MIDNIGHT COWBOY [1969 / 2018] [The Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray] [USA Release]
Superb Performances and Compelling Script . . . Oscar Winner and Cult Classic!
One of the British New Wave’s most versatile directors, John Schlesinger came to New York in the late 1960’s to make ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY,’ a picaresque story of friendship that captured a city in crisis and sparked a new era of Hollywood movies. Jon Voight delivers a career-making performance as Joe Buck, a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy city women; he finds a companion in Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida, played by Dustin Hoffman in a radical departure from his breakthrough in ‘The Graduate.’ A critical and commercial success despite controversy over what the MPAA termed its “homosexual frame of reference,” ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ became the first X-rated film to receive the best picture Oscar, and decades on, its influence still reverberates through cinema.
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FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1969 Berlin International Film Festival: Win: OCIC Award for John Schlesinger. Nominated: Golden Berlin Bear Award for John Schlesinger. 1970 Academy Awards®: Win: Best Picture for Jerome Hellman. Win: Best Director for John Schlesinger. Win: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Waldo Salt. Nominated: Best Actor in a Leading Role for Dustin Hoffman. Nominated: Best Actor in a Leading Role for Jon Voight. Nominated: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Sylvia Miles. Nominated: Best Film Editing for Hugh A. Robertson. 1970 Golden Globes®: Win: Most Promising Male Newcomer for Jon Voight. Nominated: Best Motion Picture for Drama. Nominated: Best Director for John Schlesinger. Nominated: Best Actor in a Drama for Dustin Hoffman. Nominated: Best Actor in a Drama for Jon Voight. Nominated: Best Supporting Actress for Brenda Vaccaro. Nominated: Best Screenplay for Waldo Salt. 1970 BAFTA® Awards: Win: Best Actor for Dustin Hoffman. Win: Best Director for John Schlesinger. Win: Best Film. Win: Best Film Editing for Hugh A. Robertson. Win: Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for Jon Voight. Win: Best Screenplay for Waldo Salt. Nominated: UN Award.
FILM FACT No.2: In 1994, ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ was deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ opened at the Coronet Theatre in New York City and grossed a house record $61,503 in its first week. In its tenth week of release, the film became number one in the United States with a weekly gross of $550,237 and was the highest-grossing movie in September 1969. The film earned $11 million in rentals in the United States and Canada in 1969 and added a further $5.3 million the following year when it was nominated and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It eventually earned rentals of $20.5 million. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune said of the film: “I cannot recall a more marvellous pair of acting performances in any one film.” In a 25th anniversary retrospective in 1994, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: “Midnight Cowboy's peep-show vision of Manhattan lowlife may no longer be shocking, but what is shocking, in 1994, is to see a major studio film linger this lovingly on characters who have nothing to offer the audience but their own lost souls.” ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ holds an 89% approval rating with on online reviews and the critical consensus states: “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.” John Barry composed the score, winning a Grammy for Best Instrumental Theme, though he did not receive an on-screen credit. Fred Neil's song “Everybody's Talkin'” won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Male for Harry Nilsson. Schlesinger chose the song as its theme, and the song underscores the first act. Other songs considered for the theme included Nilsson's own “I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City” and Randy Newman's “Cowboy.” Bob Dylan wrote “Lay Lady Lay” to serve as the theme song, but did not finish it in time. The movie's main theme, “Midnight Cowboy,” featured harmonica by Toots Thielemans, but on its album version it was played by Tommy Reilly. The soundtrack album was released by United Artists Records in 1969.
