- Awards And Honors:
- Academy Award (1970)
- BAFTA (1970)
- On the Web:
- AFI Catalog - Midnight Cowboy (1969) (Nov. 01, 2026)
Midnight Cowboy
-
What is 'Midnight Cowboy'?
Midnight Cowboy, released in 1969, is an American dramatic film directed by John Schlesinger, based on the 1965 novel by James Leo Herlihy. It portrays the squalid lives and friendship of two drifters, Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo, in New York City. Joe Buck, a young Texan, heads to New York to sell his sexual services but ends up forming an unlikely bond with Ratso, a small-time hustler.
The film was initially X-rated due to its depiction of sexuality but was later reclassified as R. Midnight Cowboy won the Academy Award for best picture, with Schlesinger winning best director and Waldo Salt winning best screenplay. The film is known for its realistic view of American urban life and its sympathetic portrayal of homosexuality.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Who directed 'Midnight Cowboy' and when was it released?
Midnight Cowboy, a film about the squalid lives and friendship between two drifters, was directed by John Schlesinger and released in 1969. Schlesinger's gritty depiction of urban life in the movie was initially shocking for the time, resulting in an X rating, but it was soon reevaluated and given an R rating, allowing a broader audience to view it.
The film was Schlesinger's first Hollywood motion picture and was wildly successful. Midnight Cowboy won the Academy Award for best picture, and Schlesinger won the award for best director.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Who are the main characters in 'Midnight Cowboy'?
Midnight Cowboy, directed by John Schlesinger, revolves around the friendship between two hustlers drifters. Joe Buck (Jon Voight), a naive Texan cowboy, travels to New York City to become a male prostitute. There, he meets Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a con artist, who becomes his manager. Other characters include Sally Buck (Ruth White), Annie (Jennifer Salt), Cass (Sylvia Miles), Mr. O’Daniel (John McGiver), and Shirley (Brenda Vaccaro).
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What is the main story or plot of 'Midnight Cowboy'?
Midnight Cowboy tells the story of Joe Buck, a young Texan who goes to New York City to make money as a male prostitute. In New York, he meets Ratso Rizzo, a con artist, and the two form an unlikely friendship. They struggle to survive in the city's underbelly, committing petty crimes. Ratso dreams of moving to Miami for his health, and Joe works to make it happen. As they travel to Florida, Ratso's health worsens, and he dies, leaving Joe alone. The film explores themes of loneliness, desperation, and the search for connection.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why is 'Midnight Cowboy' considered a significant or groundbreaking movie?
Midnight Cowboy is considered a significant and groundbreaking film because of its unvarnished, realistic view of American life. The movie's seamy depiction of sexuality was shocking at the time. It was also the first commercial film that did not treat homosexuality as hysterical or funny. Midnight Cowboy won the Academy Award for best picture, and John Schlesinger won the award for best director.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What awards did 'Midnight Cowboy' win and how was it received by audiences and critics?
Midnight Cowboy, directed by John Schlesinger, garnered both critical acclaim and several awards. The film won the Academy Award for best picture, and Schlesinger won an Academy Award for best director, while Waldo Salt won for best screenplay. Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight were both nominated for best actor. It also won five BAFTA Awards, including Best Film.
Critics hailed Midnight Cowboy for its realistic and unvarnished view of American life, capturing details often overlooked by American directors. Despite its initially shocking and seamy depiction of sexuality, which led to an X rating, it was later reclassified to an R rating, broadening its audience.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Midnight Cowboy, American dramatic film, released in 1969, that depicted the squalid lives and desperate friendship of two broken drifters and became the only X-rated (meaning that only adults could see it) movie to win an Academy Award for best picture (the movie’s rating was later changed to R).
(Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)
The film begins in a small town in Texas, where a young man, Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight), is dressing himself as a cowboy with a fringed jacket. He quits his job as a dishwasher and boards a bus, heading for New York City, where he imagines that he will be able to make a living selling his sexual services to rich sex-starved women. A series of flashbacks on the bus trip reveal that he was often cared for by his grandmother, Sally Buck (Ruth White), and that his mother and grandmother may have been prostitutes and also that he once had a girlfriend, Annie (Jennifer Salt). In New York, he takes a room in a fleabag hotel and heads out to cruise the streets, seeking customers. He meets Cass (Sylvia Miles), who takes him to her penthouse apartment for sex, but she is herself a call girl, and Joe ends up giving her money. Joe goes to a bar, where he meets the seedy and tubercular Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). Ratso offers to introduce him to a known pimp, Mr. O’Daniel (John McGiver) for $20; O’Daniel proves to be a religious fanatic seeking homosexual sex, and Joe flees. He soon runs out of money and is locked out of his hotel room. In desperation, he agrees to permit a young man (Bob Balaban) to fellate him in a movie theatre, but the man has no money with which to pay him. When Joe again encounters Ratso, he invites Joe to live with him in his apartment in a condemned tenement building. They commit petty crimes together, and Ratso becomes Joe’s manager.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
One day when Ratso and Joe are sitting in a diner, a strange-looking couple invites them to a “happening.” At the psychedelic party, Joe smokes marijuana for the first time and meets the socialite Shirley (Brenda Vaccaro), who is willing to pay Joe $20 for his services. Shirley later sets him up for the following day with a friend. When Joe returns triumphantly to the apartment, however, he finds that Ratso’s health has deteriorated drastically. Ratso insists that he must go to Miami to recover his health and live his dream life. In order to get cash to pay for bus tickets, Joe sells his services to a homosexual man (Barnard Hughes), but when the man tries to shortchange him, Joe brutally attacks him and steals all his money. He takes Ratso to the bus station and buys two bus tickets to Miami. Ratso’s condition continues to worsen as they travel. At a rest stop, they change into new clothes appropriate for Florida weather, but later, as Joe is telling Ratso that he will get a job in Miami, he realizes that Ratso has died.
The movie, based on a 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy, was British director John Schlesinger’s first Hollywood film. Midnight Cowboy’s seamy depiction of sexuality was shocking at the time and drew an X rating, but it received generally favourable reviews and won five BAFTA Awards (including that for best picture) as well as three Academy Awards, and it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994.
Production notes and credits
- Studio: Jerome Hellman Productions
- Director: John Schlesinger
- Writer: Waldo Salt (screenplay)
- Music: John Barry (uncredited)
Cast
- Jon Voight (Joe Buck)
- Dustin Hoffman (Ratso Rizzo)
- Sylvia Miles (Cass)
- Brenda Vaccaro (Shirley)
Academy Award nominations (* denotes win)
- Picture*
- Lead actor (Jon Voight)
- Lead actor (Dustin Hoffman)
- Supporting actress (Sylvia Miles)
- Direction*
- Editing
- Writing*