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Midnight Cowboy

Dustin Hoffman (Actor), Jon Voight (Actor), John Schlesinger (Director) Rated:
R
Format: DVD
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,159 ratings
IMDb7.8/10.0
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January 24, 2012 		—
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Midnight Cowboy $3.89 $6.99
Genre Drama
Format Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Subtitled, Color, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Dubbed, AC-3, Widescreen, NTSC, Dolby See more
Contributor Gilman Rankin, John McGiver, Jon Voight, Jennifer Salt, George Eppersen, Brenda Vaccaro, Waldo Salt, Ruth White, Gary Owens, Dustin Hoffman, T. Tom Marlow, John Schlesinger, Barnard Hughes, James Leo Herlihy, Sylvia Miles See more
Initial release date 2012-01-24
Language English, French
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Product Description

Product Description

Winner of the 1969 Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, this groundbreaking masterpiece also earned Best Actor Oscar Nominations for the brilliant, searing performances of Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman as two small-time hustlers whose powerful friendship transcends the gritty realities of big-city life and their own unfulfilled dreams. Daring... shocking... provocative. Midnight Cowboy is the only X-rated movie to ever win an Oscar, although the film was later re-rated "R".

Amazon.com

The first, and only, X-rated film to win a best picture Academy Award, John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy seems a lot less daring today (and has been reclassified as an R), but remains a fascinating time capsule of late-1960s sexual decadence in mainstream American cinema. In a career-making performance, Jon Voight plays Joe Buck, a naive Texas dishwasher who goes to the big city (New York) to make his fortune as a sexual hustler. Although enthusiastic about selling himself to rich ladies for stud services, he quickly finds it hard to make a living and eventually crashes in a seedy dump with a crippled petty thief named Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman, doing one of his more effective "stupid acting tricks," with a limp and a high-pitch rasp of a voice). Schlesinger's quick-cut, semi-psychedelic style has dated severely, as has his ruthlessly cynical approach to almost everybody but the lead characters. But at its heart the movie is a sad tale of friendship between a couple of losers lost in the big city, and with an ending no studio would approve today. It's a bit like an urban Of Mice and Men, but where both guys are Lenny. --Jim Emerson

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.85:1
  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ R (Restricted)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.75 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 0.32 ounces
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ Relay Time: 113 min
  • Director ‏ : ‎ John Schlesinger
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ Multiple Formats, Closed-captioned, Subtitled, Color, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Dubbed, AC-3, Widescreen, NTSC, Dolby
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 53 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ January 24, 2012
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro
  • Dubbed: ‏ : ‎ French
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English, Spanish, French
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ WarnerBrothers
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0792833287
  • Writers ‏ : ‎ James Leo Herlihy, Waldo Salt
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 2,159 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
2,159 global ratings
i don't really "love" it... why, ...
5 Stars
i don't really "love" it... why, ...
i don't really "love" it...why, it's the SADDEST film i've Ever seen to date.so, what else could i say about it?
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Top reviews from the United States

CAREFUL CONSUMER
5.0 out of 5 stars WELL WORTH THE WATCH...NOT TO BE MISSED
Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2021
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ON SOME LEVEL: I HAD ALWAYS BEEN AWARE THAT I HAD BEEN MEANING TO SEE THIS MOVIE FOR MOST OF MY ADULT LIFE.
I GUESS I QUALIFY NOW....
......AND I AM GLAD I WAITED.

I was very young child when this movie first came out in theaters.... but l was bright and tended to "notice" a lot of nuances of things going on around me: even if sometimes only in a "simmering back-burner" sort of way.

I knew the movie had won a lot of awards (including THE Academy Award), and there was a tremendous amount of buzz going around at the time about it that l remembered....and l still recall ALL of the music that the movie generated.

It seems that in the back my mind l've always intended to see it...but l knew "you had to be a grown-up to see it".
I guess l qualify now....and l'm glad l waited.

Having been a "grown-up" for a number of decades made me astute at recognizing the nuances of emotions these characters were attempting to navigate.