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Barnard Hughes, Ruth White, Jennifer Salt, Gilman Rankin, Gary Owens, T. Tom Marlow, George Eppersen, Al Scott, Linda Davis, J.T. Masters, Arlene Reeder, Georgann Johnson, Jonathan Kramer, Anthony Holland, Bob Balaban, Jan Tice, Paul Benjamin, Peter Scalia, Vito Siracusa, Peter Zamagias, Arthur Anderson, Tina Scala, Alma Felix, Richard Clarke, Ann Thomas, Paul Rossilli, Viva, Ultra Violet, Paul Jabara, International Velvet, Cecelia Lipson, Taylor Mead, Paul Morrissey, Joan Murphy, Al Stetson, Lucian Addario (uncredited), Pat Ast (uncredited), Bernice (uncredited), Mary Boylan (uncredited), Philip Bruns (uncredited), Randall Carver (uncredited), Marlene Clark (uncredited), Robert Dahdah (uncredited), William Door (uncredited), Sandy Duncan (uncredited), Trent Gough (uncredited), Paul Jasmin (uncredited), Barbara Maggio (uncredited), Jay Morran (uncredited), Waldo Salt (uncredited), Renee Semes (uncredited), Jeffrey Walker (uncredited), M. Emmet Walsh (uncredited) and Bill Walters (uncredited)
Director: John Schlesinger
Producers: Jerome Hellman and Kenneth Utt
Screenplay: Waldo Salt (screenplay) and James Leo Herlihy (novel)
Composer: John Barry
Costume Designer: Ann Roth
Cinematography: Adam Holender, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Video Resolution: 1080p (Color by Deluxe)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 113 minutes
Region: Region A/1
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / United Artists / The Criterion Collection
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: The film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ [1969] is one that has been often characterized as innovative, ground-breaking, trend-setting or wildly original, and these terms can be overused, but I cannot emphasise enough what a bold and courageous experiment in cinema was ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY,’ especially by the brilliant auteur director John Schlesinger.
It is hard to comprehend that when this 1969 Oscar-winning film was released, it marked a milestone in the cult classic film history. For many years in certain countries, especially in America, people have only seen really bad watered-down TV versions of this film because of its seedy sexual content, and makes me very angry because of the very narrow minded people in charge of censorship especially with the American national television stations and got very angry that people would want to ruin the excellence of this work of art by director John Schlesinger. People say that after having watched the entire uncut film have just sat in stunned silence, because they were totally blown away by what they had viewed, and was totally amazed at how well the film has not really aged, and I am honoured to review this Blu-ray disc in analysing this iconic time capsule of a film masterpiece.
‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ was both a sort of love story and a tragedy that was based on the lives of two horribly damaged people. Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo [Dustin Hoffman] was damaged physically by the ravages of childhood polio and Joe Buck [Jon Voight] was even more damaged emotionally by constant abuse, neglect and some horrific sexual experiences that left him scared with another skewered look at the world that would eventually set him up for more naïve abuse. One of the most prevalent and obvious motifs of John Schlesinger’s 1969 film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ is protagonist Joe Buck’s identity in thinking he is a “real cowboy.” Throughout the film, each character Joe Buck meets on his quest, questions whether or not he is a “real cowboy” because of the cowboy outfit he wears and he usually answers “no” that he is not a real cowboy.
Joe Buck was a strapping, tall and good looking specimen of a cowboy, and heads for New York City to hopefully make his fortune as a male prostitute, servicing all the neglected women in that city. Joe Buck’s plans and dreams were really just naïve fantasies as he was totally ill-prepared for a city that would chew him up and spit him out in record time. Most business plans that fail do so because of two reasons, under capitalisation and poor management and with a mere $245 dollars in his wallet and no clue as to what was going to confront him, Joe Buck suddenly and without warning goes down in flames very quickly and learns the hard way on life’s little nasty foibles.
But when ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ was released in 1969, it is still a great iconic picture, where you get 113 minutes of stirring stuff, set to the ironic lilt of Jean "Toots" Thielemans's harmonica and Harry Nilsson's theme tune, "Everybody's Talkin'." As to that Harry Nilsson song, it comes in right after Texas hot-dog Joe Buck has dolled himself up in front of the mirror, admired his physique and said in the general direction of the restaurant he is about to leave forever, in saying, "You know what you can do with them dishes."
As Joe Buck rides the bus to Manhattan, transistor glued to his ear, anticipating those rich, frustrated Upper West Side matrons desperate for his services, he has no idea what's about to hit him. After meeting and being ripped off by two-bit hustler Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo, embarks on a one-way descent into the hustle and bustle of modern day hell. The date factor in this 1969 picture is surprisingly a minor feature and especially with the surrealistically shot party scene is almost naïve quaint, as kooks, poseurs and hipsters turn on and tune in, but the downside was the Vietnam War was still rumbling ominously in the background. Although sex is shown as a grimy, capitalistic commodity, it is not offensive. But smoking seem to remain a cool pleasure when this film was shot, which of course in modern films is not so at all PC, but it's still okay to inhale.
