_
And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better—cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?---Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Even now, so many years later, all this is somehow a very evil memory. I have many evil memories now, but ... hadn’t I better end my “Notes” here? I believe I made a mistake in beginning to write them, anyway I have felt ashamed all the time I’ve been writing this story; so it’s hardly literature so much as a corrective punishment. Why, to tell long stories, showing how I have spoiled my life through morally rotting in my corner, through lack of fitting environment, through divorce from real life, and rankling spite in my underground world, would certainly not be interesting; a novel needs a hero, and all the traits for an anti-hero are expressly gathered together here, and what matters most, it all produces an unpleasant impression, for we are...
Hope
To be human is to be a miracle of evolution conscious of its own miraculousness — a consciousness beautiful and bittersweet, for we have paid for it with a parallel awareness not only of our fundamental improbability but of our staggering fragility, of how physiologically precarious our survival is and how psychologically vulnerable our sanity. To make that awareness bearable, we have evolved a singular faculty that might just be the crowning miracle of our consciousness: hope.--
Erich Fromm
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
"Long after it was first released, "Midnight Cowboy" remains one of a handful of films that stay in our memory after the others have evaporated"
Based on a James Leo Herlihy novel and excellent script by Waldo Salt this is the first British director John Schlesinger American film.
Midnight Cowboy is a touching look at the friendship between a young man and a low-level street hustler in a modern world of almost total alienation and emotional disconnection.
Midnight Cowboy became the first and only X-rated film to win the Best Picture Academy Award. (Over time, the rating was softened to an R) Superb performances and an excellent script have made this Cult Classic easily one of the 10 best films of all time.
Joe Buck, a Texas dishwasher without family, heads east to New York to make his fortune as a stud by selling his body to all rich ladies who have been deprived of their rights by faggot eastern gentlemen.
Instead, he ends up as a 42d Street hustler whose only friend is Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), low-level street hustler from the Bronx .
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/midnight-cowboy-1969-1
After 50 Years, “Midnight Cowboy” Stands Alone >>>
The Director of Outsiders
JOHN
SCHLESINGER
"I'm interested in the people who don't fit in. The people who are on the edge."
Waldo Salt
"I ended up at 50, over the hill, thinking I had no future...
then I started to write."
EXT. HOLLYWOOD - DAY (1951)
"We are all born with human needs. The conflict between those needs and what we do to meet those needs is the drama of life."
— Waldo Salt
Synopsis & Context
The story follows Joe Buck (Jon Voight), a handsome, naive dishwasher from a small Texas town. Clad in a crisp new cowboy outfit, Joe boards a bus for New York City, convinced that he can easily make a fortune as a hustler servicing wealthy Manhattan women.
Upon arrival, his romanticized fantasy of the big city is shattered by indifferent crowds, financial desperation, and predatory characters. Destitute and out of his depth, Joe crosses paths with Enrico Salvatore "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a crippled, tubercular, petty con artist living in a condemned building. Initially, Ratso cons Joe, but as both men hit rock bottom, they form a desperate, co-dependent partnership that evolves into a deeply moving bond of friendship and survival.
Character Dynamics
The emotional heart of the film lies in the stark contrast and ultimate synergy between its two lead characters.
Joe Buck (The Naive Outsider): Joe represents a warped projection of the classic American Cowboy. He is physically imposing but emotionally infantile, scarred by a childhood of abandonment and sexual trauma (revealed in fragmented flashbacks). His cowboy attire is a defensive armor—a performative masculinity meant to hide his deep vulnerability and desperate need for love.
"Ratso" Rizzo (The Cynical Insider): Ratso is the physical manifestation of New York's underbelly: decaying, bitter, and hyper-vigilant. Yet beneath his filthy exterior and abrasive con-man persona lies an aching desire for dignity and escape. His dream is to go to Florida, a warm paradise where he imagines his physical ailments will magically heal.
As their partnership deepens, their roles blur. Joe becomes Ratso's protector and caretaker, while Ratso becomes Joe's pragmatic guide to reality. Their relationship challenges traditional boundaries of masculinity, displaying a tender, domestic intimacy rare for American cinema at the time.
The Death of the American Dream
Midnight Cowboy systematically deconstructs the myths of American prosperity and rugged individualism. Joe Buck travels East (reversing the traditional Westward expansion of American pioneer myth) to find fortune, only to discover that the frontier is closed and paved over with concrete and commercialism. The "cowboy" is no longer a hero of the plains; he is an anachronism, a novelty, and a target for exploitation.
Urban Alienation vs. Human Connection
John Schlesinger portrays New York City as a hostile, mechanized landscape of towering glass, flashing neon, and indifferent masses. People walk past suffering without blinking. In this desert of steel, Joe and Ratso's survival depends entirely on their willingness to look past each other's flaws and offer genuine companionship. Their connection is a fragile rebellion against a society that views them as human garbage.
Illusion vs. Reality
The film is saturated with media saturation, television screens, and advertising. Joe is constantly bombarded by radio broadcasts and billboards promising sex, wealth, and happiness. Both Joe's fantasy of being a high-class stud and Ratso's fantasy of a sunny, effortless life in Miami are survival mechanisms designed to mask the bleakness of their immediate reality.
Cultural Impact & Legacy
The X-Rating and the Academy Awards
Midnight Cowboy holds a unique place in film history. Released during the infancy of the MPAA rating system, it was originally given an X rating due to its frank depictions of homosexuality, prostitution, drug use, and psychological trauma.
Despite this rating—which typically restricted advertising and theater distribution—the film was a massive critical and commercial success. It went on to receive seven Academy Award nominations and won three:
Best Picture (making it the first and only X-rated film ever to win the top prize)
Best Director (John Schlesinger)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Waldo Salt)
(The film was later re-evaluated and re-rated R in 1971 without any cuts, reflecting rapidly changing cultural standards.)
Conclusion
Ultimately, Midnight Cowboy remains a landmark achievement of the New Hollywood era. It bypassed the glossy, sanitized storytelling of Old Hollywood to deliver an uncompromising, deeply empathetic look at the margins of society. Through its unforgettable performances, innovative editing, and haunting atmosphere, it proved that cinema could be gritty, uncomfortable, and devastatingly beautiful all at once.
HoJ John Schlesinger’s Homeless and Lonesome ‘Midnight Cowboy’ Rode His Way to the Top and Became the First and Only X-rated Movie to Win a Best Picture Oscar >>>
Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman in "Midnight Cowboy" 1969 News Photo - Getty Images >>>
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