925 Midnight Cowboy

[swo17]

Il sore Ratso



One of the British New Wave's most versatile directors, John Schlesinger came to New York in the late-1960s to make Il sore Ratso, a picaresque story of friendship that captured a city in crisis and sparked a new era of Hollywood movies. Jon Voight delivers a career-making performance as Joe Buck, a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy city women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Rattigan" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida, played by Dustin Hoffman in a radical departure from his breakthrough in The Graduate. A critical and commercial success despite controversy over what the MPAA termed its "homosexual frame of reference," Il sore Ratso became the first X-rated film to receive the best picture Oscar, and decades on, its influence still reverberates through cinema.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary from 1991 featuring director John Schlesinger and producer Jerome Hellman
• New selected-scene commentary by cinematographer Adam Holender
• Il Crowd Surround the Patso, a 1969 short film made on location for Il sore Ratso
• Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey, an Academy Award–nominated documentary from 1990 by Eugene Corr and Robert Hillmann
• Two short 2004 documentaries on the making and release of Il sore Ratso
• Interview with actor Jon Voight on The David Frost Show from 1970
• Interview from 2000 with Schlesinger for BAFTA Los Angeles
• Excerpts from the 2002 BAFTA LA Tribute to Schlesinger, featuring Voight and actor Dustin Hoffman
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Mark Harris

[Joe Buck]

Midnight Cowboy SE

Hopefully this is new info. From Sony/MGM you can expect a R1 Midnight Cowboy (Collector's Edition) on 21st February 2006. This 2-Disc set includes all-new extras including all-new documentaries, a tribute to Director John Shlessinger and new interviews with Dustin Hoffman, John Voight and more. It will be Digitally Remastered from an All-New High Definition Transfer and includes a collector's booklet.

Expect official info to start appearing - presuming they don't have a change of heart - from 12th December (the "announce" date).

That's from the editor at DVD Times.

It's one of my favourites films and it has deserved a remastered SE for a long time. It would be great if we got the Criterion commentary, but I doubt we'll be that lucky. I am expecting a substantially improved transfer, though.

Yeaaaaaaahoooooo!

I've been eagerly awaiting this one. I was hoping for a Hoffman/Voigt commentary track. Those two have alot to say and it would have been a lot of laughs. I am just so happy it's on it's way. It's my favorite movie. I cannot live without it.

[Penny Dreadful]

Yeah!! Midnight Cowboy was one of those movies I'd always see in the $8.99 bin, consider buying, then just have a HUNCH that an SE was on its way. I'm eager to finally purchase it after waiting forever.

[Gigi M.]

Davis DVD has announced the release date for February 21st.


Link

[Lino]

[cafeman]

Looks like a Dolph Lundgren actioner, that cover.

It just needs the tagline, something like "He`s back in town. And he brought Rat-boy with him"

[Gordon]

Looks lika Doplh Lundgern actioner, that cover.

It just needs the tagline, something like "He`s back in town. And he brought Rat-boy with him"

Ha-ha! Good one. I have to agree: bad cover. As long as the transfer hasn't been thrown together.

[cafeman]

Yeah, this is one of my favorite movies, but after seeing the Beaver comparison, I decided to wait. MGM actually managed to put out two completely different yet equally appaling versions.

Hopefully this ends up being something like the Raging Bull SE. It certainly deserves it. And if there ever was an opportunity for a big-ass Schlesinger docu, this is it.

[Joe Buck]

I would have prefered the shot from the 1-sheet, but this will do. I pray that they got it right this time.

I hate those outer cardboard sleeves, yet can't bring myself to throw them away. What is the point? They serve no purpose, aside from wasting a few more million trees.

[tavernier]

On March 7 from Sony, rediscover the gritty tale of two outcasts who find friendship on the harsh streets of New York with the critically acclaimed classic, Midnight Cowboy: Collector's Edition. Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate, Meet the Fockers) and Jon Voight (Anaconda, The Manchurian Candidate) earned Oscar nominations for their moving portrayals of two men who develop an unlikely friendship through the discovery of their shared dreams and failed ambitions. This controversial film won the 1969 Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director (John Schlesinger) and Best Screenplay.

The digitally remastered Midnight Cowboy: Collector's Edition comes as a special two-disc set with all-new exclusive added value features including a tribute to John Schlesinger featurette, new interviews with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, a collectible booklet and much more. The DVD is available for the SLP of $29.95.

[Joe Buck]

Now it's the 7th, eh?

[Lino]

Early review is up at DVDFile (remember them?):

Final Thoughts

A compassionate look at two of society's fringe players, Midnight Cowboy is a unique buddy movies and a bracing snapshot of a New York City that no longer exists. MGM finally honors this Best Picture Oscar winner with a two-disc set that includes a much-improved transfer, a great mix, and a nice documentary. Frankly, MGM probably could have fit everything onto one disc, but marketing is marketing. Still, it's quite recommended.

