I saw the 1969 classic Midnight Cowboy the other night and was impressed by how well it’s held up. The movie won the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Both co-stars, Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, were nominated for Best Actor.

The story chronicles naive Texas boy Joe Buck (Jon Voight) as he travels to New York City in hopes of making a living as a gigolo. There he meets fellow down-on-his-luck hustler Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), and the two eke out an existence on the mean streets of late ’60s Manhattan. The film is tragic but lyric, and its self-conciously literary quality adds to the charm – this was definitely Filmmaking with a capital F.

Here’s the trailer: