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41-612: The Willis Avenue Bridge is a swing bridge that carries road traffic northbound (and bicycles and pedestrians both ways) over the Harlem River between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx , United States . It connects First Avenue in Manhattan with Willis Avenue in the Bronx. The New York City Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining and operating

82-596: A Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Male for Harry Nilsson . Schlesinger chose the song as its theme, and the song underscores the first act. Other songs considered for the theme included Nilsson's own " I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City " and Randy Newman 's "Cowboy". Bob Dylan wrote " Lay Lady Lay " to serve as the theme song, but did not finish it in time. The movie's main theme, "Midnight Cowboy", features harmonica by Toots Thielemans , but

123-420: A bad back and lung damage from inhaling shoe polish . Rico learned shoeshining from his father, but considers it degrading and generally refuses to do it. When he breaks into a stand and shines Joe's cowboy boots to attract clients, two police officers arrive and sit with their dirty boots next to Joe's. Rico dreams of escaping to Miami , shown in fantasies in which he and Joe frolic on a beach and are pampered at

164-443: A bus to Florida . Desperate for cash, Joe picks up an effeminate middle-aged man in an arcade. The two return to the man's hotel room, where Joe demands money. However, when the man refuses to give him more than $ 10, Joe brutally beats, robs, and apparently smothers him. Joe buys two bus tickets to Florida with the stolen cash. Rico again tells Joe that he wants to be called "Rico", not "Ratso", and Joe finally begins to oblige. During

205-480: A land cost of $ 803,988.37. It consisted of a swing span, and a fixed truss span. In 1907, a ramp with Bruckner Boulevard was opened to traffic. In 1915, the city government gave the Union Railway Company permission to construct trolley tracks over the bridge. After work to retrofit the bridge to carry heavy trolley cars, the tracks were completed on April 5, 1916. In 1936, the ramp with Harlem River Drive

246-595: A meek young man in a movie theater, but the man cannot pay. Joe threatens him, but releases him unharmed. The next day, Joe spots Rico at a diner, and angrily confronts him. Rico manages to calm Joe, and invites him to share his squalid, condemned apartment squat . Joe reluctantly accepts, and the two begin a "business relationship" as hustlers. Rico asks Joe to call him "Rico" instead of "Ratso", but Joe does not oblige. They struggle with severe poverty, stealing food and failing to get work for Joe. Joe pawns his radio and sells his blood, while Rico's persistent cough worsens during

287-440: A resort, including a boy polishing Rico's boots. A Warhol -like filmmaker and an extrovert female artist approach Joe in a diner, taking his photograph and inviting him to a Warhol-esque art event. Joe and Rico attend, but Rico's poor health and hygiene attract unwanted attention. After mistaking a joint for a cigarette and receiving uppers , Joe hallucinates. He leaves with Shirley, a socialite who pays him $ 20 for spending

328-480: A river or canal , for example, allows traffic to cross. When a water vessel needs to pass the bridge, road traffic is stopped (usually by traffic signals and barriers), and then motors rotate the bridge horizontally about its pivot point. The typical swing bridge will rotate approximately 90 degrees, or one-quarter turn; however, a bridge which intersects the navigation channel at an oblique angle may be built to rotate only 45 degrees, or one-eighth turn, in order to clear

369-432: A winter without heat in the freezing apartment. In intermittent flashbacks , Joe's grandmother raises him after his mother abandons him. He has a tragic relationship with Annie, disclosed through hazy flashbacks in which they are attacked and raped by a cowboy gang. Annie shows signs of mental trauma and is taken into an ambulance. Rico tells Joe his father was an illiterate Italian immigrant shoeshiner whose job yielded

410-406: Is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right. In its closed position, a swing bridge carrying a road or railway over

451-575: Is insulted when he requests payment, and Joe ultimately gives money to her. Joe meets Rico "Ratso" Rizzo, an indigent con man with a limp who takes $ 20 for introducing him to a pimp . After discovering that the alleged pimp is actually an unhinged religious fanatic , Joe flees and unsuccessfully searches for Rico. Joe spends his days wandering the city, listening to his Zenith portable radio and sitting in his hotel room. When his money runs out, management locks Joe out and impounds his belongings. In an attempt to make money, Joe receives oral sex from

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492-415: Is shocking, in 1994, is to see a major studio film linger this lovingly on characters who have nothing to offer the audience but their own lost souls." As of 2022, Midnight Cowboy holds an 89% approval rating on online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , with an average rating of 8.50/10, based on 116 reviews. The website's critical consensus states: "John Schlesinger's gritty, unrelentingly bleak look at

