Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama directed by John Schlesinger for United Artists, based on James Leo Herlihy's novel, depicting the unlikely friendship in New York City between a naive would-be hustler, Joe Buck, and an ailing con man known as Ratso Rizzo. It won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and remains the only X-rated release, under the rating system in force at the time, ever to win Best Picture or any Academy Award.
Facts
Classification
Original Language AwardAcademy Award for Best Picture 1 AwardBAFTA Award for Best Film 1 Release Year Connections
Created By
Source Midnight Cowboy (Wikipedia)
In Medium
Source Midnight Cowboy (Wikipedia)
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Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia category, checked 2026-09-27Quote, Wikipedia category, checked 2026-09-27
Category:Best Film BAFTA Award winners
2. Midnight Cowboy (Wikipedia)
Infobox
May 25, 1969 (New York)
Midnight Cowboy, lead paragraph (Wikipedia), original language
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted by Waldo Salt from the 1965 novel by James Leo Herlihy.
Lead section
Midnight Cowboy is the only X-rated film (equivalent of the current NC-17 rating) to win Best Picture and the only X-rated film ever to win an Academy Award.
In Medium: Film, Article lead sentence
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted by Waldo Salt from the 1965 novel by James Leo Herlihy.
Created By: John Schlesinger, Infobox: director
John Schlesinger
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