FILM 2168: MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)

TRIVIA: Before Dustin Hoffman auditioned for this film, he knew that his all-American image could easily cost him the job. To prove he could do it, he asked the auditioning film executive to meet him on a street corner in Manhattan, and in the meantime, dressed himself in filthy rags. The executive arrived at the appointed corner and waited, barely noticing the "beggar" less than ten feet away who was accosting people for spare change. At last, the beggar walked up to him and revealed his true identity.

Dustin Hoffman kept pebbles in his shoe to ensure his limp would be consistent from shot to shot.

The film was rated "X" (no one under 17 admitted) upon its original release in 1969, but the unrestricted use of that rating by pornographic filmmakers caused the rating to quickly become associated with hardcore sex films. Because of the stigma that developed around the "X" rating in the ratings system's early years, many theaters refused to run X-rated films, and many newspapers would not run ads for them. The film was given a new R-rating (children under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian) rating in 1971, without having anything changed or removed. It remains the only X-rated film to win the Oscar for Best Picture, be shown on network television (although the "R" reclassification had taken place by then), or be screened by a sitting U.S. President, Richard Nixon.

Dustin Hoffman's performance as "Ratso" Rizzo is ranked number seven on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.

On the occasion of the film's 25th Anniversary in 1994, Dustin Hoffman revealed on Larry King Live (1985) that, when the movie was first previewed, the audience started to leave in droves during the movie theater gay encounter scene between Jon Voight and Bob Balaban.

Bob Dylan wrote the song "Lay, Lady, Lay" for the film, but didn't complete it in time to be included in the soundtrack.

This film contains the first recorded use of the word "scuzzy", as a description of Ratso Rizzo. At its root, "scuzzy" is apparently a combination of "scummy" and "fuzzy".

The movie's line "I'm walking here! I'm walking here!" was voted as the number twenty-seven movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

M. Emmet Walsh's and Bob Balaban's film debut.

Included at #36 on the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the Top 100 Greatest American Movies; it slipped to #43 on the 2007 list.

Robert Blake was offered the part of Ratso, but declined.

Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman portrayed the father of Ben Stiller. Voight played Stiller's father in Zoolander (2001), and Hoffman played Stiller's father in Meet the Fockers (2004) and Little Fockers (2010).

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

I’m making my way through the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. See my blog post about my copy of the book here…

You can buy an updated version (which I will get after I’ve made my way through this edition) here…

I really hope you can come on this journey with me – if you do I’d love to know which films you’ve enjoyed the most!

Watch this here…