Review of Midnight Cowboy (1969) by Ronald H — 07 Jan 2010

In Midnight Cowboy Joe Buck (John Voight) is a Texan who moves to New York hoping to make a living as a male prostitute. He is pretty terrible at this - so terrible that he pays the first woman he has sex with $20. Shortly thereafter, he meets a cripple (Dustin Hoffman) who cons him out of another $20. The two eventually meet again and become the best of friends. Hoffman's character is slowly dying throughout the film and all he talks about is going to Miami. Buck eventually gives up on prostitution and takes his friend to Miami by bus but he dies on the bust shortly before arriving.

This film is notable for being the only X-rated film to win the Academy Award for best picture. Two years later A Clockwork Orange would be the only other X-rated film to be nominated. Both films have since been re-rated R and no NC-17-rated film has ever won, or been nominated for, best picture. In terms of rating, this film doesn't really seem like an X/NC-17-rated film whereas A Clockwork Orange does. There's some swearing, nudity, violence, and drug use but nothing particularly noteworthy. In fact, this film could arguably be rated PG-13 by today's standards. This film won 3 Oscars and both lead actors were nominated for an Oscar. Despite less than four minutes of screen time, Sylvia Miles was nominated for best supporting actress.

Overall, this was a good film but not a great one. Adolescents hoping to see pornography based on the X-rating will be sorely disappointed.

78.5/100.

C+.