When looking back at the number of controversial, yet groundbreaking R-rated films that have earned the Best Picture statue at the Oscars, The Godfather’s win at the 45th Academy Awards is frequently viewed as the moment when Hollywood redefined what constitutes a prestige film. There is no denying the fact that Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic crime saga helped pave the way for such provocative stories about the dark side of the American dream to be honored on the grand stage, from The Deer Hunter to last year’s winner, Anora. Before The Godfather reshaped Hollywood prestige cinema, however, Midnight Cowboy quietly became the first R-rated film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Arriving on American screens in the early years of the New Hollywood era of cinema, the character-driven urban drama from director John Schlesinger (Marathon Man, Pacific Heights) encapsulated the medium’s transition from golden age tales of morality to the disruption of societal norms, as well as embracing the sexual liberation of the late ‘60s. Based on James Leo Herlihy’s 1965 novel featuring Jon Voight’s breakout performance alongside Dustin Hoffman, fresh off his star turn in The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy was initially slapped with an X-rating due to its racy subject matter. Not only did the film ultimately take home an Oscar statue, but it also broke down barriers when reclassified with an R-rating years after its release.
What Is ‘Midnight Cowboy’ About?
Midnight Cowboy follows the life of a working-class Texan named Joe Buck (Voight). Frustrated with his small-town surroundings, Joe hightails it out of the Lone Star state by taking a travel bus all the way to New York City to get into male prostitution and pleasure the Big Apple’s wealthiest women. Despite cruising the streets in full cowboy attire, Joe struggles to make ends meet.
Joe finds an unlikely buddy in low-life con artist Rico “Ratso” Rizzo (Hoffman), and the Texan moves in with his new partner shortly after getting kicked out of the hotel room he was staying in. As the two men who are looked down upon by society work together in various hustles for money and food, they dream of a better life down in Miami with their troubles in the rearview mirror. But the harsh reality of achieving those dreams hits hard in ways that affect Joe and Rico both mentally and physically.
‘Midnight Cowboy’ Is an Unlikely Love Story
The culture shock that Joe experiences upon his arrival in New York was not entirely new for cinema in 1969. Don Siegel’s 1968 crime thriller Coogan’s Bluff featured Clint Eastwood as an Arizona sheriff navigating the counter-culture of the big city to track down a fugitive. While Bluff was depicted as a Neo Western, Midnight Cowboy was depicted as a character-driven drama about the deconstruction of the American male hero through Voight’s Joe Buck. As a dreamer, Joe’s tall frame, Southern charm, and emulation of the cinematic Old West heroes of his childhood is a reflection of the desirable male that the country would hold up high pre-1960s. Yet, the fantastical image of the iconic imagery that Joe embraces becomes gradually fractured by the real-world experiences of homosexuality, psychedelic drug use, and a life of poverty. In his quest for fortune and pleasure, all Joe finds are garbage and vomit.
At its core, Midnight Cowboy is a different kind of love story than the traditional Hollywood picture of the golden age. For all of Joe’s self-centered goals, all he ever wants is a sense of humanity. He eventually finds that through Hoffman’s Rico, who, despite his own flaws as a man, is the only person in Joe’s life willing to lend a hand in such a chaotic environment. Hoffman’s performance is more than just his famous line, “I’m walkin’ here!” The destitute with a limp knows he is not long to survive in a world that keeps him confined to the street. The very little love he has left in his heart goes towards Joe. Even though the relationship has subtle undercurrents of homosexuality between them, the relationship between Joe and Rico is really about embracing each other, flaws and all, when the rest of the world cannot accept them individually.
How ‘Midnight Cowboy’ Was Reclassified From “X” to “R”
Though Midnight Cowboy was classified “X” upon release in 1969, the rating was not necessarily the death sentence that it is commonly associated with in later years. In William J. Mann’s book Edge of Midnight: The Life of John Schlesinger, the director revealed he had no issue with the rating because “we had made the film for adults, not for children.” Additionally, Schlesinger had the backing of studio United Artists, which believed in Midnight Cowboy even though the rating limited the number of screens playing the film and where they could promote it.
Upon Oscar season in 1970, the Academy initially refused to consider Midnight Cowboy unless it was re-classified “R” by the MPAA by removing an explicit shot of Joe inside a porno theater. Though Schlesinger refused to make the change, the film still managed to get the nomination and the win. One year after Midnight Cowboy won Best Picture, the MPAA made the change to an R-rating without a single edit, as the Academy refused to advertise the film as an X-rated Best Picture of the Year winner.
Midnight Cowboy remains the first R-rated film, and the only X-rated film in Oscar history, to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
For a movie that challenged general audiences to face the dark side of the American dream, Midnight Cowboy marked a dramatic shift in the way people viewed the culture at a moment in time when the public became disillusioned with trust in their leaders. Schlesinger does not exploit prostitution, homelessness, and homosexuality for profit. Through Schlesinger’s direction, as well as the grounded performances of Voight and Hoffman, Midnight Cowboy put a spotlight on just how the American dream is sold on a false promise.
Midnight Cowboy is currently streaming on Tubi in the United States.
