Big Picture: Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Presented as part of BIG PICTURE: A Century of Stories 1h 59m / NR (R equivalent) / Western, Adventure, Epic VENUE: Historic Duncan Auditorium ************************************************ Convinced of his irresistible appeal to women, Texas dishwasher Joe Buck (Jon Voight) quits his job and heads for New York City, thinking he’ll latch on to some rich dowager. New York, however, is not as hospitable as he imagined, and Joe soon finds himself living in an abandoned building with a Dickensian layabout named Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman). The two form a rough alliance, and together they kick-start Joe’s hustling career just as Ratso’s health begins to deteriorate. Midnight Cowboy is the only X-rated (it was later re-rated to be R) movie to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It’ll be the last; the rating has been retired, but even so, they don’t really make NC-17 movies like this anymore. Midnight Cowboy in 1969 was a startling insight into life in the brutal, derelict ten