In 1969, an unforgettable movie starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman was released. The unlikely friendship between two hustlers in New York in Midnight Cowboy became of a cult classic, and the film’s iconic opening and closing song by Harry Nilsson is still a hit. But is the film free from bloopers and mistakes? No, not at all. Let’s look into it.
Heads up! There are spoilers ahead in this article.
In 1969, film fans worldwide got to see a new star enter the cinema. Young Jon Voight landed the role of Joe Buck, starring alongside an already acclaimed Dustin Hoffman as Ratso in the film Midnight Cowboy.
Set in New York, the film tells the unlikely friendship story of two hustlers, with Jon Voight’s character a gigolo and Hoffman’s Ratso just trying to survive in any way possible.
The film received seven Academy Award nominations, winning three for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Moreover, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman were both nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, while actress Sylvia Miles was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
The raw film is not only a beautiful story about an unlikely friendship between two outsiders. Also, it showed the honest and real struggles of city life, fighting loneliness, as well as the fight to achieve the American Dream.
Legendary taxi scene in ‘Midnight Cowboy’
Midnight Cowboy features several classic scenes. But the most well-known is probably the iconic “I’m walkin’ here” scene, featuring Dustin Hoffman.
The scene shows Voight and Hoffman walking the streets of New York when, suddenly, a taxi appears out of nowhere and almost hits the actors. While it seems like a great scene that portrays the two characters’ different approaches to city life, it wasn’t in the script.
The real story is that the New York City cab driver was frustrated with waiting – and decided to drive through the set. In an interview with Jake’s Takes, Jon Voight shared the truth about the legendary scene in Midnight Cowboy.
“Somebody was supposed to hold up the cabs when we crossed that street and what happened was the guy tried to stop this guy from going, and he said, ‘The hell with it, I’m going,’ he was waiting there for 10 minutes while we were fooling around, and he had to get his work done. So he was upset. He was a New York cab driver, he didn’t give a damn about a movie being done,” Jon Voight recalled.
“So he comes charging across the street, and Dusty sees him and hits the thing, he does the whole thing, ‘I’m walking here, I’m walking here.’ He does the whole thing and I see this happening and all I’m saying to myself is, ‘Stay in character, don’t break, this is it,’ and he says this line, ‘That’s a good way to get insurance, you know,’ whatever it was, and I knew he had that line stored up in him to say somewhere in the film and the thing that just happened.
Bloopers and mistakes in ‘Midnight Cowboy’
Voight continued, “He did that instinctually, and then we just stayed with it, and all I was saying was, ‘Just stay in the scene, stay in character.’ That’s not my scene, it’s not no joke, just stay in character, and we got it, and they said, ‘We got it.’ I said, ‘Yeah we got it!’ I was so happy you know.”
While Midnight Cowboy earned an Academy Award for Best Picture, it was, just like most movies, not free from bloopers.
Viewers of the film have noticed several things, including one sequence in which Joe Buck’s shirt changes color between shots. In one shot, he’s wearing a red western shirt; then, suddenly, a purple one appears without explanation, before he later disposes of it on the bus to Florida.
Another one of those is at the beginning of the movie, when Joe walks through New York: his hat shifts from the back of his head to fully on top as the camera cuts.
Dustin Hoffman got the role of Ratso shortly after the success of The Graduate. It’s been reported that he was so keen on getting the role that he asked a film executive to meet him at a corner, dressed as a beggar, to ask for change.
He wasn’t recognized by the executive until he revealed himself, which made it clear that he was the right person for the role of Ratso.
Stones in shoes
Hoffman’s character Ratso was limping, and Dustin Hoffman had a clever trick to make it seem as convincing as possible. He famously put a stone in his shoe to maintain a consistent limp.
Although Dustin Hoffman earned an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Ratso, the ending of Midnight Cowboy might have painted another picture in some fans’ eyes.
Viewers noticed that after his character died, he appeared to be breathing faintly, with his chest visibly moving. Meanwhile, on the bus as Joe closed Ratso’s eyes, his left eye appeared to flinch.
No matter the bloopers or mishaps in the film, Midnight Cowboy remains a classic that we will always love to watch. Please share this article with friends on Facebook if you’re also a fan!
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