Midnight Cowboy (Blu-ray) (1969)

Editor's Note Joe Buck (Jon Voight), an aspiring male prostitute from Texas, heads to Manhattan where he hopes to find plenty of wealthy women willing to pay for the services of a handsome man. When he arrives, the naive country boy befriends Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a tubercular homeless con artist who dreams of moving to Florida. As they go about trying to get the money Ratso needs, the two men confront the seediness, corruption, and cruelty that flourish in the big city. Based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy, this Oscar-winning film (Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay) features brilliant performances by Voight and Hoffman, and brings to the screen an unusually gritty realism in its portrayal of the streets of New York City.

	Dustin Hoffman
	Viva
	Paul Morrissey
	Barnard Hughes
	Sylvia Miles
	John McGiver
	Ruth White
	Bob Balaban
	Brenda Vaccaro
	Jon Voight
	Hugh A. Robertson - Editor
	Jerome Hellman - Producer
	Dick Smith - Special Effects
	John Barry - Composer
	John Robert Lloyd - Production Designer
	James Leo Herlihy - Story
	John Schlesinger - Director

Originally rated X, this exceptional film based on James Leo Herlihy's novel centers on a naive, small-town Texan who comes to New York to become a paid stud. He forms a unique relationship with a slimy con man who becomes his closest friend, and ultimately, the key to his salvation. The film depicts New York at its absolute grittiest, and features a very memorable soundtrack. Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay. Academy Award Nominations: 7, including Best Actor--both Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. Entertainment Weekly
"...[The performances] have lost none of their magic....[They show us] characters who have nothing to offer the audience but their own lost souls." -- Rating: A- 03/11/1994 p.42

Los Angeles Times
"...What knocked people out 25 years ago, the parallel performances of Voight and Hoffman, still have the power today..." 02/20/1994 p.F3

USA Today
"...The '69 Oscar-winner seems fresher than ever..." 03/06/1992 p.3D

Premiere
"[T]his is a story of dreams unfulfilled, and Hoffman' pathetic street rat, both hilarious and heartbreakingly sad, becomes a kind of tragic hero." 04/01/2004 p.66

Rolling Stone
"[A] haunting 1969 classic about a conflicted connection between a naïve Texan hustler and a sickly Bronx-born scammer." 02/23/2006 p.74

Total Film
5 stars out of 5 -- "The elegiac ending offers one of the most tender, understated goodbyes in American cinema." 06/01/2011