But the fact is, in these unsentimental 1990s, the film's unrelenting grimness holds up very nicely. Beyond the toils and troubles of Joe Buck and Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo, the world itself is lost in hopeless isolation, wallowing in poverty with no money, morality and love and yet somehow, it's all so wonderful to watch, without feeling guilty in their downfall from grace. Director John Schlesinger and Screenwriter Waldo Salt, cinematographer Adam Holender and Editor Hugh A. Robertson turn abject misery into a totally visually lively experience and most importantly, the performances by Dustin Hoffman and John Voight are big on performance that only actors of their calibre can deliver.
John Voight is all good and bluster, a goofy, a Lone Star Candide who whoops and yelps all the way, and Dustin Hoffman as Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo, ably smearing his bright debut with grungy pathos, enters the realm of movie folklore. “Frankly,” Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo tells Joe Buck during a particularly down moment, “you're beginning to smell and for a stud in New York that's a handicap.”
And no one seeing this film will ever forget that brilliant image of Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo crossing a busy street, beating on the taxi that almost knocks him down and yelling, "I'm walking heeeeeeeere!" as the taxi nearly hits him. ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ is definitely highly regarded by everyone who loves cult classic films like this one that is of course of this high calibre quality. It is one of those times that many agree the Academy Awards people really got it so right, despite being an X Certificate rated film. I also agree wholeheartedly that it gave us some phenomenal performances and a few iconic moments throughout the film and too many to mention. But of course it is an old traditional story told extremely well, but with such a great pedigree, ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ arguably is definitely more than that. By the way, if you have never ever seen this film and very curious to find out why it has such a very high cult film status, then it is a definite must see film and you will not be disappointed, and especially seeing it via this 1080p Blu-ray disc, that is fuelled by an excellent adapted screenplay, fine direction, impressive montage editing and a pair of moving performances by the brilliant Dustin Hoffman and John Voight, ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ is captivating, ground-breaking cinema.
MIDNIGHT COWBOY FILM TRACK LIST
EVERYBODY’S TALKING (Words and Music by Fred Neil) (Arranged and Conducted by George Aliceson Tipton) [Performed by Harry Nilsson]
A FAMOUS MYTH (Music and Lyrics by Jeffrey Comanor) [Performed by The Groop]
TEARS AND JOY (Music and Lyrics by Jeffrey Comanor) [Performed by The Groop]
JOE BUCK RIDES AGAIN (uncredited) (Music by John Barry)
MIDNIGHT COWBOY (uncredited) (Music by John Barry)
FUN CITY (uncredited) (Music by John Barry)
FLORIDA FANTASY (uncredited) (Music by John Barry)
SCIENCE FICTION (uncredited) (Music by John Barry)
HE QUIT ME (Music and Lyrics by Warren Zevon) [Performed by Lesley Miller]
JUNGLE JIM AT THE ZOO (Also called "Jungle Gym at the Zoo") (Music and Lyrics by Stan Bronstein (uncredited) and Rick Frank (uncredited) [Performed by Elephant's Memory]
OLD MAN WILLOW (Music and Lyrics by Richard Sussman (uncredited), Michal Shapiro (uncredited), Myron Yules (uncredited) and Stan Bronstein (uncredited) [Performed by Elephant's Memory]
THE LAST ROUND-UP (Git Along, Little Dogie, Git Along) (1933) (uncredited) (Music and Lyrics by Billy Hill) [Performed cappella by Jon Voight with modified lyrics]
HUSH, LITTLE BABY (uncredited) (Traditional Southern lullaby) [Performed a cappella by Ruth White]
CAISSON SONG (aka “The Caissons Go Rolling Along”) (1907) (uncredited) (Music and Lyrics by Edmund L. Gruber) [Performed by bus passengers]
THE LILY OF THE VALLEY (aka "I've Found a Friend in Jesus") (Music by William S. Hays, arranged by Ira D. Sankey) (Lyrics by Charles W. Fry) [Heard in the background during one of Joe's memories of growing up in Texas]
* * * * *
Blu-ray Image Quality – The Criterion Collection presents us this Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and has a wonderful 1080p transfer image which is respectful of the original film material without particularly making any dramatic image improvement. There is a good deal of pleasing film grain and the overall appearance respects the original intention to produce a film which looks gritty and slightly scuzzy. It's occasionally a bit scratchy but there is no other serious damage present. There are no DNR in evidence and there is a level of detail that is a big step-up from the previous inferior DVD release and the colours are totally natural and sometimes striking, particularly in the Florida fantasy sequences. The improvement in this transfer can be seen when you take a look at the extracts from the film which are presented in Standard Definition during the documentaries in the special features of this Blu-ray disc.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – The Criterion Collection presents us this Blu-ray with the English language soundtrack that has had a remix from the original mono soundtrack to 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. However, most time I would prefer the original, but overall this is a very subtle and intelligent sound mix which rightfully showcases the dialogue so clear and precise and comes into surround life with the ambient effects, particularly during the street scenes. The composed music sounds really great, as you would expect, especially when the opening notes of the special composed song “Everybody's Talkin'” sparks into life.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