It was great to find this film on Amazon Prime home viewing. It was the right film at the right time of my life....and being in the privacy of my own home was an advantage as well....'cause sometimes l laugh too loud....and quite often l tear up inexplicably. I have a propensity for welling up and becoming absolutely soggy. Such was the case with this movie. Bring your box of tissue with you. You'll be OK.

The story line was absolutely compelling.
The Era was a "place in time" smack dab in the middle of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s...complete with plentiful drugs and every sort of sexuality the era fostered. Smatterings of violence fit right in.

That said: the themes were stark... and often heartless and gut-wrenching. What humor there was tended to be so subtle that it kind of sneaks up on you....but you'genuinely appreciate it when it happens.

As the story evolved....it became obvious that (to me) the over-riding theme was that for all of our false bravado and feigned proficiencies: we are all at our core fragile and flawed....and many of us live our entire lives with a sense of desperation that we try to hide behind as we pursue the roles and self-image we have chosen for ourselves......and which we choose to show to the world.

Check out the list of the performers in these roles: it goes without saying that the performances were stellar...and the writing gave them lots of fodder to slap their own style of acting on.

I really am hesitant to say more: except that this movie is about the difficulties of navigating the convoluted paths our lives take us through. Some of us are well equipped for the journey.....some of us just think we are capable of handling whatever comes our way....and some of us know damned well that we are huge fakers, and lucky to even make it to the end of each day.

To say more would give too much away.
This movie will leave you questioning your own relationship with yourself ... and those you have known.

You will laugh... You will cry.... And you will realize that it was a good thing you waited so long to see this movie.

You will NOT forget it.

