Midnight Cowboy

Released May 25, 1969

1h 53m

Drama

List

89%

Tomatometer

116 Reviews

88%

Audience Score

25,000+ Ratings

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.

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Critics Consensus

John Schlesinger's gritty, unrelentingly bleak look at the seedy underbelly of urban American life is undeniably disturbing, but Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight's performances make it difficult to turn away.

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Pauline Kael

New Yorker

[John Schlesinger's] spray of venom is just about overpowering, yet the two actors and the simple Of Mice and Men kind of relationship at the heart of the story save the picture.

Jul 29, 2022

Full Review

Sophie Monks Kaufman

Time Out

Director John Schlesinger and screenwriter Waldo Salt pump so much emotion into it that it becomes a moving epitaph both to its two striving characters and the American dream itself.

Rated: 5/5

Mar 14, 2022

Full Review

Marjory Adams

Boston Globe

Midnight Cowboy is America's challenge to any film from foreign shores... From now on, it is going to be difficult for the cinema snob to declare tritely that films in this country are made for immature audiences.

Mar 14, 2022

Full Review

Mark Johnson

Awards Daily

Gritty, grimy, and groundbreaking for its time, few films have been more avant-garde in approach, nor more perpetually relevant than Midnight Cowboy.

Jun 8, 2023

Full Review

Michael Talbot-Haynes

Film Threat

The characters’ dreams and memories intermingle with their daily actions, sometimes combining in surreal ways. The camerawork is amazing, capturing vistas of glory and grime from the dawn of 1970s New York.

Rated: 10/10

Mar 25, 2022

Full Review

Janet Graves

Photoplay

The movie is brilliantly acted by newcomer Jon Voight, in the lead, and Dustin Hoffman as Ratso Rizzo, his pathetic companion. Not only a study of loneliness, the movie probes the depths of love.

Mar 11, 2022

Full Review

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Jelisije J

An extremly well acted movie that sad to say is a product of its time. The story is so gravely depressing that I never want to watch this film again.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/19/24

Full Review

Aender S

As much as I like the two main characters, I quite dislike the cinematography of this film. Mainly the style how Joe's flashbacks, Rico's daydreaming and the party are filmed are not my cup of tea.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

06/05/24

Full Review

Jeff M

This movie will forever be a footnote in history as the first and only X-rated motion picture to win Best Picture. Of course, viewing it in 2020, it comes across as a rough PG-13, maybe a soft R. I had never watched this film, and I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a moving portrait of one of the most unlikely friendships in cinema history. It's never conveyed for certain whether Rico's friendship with Joe has romantic intentions or not, but it doesn't matter - this is a story of two lonely people who make a connection, and by the end I was on the verge of tears. Voight excels as our main protagonist, but he is frankly blown off the screen by Hoffman in an absolutely spectacular performance. I'm not a Hoffman fan, but he is absolutely brilliant here, and this joins TOOTSIE and KRAMER VS. KRAMER as his crowning achievements. It's a role that could have so easily gone over the top, but he is perfect! The movie has a bit too many flashbacks and psychedelic montages, and there are no supporting characters of much substance, but these are minor quibbles. I am so glad to have finally caught up with this movie on the 50th anniversary of its Oscar win. It's a movie I won't forget anytime soon.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/26/24

Full Review

Alejandro E

This film from the late 60's came to trace a before and after in the way of film-making and, in the process, demolished the myth of the American dream and the stereotype of the cowboy as we know it. The highlight: a budding Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/24

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jeanieforever

This movie should be mandatory for all would-be transplants to New York City. Yes, even now.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/05/23

Full Review

jan b

A groundbreaking movie that hasn't really stood the test of time. On the plus side: there's some striking camerawork, a strong soundtrack and an interesting insight into 60s New York. On the minus side: Dustin Hoffman is hammy (almost unwatchably so), the film lapses into caricature (the apartment is comically decrepit, and I could've lived without the generic 'drug trip scene') and the melodrama is hard to bear. It's important to watch as a part of cinema and social history, but no longer compelling in the way that movies like Dog Day Afternoon and Taxi Driver still are.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/18/23

Full Review

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John Schlesinger

Director

Dustin Hoffman

Enrico Salvatore "Ratso" Rizzo

Jon Voight

Joe Buck

Sylvia Miles

Cass

John McGiver

Mr. O'Daniel

Brenda Vaccaro

Shirley

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Midnight Cowboy: Official Clip - Come on Now Don't Hit Me