New 4K digital restoration, approved by cinematographer Adam Holender, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray disc
Alternate 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround soundtrack
Special Feature: Audio Commentary featuring John Schlesinger and Jerome Hellman [1991] [1080p] [1.85:1] [112:47] This audio commentary was recorded in 1991, and features director John Schlesinger and producer Jerome Hellman. To listen to the audio commentary while viewing ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY,’ press the AUDIO key button on your remote control and select 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio where you will hear something really unique with John Schlesinger and Jerome Hellman. First to introduce himself is director John Schlesinger and explains in detail what you are viewing and then after sometime we get to hear from producer Jerome Hellman and informs us that he was the producer for the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY,’ and that he has been invited to do this personal audio commentary, and especially with observations on the different aspects of the film, which he points out on this Anniversary Edition version, and informs us that two great artists that contributed towards the film that have sadly passed away and they were director John Schlesinger and screenwriter Waldo Salt, and again sadly could not join Jerome Hellman in participating with this audio commentary. With the beginning of the film, they tried doing different version, but eventually the one that worked out is what you see in the film with Jon Voight leaving town and heading for the bright lights of New York and what we view was instigated and suggested by Michael Childers, who of was the Lifetime Partner to John Schlesinger and his right hand assistant to the director and it came about by Michael Childers driving passed an old cinema that had closed down in a certain location in Texas and is the same location we see at the start of the film, but other scenes where you have a close up of Jon Voight walking along with his cow hide suitcase, was filmed on a location somewhere in New Jersey, as they needed extra shots. Because director John Schlesinger had been invited to America several times, he was able to observe things that ordinary Americans would not notice, as director John Schlesinger was a very observant person and with this special hindsight was able to convey certain aspects he observed to Waldo Salt’s screenplay. With Jon Voight’s journey on the National bus, they had to overcome several hurdles while filming on the bus, because of the complex restrictions to accomplish several things and they wanted at the same time to establish Joe Buck’s character, especially with his sense of loneliness and alienation and his awkward efforts of reaching out and at the same time always being rebuffed and rejected, but the sequences of the shoot on the national bus had a great deal of complications, but eventually it was all resolved, especially what you view in the film, and was helped out with specialised editing, as they did five or six version of filming the bus trip to New York, and was all done by the professional British film editor Jim Clark from England, who sadly could not credited on the film because he was not in the union in America, and Jim Clark totally re-cut the whole of the filmed bus journey from start to finish and of course made a considerable contribution of bringing all the elements together and really made it work 100%. When you see “Crazy Annie” [Jennifer Salt daughter of Waldo Salt] and Jon Voight on the bed together, well before that happened they had to bring in a Rattle Snake Wrangler to kill a nest of 20 Rattle Snakes, which they did not inform the two actors who had to perform in front of the camera. The woman who played Joe Buck’s Grandmother, was at the time suffering from cancer and was having treatment at the time of filming, but sadly when the film was finished, sadly passed away. When you see Jon Voight in his New York hotel room and you see the Paul Newman poster on the wall for the film ‘HUD’ [1963], well they had to get permission from Paul Newman to allow it to appear in the film. When you see Jon Voight walking about New York, they used a very long lens to get the effects that the director wanted, well at one point Jon Voight walks passed a man flat out on the pavement in front of the TIFFANY & CO. Store in New York on 5th Avenue, well this relates to an incident the director actually witnessed in New York and was horrified what he saw and so decided to incorporate it into the film, but because the TIFFANY & CO. Store would not give them permission to film the incident, they again used a long lens opposite and filmed behind some packing cases. When you see Jon Voight with Sylvia Miles in her apartment and is talking on the phone, well the voice you hear is actually Waldo Salt [Screenwriter]. When you again see Jon Voight first meets Dustin Hoffman in the bar, which is actually in West 40th Street, New York and it is an actual bar that a lot of actors would hang out in, who were always looking for work. When you see Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman walking down the street in New York and Dustin Hoffman nearly gets run over by the Yellow Cab taxi, well the taxi driver was actually an actor and the scene was rehearsed lots of time to get the shot right you see in the film. When we see Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman turn up at the wacky eccentric over the top party, this was recreated in the film studio and is a culmination of several New York parties that the director John Schlesinger attended and always took photos to get that right atmosphere and of course was helped by Andy Warhol and the actual party you view in the film was an actual three day shoot, and what helped was the fact that John Schlesinger and Andy Warhol were very good friends at the time of the film. We are also informed that so much weed was consumed by everyone that of course led to them all getting high. When you see the scene where Jon Voight is extremely violent to the man in his hotel room, certain people were concerned it was too violent, but luckily United Artists executives gave it the green light and were totally committed to the film. As we get near to the end of the film and the bus journey to Miami, there was a lot of concern on how to end the film and how to make it work between Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman and the death scene on the bus and the final fade out images at the end and the producer Jerome Hellman cannot remember who came up with the idea of the ending and especially the images of the Miami hotels reflected in window of the bus and of course the sad demise of Dustin Hoffman’s character, but all felt it was the perfect ending to a perfect film. As the film faded and the credits roll up the screen, sadly producer Jerome Hellman stops talking and does not thank us for joining him with viewing the film and his audio commentary, but despite this. The whole of the audio commentary was totally fascinating and it certainly showed that Jerome Hellman had a lot of love and affection towards the film and especially working on the film and especially working with the director John Schlesinger, who he felt was a very good friend to know and joy to work with. So I give this audio commentary a top five star rating.
Special Feature: Michael Childers [Audio only] [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [13:59] With this featurette, we are informed that the noted photographer Michael Childers, who was the life partner of John Schlesinger and served as his assistant on the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY.’ In this new program, Michael Childers discusses a selection of his photographs he took from the many candid images he shot during the production of the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY,’ but we also get to view a plethora of clips from the 1969 film. Michael Childers recalls his initial encounter with the director and discusses the production of the film history. But what is really great is seeing the wonderful black-and-white and colour personal photographs taken by Michael Childers and some of them are totally unique. This is a really totally fascinating, interesting and also a totally unique featurette and I have no hesitation of giving this a top five star rating. This special program was created exclusively for The Criterion Collection.
Special Feature: Adam Holender [Audio only] [2018] [1080p] [1.78:1] [26:00] With this featurette, we get to hear from cinematographer Adam Holender and was recorded for The Criterion Collection in February 2018. In this following audio video essay, Adam Holender discusses his work on the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ and specifically how light was treated in various key sequences to get the right ambience. Also, there are excellent comments about specific location shots as well as unique choices of lenses and gives us some fantastic information. Throughout the featurette we again get a plethora of clips from the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY.’ Like the previous featurette, we again get to view some wonderful black-and-white and colour photographs of behind-the-scene images from the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY,’ but we are not informed who took the photographs, but I suspect that they were actually taken by Michael Childers. Right at the end of the Adam Holender featurette he says a very nice poignant comment about working on the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY,’ and says, “John Schlesinger, I think a wonderful director, very generous, very flamboyant, full of life, and I miss him.” This again is really totally fascinating, interesting and also a totally unique featurette and I have no hesitation again in giving this a top five star rating. The essay was created exclusively for The Criterion Collection.
Special Feature: The Crowd Around the Cowboy [1969] [480i] [1.37:1] [8:51] With this featurette, we get to view this 1969 short documentary that was filmed on location during the production of the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY,’ and was shot and directed by Finnish cinematographer Jeri Sopanen and features rare behind-the-scenes footage of the cast and crew at work. The print is from the National Film and Television Archive.
Special Feature: Thirty-Fifth Anniversary Documentaries: Here we are presented with two very short rare documentaries on the making and release of the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ and were produced in 2004 for M-G-M’s thirty-fifth anniversary DVD release of the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ and feature interviews with producer Jerome Hellman, cinematographer Adam Holender, actors Dustin Hoffman, Sylvia Miles, Jennifer Salt, Jon Voight and many others and both presented to you for the first time on this Blu-ray release and they are as follows:
After Midnight: Reflecting On A Classic 35 Years Later [2004] [1080p] [2.40:1] [29:59] With this featurette, we get a great insight into how ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ became this amazing iconic film. We also to hear views from people involved in the film, especially cast and others, who discuss the film's production history, and how James Leo Herlihy's famous novel was adapted, and a view of director John Schlesinger and his legacy. Contributors include: Michael Childers [Lifetime Partner to John Schlesinger], Jerome Hellman [Producer], Jennifer Salt [“Crazy Annie,” Daughter of Waldo Salt], Adam Holender [Cinematographer], Dustin Hoffman [Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo], Jon Voight [Joe Buck], Sylvia Miles [Cass] and John Barry [Composer and Music Supervisor].
