Editing Midnight Cowboy (section)

==Production==
The opening scenes were filmed in [[Big Spring, Texas]], in 1968. A roadside [[billboard]], stating, "If you don't have an oil well...get one!", was shown as the New York-bound bus carrying Joe Buck rolled through Texas.<ref name="boredncgdoches">{{cite web|url=http://exquisitelyboredinnacogdoches.blogspot.com/2006/10/midnight-cowboy-1969-locations.html|work=Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches|author=Chris|title=''Midnight Cowboy'' locations|date=October 5, 2006|access-date=February 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106215047/http://exquisitelyboredinnacogdoches.blogspot.com/2006/10/midnight-cowboy-1969-locations.html|archive-date=January 6, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Such advertisements, common in the Southwestern United States in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, promoted [[Eddie Chiles]]' [[Western Company of North America]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/if_you_dont_have_an_oil_well_get_one_eddie_chiles_of_western_company/|title=The Big Apple: "If you don't have an oil well, get one!" (Eddie Chiles of Western Company)|first=Barry|last=Popik|work=The Big Apple|date=August 22, 2007|access-date=February 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319173410/http://barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/if_you_dont_have_an_oil_well_get_one_eddie_chiles_of_western_company|archive-date=March 19, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the film, Joe stays at the [[Hotel Claridge]], at the southeast corner of [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] and West 44th Street in [[Midtown Manhattan]]. His room overlooked the northern half of [[Times Square]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onthesetofnewyork.com/midnightcowboy.html|title=Midnight Cowboy Film Locations|work=On the Set of New York|access-date=February 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107120337/http://onthesetofnewyork.com/midnightcowboy.html|archive-date=January 7, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> The building, designed by [[D. H. Burnham & Company]] and opened in 1911, was demolished in 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=56559|title=Hotel Claridge, New York City|work=Skyscraper Page|publisher=Skyscraper Source Media|access-date=February 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326030025/http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=56559|archive-date=March 26, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> A motif featured three times throughout the New York scenes was the sign atop of the facade of the [[1740 Broadway|Mutual of New York (MONY) Building]] at 1740 Broadway.<ref name="boredncgdoches" /> It was extended into the ''[[Scribbage]]'' scene with Shirley the socialite, when Joe's incorrect spelling of the word "money" matched that of the sign.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmsite.org/midn.html|title=Midnight Cowboy (1969)|work=[[Filmsite.org|AMC Filmsite]]|publisher=[[AMC Networks|AMC Network Entertainment]]|access-date=February 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214010846/http://www.filmsite.org/midn.html|archive-date=February 14, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

Dustin Hoffman, who played a grizzled veteran of New York's streets, is from [[Los Angeles]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/2012/08/03/monitor-august-10-2012/ |title=Monitor: August 10, 2012 |first=Grady |last=Smith |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |page=27 |date=August 10, 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=February 27, 2021 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308062006/https://ew.com/article/2012/08/03/monitor-august-10-2012/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.californiabirthindex.org/birth/dustin_lee_hoffman_born_1937_1929184|title=The Birth of Dustin Hoffman|work=California Birth Records, 1905 Thru 1995|access-date=February 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129080653/http://www.californiabirthindex.org/birth/dustin_lee_hoffman_born_1937_1929184|archive-date=November 29, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite his portrayal of Joe Buck, a character hopelessly out of his element in New York, Jon Voight is a native New Yorker, hailing from [[Yonkers, New York|Yonkers]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pitt.edu/~votruba/qsonhist/celebrities/voightjon.html|title=Jon Voight|work=Slovak Studies Program|first=Martin|last=Votruba|publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh]]|access-date=February 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219111111/http://www.pitt.edu/~votruba/qsonhist/celebrities/voightjon.html|archive-date=February 19, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Voight was paid "scale" (the [[Screen Actors Guild]] minimum wage) for his portrayal of Joe Buck, a concession he willingly made to obtain the part.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Voight Worked for Scale for 'Midnight Cowboy' Role |url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/08/29/arts/ap-us-people-jon-voight.html |work=[[The Denver Post]] |date=August 29, 2013 |access-date=August 29, 2013 |publisher=Digital First Media}}</ref> [[Harrison Ford]] auditioned for the role of Joe Buck.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=McqLdkUnTVgC&pg=PA19|title=Harrison Ford: The Films|first=Brad|last=Duke|date=July 1, 2008|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786440481|via=Google Books}}</ref> [[Michael Sarrazin]], who was [[John Schlesinger|Schlesinger]]'s first choice, was cast as Joe Buck, only to be fired when unable to gain release from his contract with [[Universal Pictures|Universal]].{{sfn|Frankel|2020|p=175–176}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/74222/15-uncensored-facts-about-midnight-cowboy|title=15 Uncensored Facts About Midnight Cowboy|date=May 25, 2019|website=www.mentalfloss.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8467353/Michael-Sarrazin.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8467353/Michael-Sarrazin.html |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title = Michael Sarrazin|date=21 April 2011 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