533-417: Is so rough and vivid that it's almost unbearable.   ... Midnight Cowboy often seems to be exploiting its material for sensational or comic effect, but it is ultimately a moving experience that captures the quality of a time and a place. It's not a movie for the ages, but, having seen it, you won't ever again feel detached as you walk down West 42nd Street, avoiding the eyes of the drifters, stepping around

574-469: 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. Hoffman, however, on an installment of Bravo 's Inside the Actors Studio , stated that there were many takes , with

615-526: The 42nd Academy Awards , the film won three awards: Best Picture , Best Director , and Best Adapted Screenplay . Midnight Cowboy is the only X-rated film (equivalent of the current NC-17 rating) to win Best Picture. It placed 36th on the American Film Institute 's 1998 list of the 100 greatest American films of all time , and 43rd on its 2007 updated version . In 1994, Midnight Cowboy

656-596: The UK, there is a legal definition in current statute as to what is, or is not a 'swing bridge' The largest double swing-span bridge in the United States is the 3,250 feet (990 m) long, 450 feet (140 m) navigable span, 60 feet (18 m) clearance George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge . Omaha NE Turn Style Bridge is now a historical landmark. Located 86H674H5+98 Used for rail transport. Connecting Council Bluffs, Iowa to downtown Omaha, Nebraska Midnight Cowboy At

697-690: The United States, with a weekly gross of $ 550,237, and was the highest-grossing movie in September 1969. The film earned $ 11 million in rentals in the United States and Canada in 1969, and added a further $ 5.3 million the following year when it won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It eventually earned rentals of $ 20.5 million in the United States and Canada. By 1975, it had earned rentals of over $ 30 million worldwide. More than five years after its theatrical release, Midnight Cowboy premiered on television November 3, 1974. Twenty-five minutes were edited from

738-608: The Willis Bridge" is the name of the 2015 album released by 80 REEF. In a famous publicity photo for the film Midnight Cowboy , Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo (Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman) are seen walking on the old Willis Avenue Bridge. The Willis Avenue Bridge carries the M125 bus route operated by MTA New York City Transit . The route's average weekday ridership is 19,951. Swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge )

779-432: 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

820-563: The bridge was shipped down the Hudson on two barges that were welded together. The new bridge is 350 feet long, 65 feet high and 77 feet wide; it required three tugboats to propel it. The sight of the floating bridge caused a stir among onlookers all along the Hudson. After a stay at Port Jersey in Jersey City it was towed up the East River to its destination in the morning on July 26. Motor traffic

861-585: The bridge. The bridge is part of the course for the annual New York City Marathon . The runners, after crossing over from Manhattan to The Bronx via the bridge (which has been dubbed "the wall" because it marks the 20-mile point on the run) then follow a short course through the borough and return to Manhattan for the race's final leg via the Madison Avenue Bridge . Between 2000 and 2014, the bridge opened for vessels 214 times. The bridge opened in 1901, at an original construction cost of $ 1,640,523.11 and

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902-622: The bus continues past rows of Floridian palm trees . 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. Such advertisements, common in the Southwestern United States in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, promoted Eddie Chiles ' Western Company of North America . In

943-638: The bus trip, Rico's health worsens, and he suffers from urinary incontinence . Joe buys new clothing for Rico and himself at a rest stop, discarding his cowboy outfit and boots. Back on the bus, Joe muses that there must be an easier way to make money than hustling, and tells Rico that he will get a regular job in Miami. When he does not respond, Joe realizes that Rico has died. Joe alerts the bus driver, who asks Joe to close Rico's eyelids, saying that they will soon be in Miami. The other passengers stare. With tears in his eyes, Joe sits with his arm around his dead friend as

984-467: The channel. Small swing bridges as found over narrow canals may be pivoted only at one end, opening as would a gate, but require substantial underground structure to support the pivot. Many inner cities have swing bridges, since these require less street space than other types of bridges. (A "swing bridge" in New Zealand refers to a flexible walking track bridge which "swings" as you walk across.) In

1025-419: The difficult logistics of moving the structure, there were no bids by March 2007. Due to its poor condition, the bridge was replaced starting in 2007 and converted to pedestrian-only traffic for three years, and then was dismantled once a sidewalk was put in on the new bridge. On April 12, 2011, granite from the structure was given to a nearby park while the metal part was moved via tug to Jersey City . The steel

1066-471: The driver. As such, the latter's angry response is also unscripted. 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