Controversy and Acclaim [2006] [1080p] [2.40:1] [10:09] With this featurette, we get to view documentary video interviews focusing on the controversy that surrounded the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ before and after it was released. Each one discusses the frank sexuality in the film as well as why they never wanted to cut the film to avoid its X-rating and this includes after it started to win all of the Academy Awards. Contributors include: Jerome Hellman [Producer], Adam Holender [Cinematographer], Michael Childers [Lifetime Partner to John Schlesinger], Bob Balaban [The Young Student], Dustin Hoffman [Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo], Jennifer Salt [[“Crazy Annie,” Daughter of Waldo Salt], Sylvia Miles [Cass] and Jon Voight [Joe Buck].
Special Feature: John Schlesinger: Here we are presented with two different featurettes, the first one features director John Schlesinger who sat down for a career-overview with Merle Goldberg for BAFTA Los Angeles in 2000, and here you are presented with an excerpt from that conversation, in which John Schlesinger discusses his approach to gay themes in his work. In the second featurette, you get to view excerpts from the BAFTA’s tribute to John Schlesinger on the 9th May, 2002 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, featuring producer and studio executive David Picker and actors Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman and here is what you get to view:
Interview [2000] [1080p] [1.78:1 / 1.37:1] [15:28] With this archival featurette, we get to view a fantastic interview with the late filmmaker as John Schlesinger discussed his attraction to various films and drove him to want to tell these stories. John Schlesinger also recalls his personal experiences and homosexuality in reference to ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ before discussing ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY.’
BAFTA Tribute [2002] [1080p] [1.37:1] [33:09] With this featurette, most of all we get a really truly amazing and brilliant tribute for director John Schlesinger with speeches by various people who knew and worked with him, especially from producer David Picker and actors Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman.
Special Feature: Jon Voight: Here we get to view another two special featurettes and the first one is a 1970 interview with David Frost, where actor Jon Voight discusses his work on the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ and his acting background. The second one presented is excerpts from John Voight’s original and improvised screen test for the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ and was conducted by screenwriter Waldo Salt and here is what you get to view:
The David Frost Show [1970] [480i] [1.37:1] [14:21] Here we get to meet the actor Jon Voight and explains how he entered the film business, and discusses his early career and his involvement with the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY.’
Special Feature: Original Screen Test [1969] [480i] [1.37:1] [6:59] Here we are presented with a collection of hilarious vintage screen tests for the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ in which Jon Voight does a series of improvisations. The tests were conducted by screenwriter Waldo Salt.
Special Feature: Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter’s Journey [1990] [480i / 1080i] [1.37:1] [57:18] With this featurette, we get to view an Academy Award® nominated documentary by Eugene Corr and Robert Hillmann. The documentary is about the life and work of the American screenwriter Waldo Salt who won two Academy Awards® and was put on the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950’s. The story is told through interviews with collaborators and friends such as Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jon Voight and John Schlesinger and especially clips from Waldo Salt's films, chiefly ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY.’ Narrated by Peter Coyote. The film was screened at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival and is a part of the PBS American Masters series of documentary films.
Theatrical Trailer [1969] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:46] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ and it is really excellent and gives you a good flavour of what the film is all about.
BONUS: An illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Mark Harris entitled ON THE FRINGE and we also get technical credits.
Finally, the film ‘MIDNIGHT COWBOY’ is a total milestone event in the liberation of American cinema; and one of the films which demonstrated that non-exploitation films could be explicit about sex and still be taken seriously. In some respects it has not dated very well, but even though it has some flawed scenarios, it is still a fascinating and sometimes a great film that reflected what was happening in the 1960’s, especially in the part of America where the film is set. This Blu-ray is the best yet available Blu-ray release of the film for home cinema viewing enjoyment and is consequently a must Blu-ray addition to your Criterion Collection, especially for the brilliant auteur director John Schlesinger. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
