Watched this on Blu-Ray last night. I hadn't seen it since 1969 and had forgotten much of the details. What a great movie! Hoffman & Voight were in their prime and nominated for Oscars. Won Oscars for best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay. Gritty, X-rated movie showing the ugly underbelly of NYC in the '60's. Great ending, great music.
Posts: 2520 | Location: High Sierra & Low Desert | Registered: February 03, 2011
Yes, I had to buy the DVD because 'MC' never seems to be shown no matter the provider. Kind of like 'Clockwork Orange', unairable on most channels without being butchered. The late 60's led to a magical time for Hollywood, that's for sure. Well, that being my generation's time, it had to be really shocking for those older.
Set the controls for the heart of the Sun.
Posts: 8343 | Location: Flown-over country | Registered: December 25, 2008
Excellent performances by Jon Voight and especially Dustin Hoffman, but, ultimately, a depressing film and I haven't watched it in years and probably never will again.
Dustin Hoffman's "I'm walkin' heah!!" line is infused into American pop culture to the degree that people who couldn't tell you where the line came from use it.
Uttered by Mary McFly in Back to the Future II and by Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, the line also made it into- of all things- Mel Gibson's Apocalypto from 2006, a film about Mayans in the early 16th Century. Uttered by the villain of the film, Zero Wolf as tree cutters fell a large tree right next to him, he exclaims- in the Yucatec Maya language, no less- "I am walking here!!"
Para, If I remember correctly, that scene and line were totally unscripted. The cab driver kinda meandered into the scene, and tried to “nudge” his way through the intersection (typical NYC cabby fashion). That was Hoffman’s actual reaction, and they left it in the movie.
______________________________________________________________________ "When its time to shoot, shoot. Dont talk!"
“What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It’s not good at much else.” —Author Tom Clancy
Posts: 8342 | Location: Attempting to keep the noise down around Midway Airport | Registered: February 14, 2008
You are correct, and we have Dustin Hoffman to thank for this bit of pop culture, as well as director John Schlesinger for very wisely including the ad lib in his film.
When the Oscars came around that year, one of the last awards was for best actor. John Wayne won for True Grit and beat out Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy. At the time, I believe it was said that he got it because he had never won an Oscar and this might be his last chance. Shortly thereafter, came the award for best picture. Before announcing the winner, they showed clips from each of the nominated movies. For Midnight Cowboy, they showed the clip of Hoffman and Voight on the bus to Florida and Hoffman is dying. I remember thinking the producers of the Oscars have a lot of balls to give the best actor Oscar to John Wayne and then show that scene with **edited**. Amazing performance.This message has been edited. Last edited by: parabellum,
Posts: 2559 | Location: Central Virginia | Registered: July 20, 2015
Gritty, X-rated movie showing the ugly underbelly of NYC in the '60's. Great ending, great music.
And today it would probably be PG 13.
Yep depressing but so well done.
Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves.
-D.H. Lawrence
Posts: 11524 | Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: February 07, 2007
I watched the film twice, first time on TV and the second time at an art house movie theater in the early 80s. Really good movie, but a downer for sure, just gritty and grimy. Maybe not as depressing as They Shoot Horses, Don't They? , but it s something I haven't purchased on disc. This thread and the Godfather one are reminders of how great the 60s-70s were for American cinema. God, just so many great films.
"I’m not going to read Time Magazine, I’m not going to read Newsweek, I’m not going to read any of these magazines; I mean, because they have too much to lose by printing the truth"- Bob Dylan, 1965
Posts: 16693 | Location: Texas | Registered: May 13, 2003
Originally posted by parabellum: Excellent performances by Jon Voight and especially Dustin Hoffman, but, ultimately, a depressing film and I haven't watched it in years and probably never will again.
Dustin Hoffman's "I'm walkin' heah!!" line is infused into American pop culture to the degree that people who couldn't tell you where the line came from use it.
Uttered by Mary McFly in Back to the Future II and by Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, the line also made it into- of all things- Mel Gibson's Apocalypto from 2006, a film about Mayans in the early 16th Century. Uttered by the villain of the film, Zero Wolf as tree cutters fell a large tree right next to him, he exclaims- in the Yucatec Maya language, no less- "I am walking here!!"
