57. ^ "American album certifications – John Barry – Midnight Cowboy". Recording Industry Association of America.

## External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Midnight Cowboy.

* Midnight Cowboy at IMDb
* Midnight Cowboy at the TCM Movie Database
* Midnight Cowboy at AllMovie
* Midnight Cowboy at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* Midnight Cowboy at Rotten Tomatoes
* Midnight Cowboy: On the Fringe an essay by Mark Harris at the Criterion Collection

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by John Schlesinger

Feature films|

* A Kind of Loving (1962)
* Billy Liar (1963)
* Darling (1965)
* Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
* Midnight Cowboy (1969)
* Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
* The Day of the Locust (1975)
* Marathon Man (1976)
* Yanks (1979)
* Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)
* The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
* The Believers (1987)
* Madame Sousatzka (1988)
* Pacific Heights (1990)
* The Innocent (1993)
* Eye for an Eye (1996)
* The Next Best Thing (2000)

Documentary|

* Terminus (1961)
* Israel: A Right to Live (1967)
* Visions of Eight (1973)

Television|

* An Englishman Abroad (1983)
* A Question of Attribution (1991)
* Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
* The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1998)

Awards for Midnight Cowboy

* v
* t
* e

Academy Award for Best Picture

1927–1950|

* Wings (1927–1928)
* The Broadway Melody (1928–1929)
* All Quiet on the Western Front (1929–1930)
* Cimarron (1930–1931)
* Grand Hotel (1931–1932)
* Cavalcade (1932–1933)
* It Happened One Night (1934)
* Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
* The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
* The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
* You Can't Take It with You (1938)
* Gone with the Wind (1939)
* Rebecca (1940)
* How Green Was My Valley (1941)
* Mrs. Miniver (1942)
* Casablanca (1943)
* Going My Way (1944)
* The Lost Weekend (1945)
* The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
* Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
* Hamlet (1948)
* All the King's Men (1949)
* All About Eve (1950)

1951–1975|

* An American in Paris (1951)
* The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
* From Here to Eternity (1953)
* On the Waterfront (1954)
* Marty (1955)
* Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
* The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
* Gigi (1958)
* Ben-Hur (1959)
* The Apartment (1960)
* West Side Story (1961)
* Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
* Tom Jones (1963)
* My Fair Lady (1964)
* The Sound of Music (1965)
* A Man for All Seasons (1966)
* In the Heat of the Night (1967)
* Oliver! (1968)
* Midnight Cowboy (1969)
* Patton (1970)
* The French Connection (1971)
* The Godfather (1972)
* The Sting (1973)
* The Godfather Part II (1974)
* One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

1976–2000|

* Rocky (1976)
* Annie Hall (1977)
* The Deer Hunter (1978)
* Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
* Ordinary People (1980)
* Chariots of Fire (1981)
* Gandhi (1982)
* Terms of Endearment (1983)
* Amadeus (1984)
* Out of Africa (1985)
* Platoon (1986)
* The Last Emperor (1987)
* Rain Man (1988)
* Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
* Dances with Wolves (1990)
* The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
* Unforgiven (1992)
* Schindler's List (1993)
* Forrest Gump (1994)
* Braveheart (1995)
* The English Patient (1996)
* Titanic (1997)
* Shakespeare in Love (1998)
* American Beauty (1999)
* Gladiator (2000)

2001–present|

* A Beautiful Mind (2001)
* Chicago (2002)
* The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
* Million Dollar Baby (2004)
* Crash (2005)
* The Departed (2006)
* No Country for Old Men (2007)
* Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
* The Hurt Locker (2009)
* The King's Speech (2010)
* The Artist (2011)
* Argo (2012)
* 12 Years a Slave (2013)
* Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
* Spotlight (2015)
* Moonlight (2016)
* The Shape of Water (2017)
* Green Book (2018)
* Parasite (2019)
* Nomadland (2020)
* CODA (2021)
* Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
* Oppenheimer (2023)

* v
* t
* e

BAFTA Award for Best Film

Best Film
from Any Source
1947-1967|

* The Best Years of Our Lives (1947)
* Hamlet (1948)
* Bicycle Thieves (1949)
* All About Eve (1950)
* La Ronde (1951)
* The Sound Barrier (1952)
* Forbidden Games (1953)
* The Wages of Fear (1954)
* Richard III (1955)
* Gervaise (1956)
* The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
* Room at the Top (1958)
* Ben-Hur (1959)
* The Apartment (1960)
* Ballad of a Soldier (1961)
* The Hustler (1961)
* Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
* Tom Jones (1963)
* Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
* My Fair Lady (1965)
* Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
* A Man for All Seasons (1967)

Best Film
1968-present|

* The Graduate (1968)
* Midnight Cowboy (1969)
* Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1970)
* Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
* Cabaret (1972)
* Day for Night (1973)
* Lacombe, Lucien (1974)
* Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1975)
* One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1976)
* Annie Hall (1977)
* Julia (1978)
* Manhattan (1979)
* The Elephant Man (1980)
* Chariots of Fire (1981)
* Gandhi (1982)
* Educating Rita (1983)
* The Killing Fields (1984)
* The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
* A Room with a View (1986)
* Jean de Florette (1987)
* The Last Emperor (1988)
* Dead Poets Society (1989)
* Goodfellas (1990)
* The Commitments (1991)
* Howards End (1992)
* Schindler's List (1993)
* Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
* Sense and Sensibility (1995)
* The English Patient (1996)
* The Full Monty (1997)
* Shakespeare in Love (1998)
* American Beauty (1999)
* Gladiator (2000)
* The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
* The Pianist (2002)
* The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
* The Aviator (2004)
* Brokeback Mountain (2005)
* The Queen (2006)
* Atonement (2007)
* Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
* The Hurt Locker (2009)
* The King's Speech (2010)
* The Artist (2011)
* Argo (2012)
* 12 Years a Slave (2013)
* Boyhood (2014)
* The Revenant (2015)
* La La Land (2016)
* Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
* Roma (2018)
* 1917 (2019)
* Nomadland (2020)
* The Power of the Dog (2021)
* All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
* Oppenheimer (2023)

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Spain
* France
* BnF data
* Catalonia
* Germany
* United States

Other|

* IdRef

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