Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Regisseur:

John Schlesinger

Drehbuchautoren:

Waldo Salt (screenplay)
James Leo Herlihy (novel)

Premierendatum:

16. Juni 1969 (Brazil)

Genre:

Drama

Werbezeile:

Whatever you hear about Midnight Cowboy is true.

Plot:

A naive male prostitute and his sickly friend struggle to survive on the streets of New York City.

Plot Keywords:

Enema | Arcade | Drive In | Bare Butt | Gritty

Filmpreise:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 12 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

An all-time favorite of mine.

Besetzung

Dustin Hoffman	...	Ratso
Jon Voight	...	Joe Buck
Sylvia Miles	...	Cass
John McGiver	...	Mr. O'Daniel
Brenda Vaccaro	...	Shirley
Barnard Hughes	...	Towny
Ruth White	...	Sally Buck - Texas
Jennifer Salt	...	Annie - Texas
Gilman Rankin	...	Woodsy Niles - Texas (as Gil Rankin)
Gary Owens	...	Little Joe - Texas
T. Tom Marlow	...	Little Joe - Texas
George Eppersen	...	Ralph - Texas
Al Scott	...	Cafeteria Manager - Texas
Linda Davis	...	Mother on the Bus - Texas
J.T. Masters	...	Old Cow-Hand - Texas

Alternativ:

Asphalt-Cowboy (Österreich) (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

113 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch | Italienisch

Farbe:

Schwarzweiss | Farbe

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Mono

Altersfreigabe:

Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) (original rating) | Canada:18A (Canadian Home Video rating) | Brazil:16 | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (DVD rating) | South Korea:18 | Iceland:16 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Netherlands:12 (re-rated) | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1988) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R (re-rating) (1971) | USA:X (original rating) | West Germany:16

Drehorte:

114 East 72nd Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Firma:

Florin Productions

Dies und das:

Before Dustin Hoffman auditioned for this film, he knew that his all-American image could easily cost him the job. To prove he could do it, he asked the auditioning film executive to meet him on a street corner in Manhattan, and in the meantime, dressed himself in filthy rags. The executive arrived at the appointed corner and waited, barely noticing the "beggar" less than ten feet away who was accosting people for spare change. At last, the beggar walked up to him and revealed his true identity.

Pannen:

Geographische Fehler: After Joe Buck's encounter with Towny, he and Ratso board the bus to Miami. But the bus then enters the south tube of the Lincoln Tunnel, which only carries eastbound traffic into New York.

Dialogzitate:

[first lines]
Joe Buck: Whoopee-tee-yi-yo. Get along little dogies. It's your misfortune and none of my own.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweis/Anspielung/Erwähnung in The Busy Little Engine (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Science Fiction

An all-time favorite of mine.

In my opinion, this is one of the greatest movies ever made in America and it deserved every single award it won and it's place on the AFI Top 100 list (though it's shamefully too low on the IMDB Top 250 list, at only #183 as of this writing). If you enjoy acting of the highest calibre (Voight and Hoffman are a superb match), well-drawn characterizations and inventive direction, editing and cinematography, you'll love this just as much as I did. Schlesinger paints a vivid, always credible picture of the late 60s New York City scene and it's many victims struggling to overcome personal demons and survive amidst the amorality, poverty and hopelessness of 42nd Street, New York City.

The filmmaking techniques employed here brilliantly capture the feel of the underground New York film movement (and of the city) and are nothing less than dazzling. I've seen many ideas (including the rapid-fire editing, the handling of the voice-over flashbacks, the drug/trip sequences and the cartoonish face slipped in during a murder scene to convey angst and terror) stolen by other filmmakers.

The relationship between Joe and Ratso is handled in such a way as to be viewed as an unusually strong friendship OR having it's homosexual underpinnings. I think the director handled this in a subtle way not to cop out to the censorship of the times, but rather to concentrate his energies on the importance of a strong human connection in life, whether it be sexual or not.

MIDNIGHT COWBOY is a brave, moving film of magnitude, influence and importance that has lost absolutely none of it's impact over the years, so if you haven't seen it, you're really missing out on a true American classic. I recommend this film to everyone.

Score: 10 out of 10.