Midnight Cowboy: Collector's Edition

Unique in the annals of cinema for having won an Oscar for Best Picture while carrying an 'X' rating (later revised to 'R'), John Schlesinger's 1969 Midnight Cowboy—based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy—chronicles the unlikely relationship between Joe Buck (Jon Voight), who moves from Texas to New York to become a gigolo, and seedy hustler "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), who just wants to make a big enough score to go somewhere warm for the winter. With Ratso acting as Joe's "agent," the pair struggle to make ends meet, scraping together small amounts from low (sometimes no) paying women and closet homosexuals. What makes Midnight Cowboy a classic is not its outré sexual content (decidedly tame today), but the relationship between the lead characters, which starts as strictly business but evolves into a deeply moving bond. Also winning Oscars for Best Director and Screenplay, with nominations for Best Actor for both Hoffman and Voight, the film makes its second appearance on DVD boasting an excellent transfer, and extras including audio commentary by producer Jerome Hellman, the engaging retrospective documentary 'After Midnight: Reflecting on the Classic 35 Years Later,' featurettes on 'Controversy and Acclaim' and 'Celebrating Schlesinger,' and a photo gallery. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—May 29, 2018—Criterion, 113 min., R, DVD: $29.95, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and Blu-ray, 1969’s Midnight Cowboy features an excellent transfer with the choice of an uncompressed monaural soundtrack or a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include audio commentary from 1991 featuring director John Schlesinger and producer Jerome Hellman, the Oscar-nominated 1990 documentary 'Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey' (58 min.), excerpts from BAFTA’s 2002 tribute to Schlesinger (34 min.), an 'After Midnight: Reflecting On a Classic 35 Years Later' retrospective (30 min.), a video essay with cinematographer Adam Holender (26 min.), interviews with Schlesinger (16 min.) and star Jon Voight (15 min.), the 2004 behind-the-scenes featurettes 'Controversy and Acclaim' (11 min.) and 'The Crowd Around the Cowboy' (9 min.), Voight screen tests (7 min.), a photo gallery with commentary by photographer Michael Childers (14 min.), and an essay by critic Mark Harris. Bottom line: an excellent edition of this Best Picture-winning classic.]