Film of the Day: 14
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Today in 1969, this film was released with an X rating and later won the Oscar for best picture. No film in history with an X rating has ever even been nominated for best picture. However two years later, another film with an X rating was nominated for best picture, the great 'A Clockwork Orange'.
An odd thing about this film is that they picked Dustin Hoffman, perfect for the part yet would not have seemed so at the time. After his major success in 'The Graduate' with his boyish good looks, who would hire him for this gritty dirty performance? Well that's what he thought so when he auditioned for the role he asked the casting crew to meet him in an alley corner in Manhattan where he was begging for money in dirty rags. After ten minutes of nobody noticing him, he walked up to the crew... and of course got the role.
This film arguably features Dustin Hoffman's greatest and most powerful performance yet losing the Oscar to John Wayne in True Grit (who should have won the Oscar in 'The Searchers' instead). This is a very gritty and realistic film. New York is not exactly beautiful in this film; it's not like watching a Woody Allen film and you're thinking "Oh I wanna live here!”
An odd thing about this film is that they picked Dustin Hoffman, perfect for the part yet would not have seemed so at the time. After his major success in 'The Graduate' with his boyish good looks, who would hire him for this gritty dirty performance? Well that's what he thought so when he auditioned for the role he asked the casting crew to meet him in an alley corner in Manhattan where he was begging for money in dirty rags. After ten minutes of nobody noticing him, he walked up to the crew... and of course got the role.
This film arguably features Dustin Hoffman's greatest and most powerful performance yet losing the Oscar to John Wayne in True Grit (who should have won the Oscar in 'The Searchers' instead). This is a very gritty and realistic film. New York is not exactly beautiful in this film; it's not like watching a Woody Allen film and you're thinking "Oh I wanna live here!”
This was my second film that I seen when I went to live in Canada....the first was The Graduate!
ReplyDeleteBoth great movies with very capable upcoming young actors!
Worth seeing again & again....great info bdw!