{{anchor|I'm walkin' here!}}[[File:I'm walkin' here!.webm|thumb|Dustin Hoffman's line "I'm walkin' here!" was placed at No. 27 on the [[American Film Institute]] list [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes]].]]
The line, "I'm walkin' here!", which reached number 27 on [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes]], is subject to differing accounts. Producer [[Jerome Hellman]] disputes the notion that it was an ad-lib on the two-disc [[DVD]] set of ''Midnight Cowboy''. The scene, which originally had Ratso pretend to be hit by a taxi to feign an injury, is written into the first draft of the original script.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/Midnight%20Cowboy.txt |title=Midnight Cowboy by Waldo Salt; Based on a novel by James Leo Herlihy; Draft: 2/2/68 |access-date=2018-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130071542/http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/Midnight%20Cowboy.txt |archive-date=2018-11-30 |url-status=live }}</ref> Hoffman, however, on an installment of [[Bravo (U.S. TV channel)|Bravo]]'s ''[[Inside the Actors Studio]]'', stated that there were many [[takes]], with the actors hoping to get to the crosswalk at a red light so as not to have to wait for traffic while talking. In that take, they were able to cross the road without waiting, but a cab unexpectedly ran the red light and nearly hit them. Hoffman wanted to say, "We're doing a movie here!" and can be heard beginning to say as such in the final film, but he ultimately changed his sentence halfway and stayed in character as he berated the driver. As such, the latter's angry response is also unscripted.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/entertainment-unscriptedmoviemoments/8/ |title=Greatest Unscripted Movie Moments |access-date=September 20, 2012 |last=Onda |first=David |publisher=[[Xfinity]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817130034/http://xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/entertainment-unscriptedmoviemoments/7/ |archive-date=August 17, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

On initial review by the [[Motion Picture Association of America]], ''Midnight Cowboy'' received an "R" ("Restricted") rating. However, after consulting with a psychologist, executives at [[United Artists]] were told to accept an "X" rating, due to the "homosexual frame of reference" and its "possible influence on youngsters". The film was released with an X rating.<ref name="tino"/> The MPAA later broadened the requirements for the "R" rating to allow more content, and raised the age restriction from 14 to 17. The film was later rated "R" for a reissue in 1971.<ref name="tino" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Monaco |first=Paul |year=2001 |title=History of the American Cinema: 1960–1969 |series=The Sixties |volume=8 |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=9780520238046 |page=166}}</ref>

It took several hours to shoot the rape scene, and [[Jennifer Salt]] recalls the evening as a traumatic ordeal for her. The wardrobe crew had given Jennifer a nude-colored body suit to wear, but the night was so hot and sticky that she quickly stripped it off. "I felt that the most horrible thing in the world was that people were seeing my bare ass, and that was so humiliating I could not even discuss it. And this kid was just on top of me and all over me and it hurt and no one gave a fuck and it was supposed to look like I was being raped. And I was screaming, screaming, and it was traumatic in some way that couldn't be acknowledged."{{sfn|Frankel|2020|p=132}}