1107-489: The film due to censorship regulations and a desire for broader appeal. Although the cuts were approved by director John Schlesinger, critic Kay Gardella of the New York Daily News said the film was "hacked up pretty badly". John Barry composed the score, winning a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Theme , although he did not receive an on-screen credit. Fred Neil 's song, " Everybody's Talkin ' ", won

1148-582: The film has been largely positive. Vincent Canby 's lengthy 1969 review in The New York Times was blunt: "a slick, brutal (but not brutalizing) movie version of   ... Herlihy's 1965 novel. It is tough and good in important ways, although its style is oddly romantic and at variance with the laconic material.   ... As long as the focus is on this world of cafeterias and abandoned tenements, of desperate conjunctions in movie balconies and doorways, of ketchup and beans and canned heat , Midnight Cowboy

1189-658: The film, Joe stays at the Hotel Claridge , at the southeast corner of Broadway and West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan . His room overlooked the northern half of Times Square . The building, designed by D. H. Burnham & Company and opened in 1911, was demolished in 1972. A motif featured three times throughout the New York scenes was the sign atop of the facade of the Mutual of New York (MONY) Building at 1740 Broadway. It

1230-492: The little islands of hustlers and closing your nostrils to the smell of rancid griddles." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune said of the film: "I cannot recall a more marvelous pair of acting performances in any one film." In a 25th-anniversary retrospective in 1994, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: " Midnight Cowboy ' s peep-show vision of Manhattan lowlife may no longer be shocking, but what

1271-472: 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." Critical response to

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1312-403: The night, but Joe cannot perform sexually. They play Scribbage , and the resulting wordplay leads Shirley to suggest that Joe may be gay; suddenly, he is able to perform. The next morning, she sets up her female friend as Joe's client, and at last his career appears to be progressing. When Joe returns to the apartment, Rico is severely feverish. He refuses medical help, and begs Joe to put him on

1353-518: The project because maintenance of the existing bridge was too expensive and the design of the ramps contributed to frequent accidents. This was the most costly bridge construction project by the New York City Department of Transportation. Weinshall expected the project to last five years with construction beginning around the end of 2007. The replacement bridge was constructed at Port of Coeymans , 10 miles south of Albany . On July 13, 2010,

1394-529: The seedy underbelly of urban American life is undeniably disturbing, but Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight's performances make it difficult to turn away." The Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa cited this movie as one of his 100 favorite films. The film opened at the Coronet Theatre in New York City, and grossed a house record $ 61,503 in its first week. In its tenth week of release, the film became number one in

1435-541: Was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress , and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry . Young Texan Joe Buck quits his dishwashing job, and heads by bus to New York City in cowboy attire to become a male prostitute . Initially unsuccessful, he finally beds a middle-aged woman, Cass, in her Park Avenue apartment. She

1476-449: Was extended into the Scribbage scene with Shirley the socialite, when Joe's incorrect spelling of the word "money" matched that of the sign. Dustin Hoffman, who played a grizzled veteran of New York's streets, is from Los Angeles . 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 . Voight

1517-412: Was melted down and the concrete parts were made into fill. The Department of Transportation opted to construct a new structure to the south of the existing bridge at a projected cost of $ 417 million. On March 8, 2007, when bidding for construction was opened, of the two bids offered, the lowest came in at $ 612 million. Iris Weinshall , the department commissioner, said that the city had to go forward with

1558-468: Was opened. The bridge was converted to a one-way northbound roadway on August 5, 1941, the same day the Third Avenue Bridge was converted to one-way southbound. The trolley tracks were also replaced by vehicular lanes. In November 2005, New York City sought to replace the bridge. In an effort to preserve the structure, the city offered it for sale for $ 1, with free delivery within 15 miles. Due to

1599-517: Was paid "scale" (the Screen Actors Guild minimum wage) for his portrayal of Joe Buck, a concession he willingly made to obtain the part. Harrison Ford auditioned for the role of Joe Buck. Michael Sarrazin , who was Schlesinger 's first choice, was cast as Joe Buck, only to be fired when unable to gain release from his contract with Universal . The line, "I'm walkin' here!", which reached number 27 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes ,

1640-410: Was released with an X rating. 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. 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

1681-515: Was shifted to the new bridge on October 2, 2010, though the walkway of the old bridge continued to serve pedestrians and cyclists for a few weeks. Just upstream, the Third Avenue Bridge carries southbound traffic across the Harlem River from the Bronx to Manhattan as the other side of a one-way pair . That bridge was replaced in 2004. "Willis Avenue Bridge" is the name of a song by David Berkeley from his 2009 album Strange Light . "Beneath

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