[Gordon]

It really wouldn't be difficult to improve on the older region 1 and 2 transfers, but it sounds like MGM have finally did the film justice on disc. The 5.1 mix will be interesting, but I'm glad that they also included the original mono.

My copy is on it's way - it seems that the March 7 date has been scrapped. Damn, we've waited a long time for this release!

[Gigi M.]

The Beaver is not very happy with this release. After wating more than 7 years for this special edition, this is what we get.

Here

[Joe Buck]

Well, I got my Midnight Cowboy DVD yesterday, and I am quite pleased, for the most part. I think the film looks and sounds great, and the new documentary is pretty thorough, although I do have a couple of small gripes, nothing serious. First, the Midnight Cowboy trailer wasn't included, and I'm a stickler for trailers. Instead, we get a bunch of trailers for other movies on DVD that we didn't really need.

I would have given my left arm for a Voight/Hoffman commentary, but it was not to be. Producer Hellman does a fine job through.

Mr. Schlesinger is not heard from at all on the disc. There's plenty of archival interview footage with him that they could have used. For instance, on the 25th Anniversary VHS there was a 30-minute doc that featured a lot of insight from Schlesinger and Brenda Vaccaro, neither of whom get represented on the new set. You can't have everything, I guess, so I burned the old doc to a disc along with the Midnight Cowboy trailer and 25th Anniversary rerelease trailer and will stick into this set to have an all encompassing 3 disc set.

Although we get a few brief glimpses of Jon Voight's screen test, we got even more of it on the 25th anniversary doc, and I was hoping that they include more of it, maybe as a stand alone feature in the set. Also, when they had the 25th anniversary screening, a Q & A session was held with the cast and crew, including Hoffman and Voight (a few seconds of it made it to the 25th Ann doc as well). This is another thing I hoped could have been included in the set. Seeing Voight and Hoffman interact with each other was a big plus. You can see Voight introduce Dustin to his kids, Angelina and her weird brother. See? He was a good father.

[atcolomb]

I own the Criterion laserdisc of Midnight Cowboy and it does have a commentary of both John Schlesinger and producer Jerome Hellman. I do not have the first dvd but i will compare the laserdisc to the new dvd. I'ts very stupid that MGM did not include the trailer....it's time to retire the lion!

[Lino]

Sony's DVD policy of not including the film's accompanying trailer is starting to really show now...

[atcolomb]

We should boycott all Sony/Columbia/MGM trailers when we go to the movie theater!!!

[atcolomb]

I just did my comparison of the new dvd and the Criterion laserdisc and the dvd has a sharper picture but the image looks harsh while the laserdisc has brighter colors and more picture on the top and bottom. MGM could have done better!!!

[Joe Buck]

Yep. Oh well, there's always the 40th Anniversary edition......can't wait for 2009!

[HerrSchreck]

Yep. Oh well, there's always the 40th Anniversary edition......can't wait for 2009!

I had contact with this supposed "SE" recently and I have to say that while I sometimes find the Beev here-too-forgiving, there-too-unforgiving, his anger at this set is richly deserved. No respect for this film whatsoever... my MVL image was thick with combing lines throughout the film... dunno where they found the balls to advertise "remastered in high definition". Plus they handed the package art to some SVA grad who had photoshop and absolutely no idea what the film feels like ie the muted grey-blue hues of much of the street-location exposition.

That said the Hellman commentary was nice, the docs merely OK (interesting how they bloop right over the casting constroversy viz Joe Buck, orig supposed to be Mike Seresin NOT Voight.. as well as a few other things which are let out on the aside-from-being-cropped pretty decent 25th Anniv VHS which I'll never ever part with, having the rare doc and orig trailer).

[stroszeck]

Haven't picked this one up, but I've heard nothing but complaints from a couple of friends who did. It seems the "combing" is a pretty serious problem, really annoying. Why they would go ahead and release such a mess is beyond me; the last time I watched this one on TCM it seemed to have a crisp-as-hell print.

[HerrSchreck]

Haven't picked this one up, but I've heard nothing but complaints from a couple of friends who did. It seems the "combing" is a pretty serious problem, really annoying. Why they would go ahead and release such a mess is beyond me; the last time I watched this one on TCM it seemed to have a crisp-as-hell print.

Nothing but pure, unadulterated laziness & cheapness & disrespect on their part for one of the greatest films ever made. Few films capture so well the gloomy grimy noisy state of lonesomeness in NYC.

"Got a telephone call from Jesus,
Got him on the line
Gonna call him (unintelligible)
Tell him everythings fine.."

cut to Times Square montage
"OH JESUS CHRIST!!!!"
cut to blood donor-bag.

[OliverB]

Has anyone seen the R2 Cinema Reserve edition of this?

If so, how does it look -- is it the same transfer?

[Cinephrenic]

This is one of the greatest films of the 60's, great script, great performances.