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Amos Lassen wrote on 03/31/2011:

“Midnight Cowboy (1969) was the first and only “X” rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is a very dark and disturbing movie but it is also quite fascinating. John Schlesinger, the director, gives us a very grim portrait of New York City and the people that lives there. The story—of Texas newbie, Joe Buck (Jon Voight) who arrives in New York—is very simple and direct. The plot is quite simple—it is basically about the friendship between Joe and Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman as a sleazy cripple). Together the two men try to survive and get out of the city and movie to Florida. There is an implication that the two may have been lovers but the movie is just a portrait of two damaged men attempting to survive in the cold urban jungle.
Schlesinger uses flashbacks, color which turns to black and white, flash forwards, weird sound effects and many other tricks and they all work quite well. The acting exceptionally fine and the characterizations are well formed. Schlesinger is an inventive director and he handled the relationship between Buck and Rizzo is sensitively portrayed. The director did not give into censorship but instead concentrated on the energies of the importance of a strong human connection in life without regard to sexuality.
The movie is entertaining and depressing at the same time. It looks at cultural change and shows how we have been changed from the age of innocence of the 1950’s and moved into the age of Aquarius of the 60’s.
We get a poignant and beautiful explication of the themes of loneliness and the deprivation of humanity. The characters exist beyond the law and we find ourselves liking them. Jim Buck is endearing because of his optimism and his naiveté even if he tries to be a gigolo and Ratso Rizzo is the common man who we pity as the film progresses. The characters and the motives of the two are interesting.
An interesting fact is that the “X” rating was later changed (in 1980) when it was re-released. That certainly says something about us and how we think. Technically this is a wonderful film and it was revolutionary while being not much more than a simple and sentimental story.