The creation of the MPAA (now officially the MPA) can be viewed in several ways, favorably as a necessity to uphold a modicum of standards and protect younger viewers. However, to many, it exists as an authoritarian body that does not always understand nuance and has historically leaned more conservatively, despite the arts’ naturally progressive nature. Films receiving harsher ratings for not conforming to heteronormative standards, or horror movies given an “S” rating on a whim, are just a few examples of the board overstepping its boundaries or showing bias.
While the truth of what the MPA is likely lies somewhere precariously in the middle, there is no denying that people love to see movies that they tried to ban or hinder eventually find notoriety because of such restrictions. The quintessential example of this is the critically acclaimed 1969 drama Midnight Cowboy.
The Excitement Behind the Scenes for ‘Midnight Cowboy’ Did Not Save It From Controversy
In the retrospective After Midnight: Reflecting on a Classic 35 Years Later, which brought together various cast and crew members, many felt that Midnight Cowboy was destined to be a career-defining project. This came from the fanfare for the novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy, adapted by screenwriter Waldo Salt, who was believed to be the ideal person to tackle the novel’s challenging content and prose. Director John Schlesinger, making his first major American production after earning acclaim in Britain, also wanted to make a strong impression and felt the material was ideal. Dustin Hoffman, who was coming off The Graduate, sought to shed the clean-cut image that the movie had given him and took on the role of Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo with obsessive dedication (it remains one of Hoffman’s best performances to date). The film would also feature Jon Voight’s debut as Joe Buck.
All these elements came together on the screen, offering a bleak but utterly human experience, with much of it centered around the bond between Ratso and Buck. The film, in many ways, was a revolution compared to what had come before, focusing on male vulnerability and urban alienation and paving the way for many films of the 1970s. Midnight Cowboy captured lightning in a bottle, with the perfect cast and crew coming together to challenge cinematic norms, excite theatergoers, and earn a large box-office haul. However, its themes of sexuality, including male prostitution, new and yet established “no hero” type of storytelling, and its inclusion of drugs gave the movie an X rating, which in most cases would have been a death sentence for a film theatrically, let alone come award season.
‘Midnight Cowboy’ Was Slapped With an X-Rating but Managed To Persevere
The X rating was problematic for various reasons. Firstly, the MPA never trademarked it, and while for them, the term meant “adults only,” it was sensationalized by others, particularly pornographers, who developed the XXX tag as a means of sensational promotion, an issue that the MPA head, Jack Valenti, addressed in an interview with Roger Ebert, with the announcement of NC-17. This meant that, in the social conscience, a movie rated X was often perceived as pornographic and was typically restricted to art-house theaters, with limited reach in newspaper advertising.
There is a long list of films that suffered from their initial release around the same time as Midnight Cowboy, which are now considered seminal or cult classics, such as A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Devils (1971). The iconic revisionist Western, 1969’s The Wild Bunch, almost received an X rating, but studio pressure kept it at an R rating. Yet, among the many films limited by their X rating, United Artists took a chance with Midnight Cowboy, choosing to give it a wide theatrical release.
The movie premiered in New York and Los Angeles in May 1969 and, through word of mouth, became a sensation and a “must-watch” for fans of cinema, earning $44–45 million worldwide on a $3.2 million budget. This was unheard of for a film with an X-rating, but it would continue to impress come award season and further challenge the validity of the X-rating.
‘Midnight Cowboy’ Oscar Win Was a One-of-a-Kind That Should Have Never Happened
The social taboo and implications of an X rating kept any movie with the label out of consideration for the Academy Awards. Midnight Cowboy received eight nominations, and it won three, including Best Picture, Best Director (John Schlesinger), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Waldo Salt). These critical accolades make the film historically unique, as it is the only one to receive Oscars despite being given an X-rating (or the modern equivalent of NC-17); both A Clockwork Orange and Last Tango in Paris were nominated, but did not win.
This success placed the MPA in a difficult position, having restricted the film to a limited audience with its X rating. Yet, that film still gained both public favor and critical acclaim, showing that the rating system lacked nuance. Not long after its success, the MPA reversed its decision on Midnight Cowboy, assigning it an R-rating (with no requested edits) in 1971; a victory, albeit a small one, considering the many fallacies that can be found when scrutinizing the ratings board since its inception to the present day. The acclaim for Midnight Cowboy helped foreshadow the creation of the NC-17 rating, which, despite its own distribution challenges, distinguishes adult-themed films from pornography and arguably pushed the board toward a more nuanced approach to avoid similar backlash.
Midnight Cowboy has remained at a comfortable rated R, given the film’s subject matter. Viewing it today, one can understand why the MPA initially gave it an X rating and also see how misguided that decision was, though this perspective benefits from hindsight. The movie is a masterpiece that still holds up and is definitely worth watching; it is not just of historical note. Midnight Cowboy is available to stream on The Roku Channel, Tubi, and Kanopy.
- Release Date
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May 25, 1969
- Runtime
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113 Minutes
- Director
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John Schlesinger
- Writers
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Waldo Salt, James Leo Herlihy