Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Tragic narrative about an unlikely friendship between two shipwrecked people in New York, in the late 1960s.

This masterful classic follows Joe Buck, a native, charming boy from Texas. Full of good hope, he moved to New York: he thinks he can accumulate wealth there as a male sex worker. The only wealth he finds, however, is the friendship with Enrico ‘Ratso’ Rizzo, a fallen-down crook with big dreams. Faced with the grim reality of the New York underworld, the two develop an unlikely bond, which reaches beyond their lost dreams and futile plans.

In Midnight Cowboy, John Schlesinger creates a disheartening portrait of the dark side of 1960s New York, which has never before been displayed in such a brutal and frank way in an American audience film. Despite controversy at the outcome about explicit expressions of violence, nudity and what the Motion Picture Association called its “homosexual frame of reference”, Midnight Cowboy – the only X-rated film ever – received the Oscars for best film, direction and script.

This film is the first part of de Uitkijk’s summer series, in which friendship is central.

The people at de Uitkijk have kindly offered a limited amount of free tickets for Subbacultcha members. Please make a reservation by sending an email to mailinglist@subbacultcha.nl with “Midnight Cowboy” in the subject line + your name in the email.