.
8 people found this helpful
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Shawntoh
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic movie that deservedly won critical and Academy Awards that's held up well...
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2024
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This movie shows a NYC Times Square that is extinct since R. Giuliani cleaned up the 42nd Street grindhouse groove & graveyard of Amerikana. This DVD is very minimal with French language dubbed and other subtitles. No one critic-- except me-- gets that this movie is influenced by Rainer W. Fassbinder in terms of the morbid intensity that ALL the characters exhibit with the hangover effect of the Warhol era strangling the narrative without any merci (beaucoup)! The cold, cruel gruesome insights of cinema in this time reverb' into the 21st Century and... like Franz Bieberkopf... with an Amerikan Dream soured to a Faustian bargain, our hapless, respective pals, Joe & Ratso, make the most of their swindle of a Sisyphus journey into their own holy redemption via "the street" to a cinematic timelessness unmatched since 1969, baby! Dig that, groovy! Peace!
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I buy from you 2
5.0 out of 5 stars Great deal
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2024
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Great transaction A+;product
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Kevin L. Garner
4.0 out of 5 stars Good quality
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2023
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Good quality Thank you much,
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Dave Gill
5.0 out of 5 stars Great job, guys.
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2024
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Thanks
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Michael Ryan
3.0 out of 5 stars Yesterday’s X Rating is today’s TV-MA
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2023
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This gritty, emotional story of friendship and desperation is famous for being the first X-rated film to be nominated for an Oscar but its very tame by today’s standards. There’s a nanosecond flash of John Voights bare pale ass in the shower in the opening credits that serves no purpose to the story and easily could have been avoided. There’s heavy adult themes of incest, drug use, homosexual prostitution, attempted rape, attempted murder and human mortality that were contributing factors in thr mpaa assigning the film with the x rating but an episode of Riverdale could have similar plot elements to the script. That all being said, the film left me disturbingly depressed and anxious about my own mortality that I would not want any adolescent to attempt to emotionally navigate internally by themselves. I wish I didn’t!
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Karen Ryan
5.0 out of 5 stars VHS was in good shape
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2024
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Purchased for a friend. They watched it over and over with it still holding up in good condition
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beastman
5.0 out of 5 stars Dreams Don't Translate Well Into Reality.
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2021
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Those who disliked this story don't have a heart / real feelings. In my understanding, this story epitome of the unvarnished, truthfully, honestly, and the realities of pursuing a goal and the unexpected pitfalls that occur; no matter what popular mythical belief instill that an individual has complete authority / control over their life and circumstances there are certain aspects of life that are rarely foreseen or controllable. In fact, as with the characters, good or bad, they keep-keeping-on with their plan / goal not actually realizing that it is a future-highway to nowhere, until it is too late. Since I was a teenager in the 1970s relating to the entire culture(s), gizmos, and economy enhanced the character's turmoil and struggles just to survive without totally comprising their soul. Again, this story of these two individual's with different backgrounds and their struggles, physically / mentally, expresses countless of individual's actual real-life experience instead of mythical "rags-to-riches" stories. My take is, Midnight Cowboy is
an accurate window into the reality of chasing a dream-goal and its failures. I'm sad for Joe and Rico's disappointments and the total outcome. Sometimes an individual is forced to ... comprise their self for the goal....
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Anthony Kirby,
5.0 out of 5 stars The genuine supportive friendship of Buck & Rizzo
Reviewed in Canada on December 20, 2020
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Everything works in this now classic film which cemented the early careers of John Voight and Dustin Hoffman . City Authorities in New York must have been upset at the slum views of the city but then 'Across 110 th Street ' made around the same time shows similar views . Joe Buck ( Voight ) raised in a ultra conservative protestant faith. is an innocent with high hopes and no real skills . He's fortunate in a way to meet grifter Ratzo Rizzo ( Hoffman ) a survivor who at least knows the city . Ratzo lost his father to a lung disease and survives through running his Dad's shoe polishing stand and various scams . Joe Buck becomes Ratzo's protegee as a male escort some escort ! Joe is so naivee that he doesn't ask for money from his female conquests and only demands money up front from a guilt ridden gay client ( Barnard Hughes) . All the performances are really great . British director John Schlesinger deservedly won an Oscar .
John Barry's music especially the mournful theme music and the upbeat ' Everybody's Talkin' enhance this classic film.
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Lionel
5.0 out of 5 stars Et dire qu'à l'époque de sa sortie, il a été classé X aux USA !
Reviewed in France on March 22, 2016
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Avec ce film, même bien des années après son tournage, je pense que les USA n'ont pas beaucoup évolué : misère, débrouille, précarité. Dustin Hoffman alias Rico ratso et Jon Voight( le père d'Angelina Jolie) (joe buck) incarnent des personnages criant de vérité. Et je le répète, même encore en 2016, ce film tient la route !! A posséder dans sa vidéothèque
6 people found this helpful
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Manuel Cisneros Hidalga
4.0 out of 5 stars Asphalt Cowboy
Reviewed in Spain on March 4, 2013
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Es una estupenda película que vi pro primera vez, siendo adolescente, me impactó por su temática, por sus personajes e interpretaciones. Los libros, pasado un tiempo, me gusta releerlos y me doy cuenta de que están vivos. Me ofrecen nuevas sensaciones que no obtuve en la primera lectura. Con las peliculas tengo identica sensación.
2 people found this helpful
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Close Range.
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 18, 2009
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This is a classic. Even though it is 40 years ago,it has dated extremely well,yet is also very much a movie of the late 60s. The scenery and the sounds as well as the cars and the clothing date the movie, but this does not in any way weaken the movie,only adds historic value.
The film was a delight to see (and hear) so clearly, on DVD. The relationship between Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) is a touching thing to see, the way they come to rely on each other,especially towards the end. Other great cast members include Sylvia Miles, Brenda Vaccaro & John McGiver. The film did cause some controversy in 1969, but seems tame now. One gets the feeling that each shot was carefully planned, and in my opinion there are no unnecessary scenes. The party scene features many real-life members of the Andy Warhol crowd,and gives a good idea of what it may have been like to live in New York City at that time. The extras were not quite what I was hoping for. It would have been great to have Dustin Hoffman give more of his impressions. Extras include: Reflecting on the classics, a 30 minute documentary on the film ; Controversy & Acclaim 10 minute featurette ; John Schlessinger tribute featurette ; Original theatrical trailer ; Commentary by Jerome Hellman. I am delighted with this film. The DVD is presented in a sturdy metal tin.
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Alain Prud'Homme
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent film
Reviewed in Canada on September 29, 2023
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Livraison rapide et excellent film. La musique est excellente.
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