Noted today for the now legendary performances of Jon Voight as country boy turned would be male prostitute Joe Buck and Dustin Hoffman as down-at-heel con-man Ratso Rizzo, Midnight Cowboy is widely celebrated as one of the most ground-breaking American films of the late 1960s.
At the time, many commentators thought that James Leo Herlihy’s raw novel was unfilmable due to its explicit content, but not only did former blacklisted writer Waldo Salt find a way to adapt it for the big screen he was awarded an Oscar for his endeavours. In addition, British director John Schlesinger, fresh from the success of Darling (1965) and working on the Thomas Hardy adaptation Far From the Madding Crowd (1967), brought an outsider’s eye to Midnight Cowboy’s representation of the lower echelons of 1960s New York society and its dissection of the American dream. His efforts would also be rewarded with an Oscar for his direction of the film.
Reflecting the challenging material the production team put on screen, Midnight Cowboy also became the first film rated X in America to win an Oscar for Best Picture. Add Harry Nilsson’s top 10 version of the song ‘Everybody’s Talkin’ to this and you have something of an all-time classic.
A 4K restoration c/o Park Circus and MGM.
event
Look Who’s Back: The Hollywood Renaissance and the Blacklist One Hour Intro
Look Who’s Back invites you to re-think the youth-orientated image of the Hollywood renaissance, suggesting that we should not overlook the vital contribution of a…
Cinema
Uptight + intro
Following the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King, Cleveland’s black community is on a knife-edge, wondering who, if anyone, can be trusted.
Cinema
Claudine + intro
In an Oscar nominated performance, Diahann Carroll as Claudine, a black working-class mother struggling to make ends meet, offered an antidote to the testosterone driven…
HOME Film Pass
Experience every new release at HOME, any time, as many times as you like for just £18 a month.
Read more