Midnight Cowboy

The evening screening of Midnight Cowboy on April 8 at kino Muranów will be preceded by a 15-minute TEDx-style talk led by Maciej Jarkowiec.

Two years after The Graduate, hippies descended on Woodstock, Dennis Hopper unveiled Easy Rider (the posters read: “A man went looking for America. And couldn’t find it anywhere.”), and John Schlesinger, together with producer Jerome Hellman, convinced United Artists studio to bankroll the production of a film.

“You can never tell whether the film you’re working on will be well received,” said Midnight Cowboy’s cinematographer, Adam Holender. Just like the film’s English director, the Polish cinematographer had only recently arrived in New York and picked up on details that eluded others. Together, Schlesinger and Holender put forward a new image of the metropolis. At first, the city is bright, but soon descends into greyness, and turns blue, frozen, and unhappy – not unlike the film’s characters. Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight portrayed a male duo, previously unseen in cinema, that brimmed with tenderness and humanity. Even a few years earlier, a film like this would have had no chance of ever getting made in the US, and if it had been made, no one would have watched it. In 1970, Midnight Cowboy received Oscars for Best Screenplay, Best Director, and – as the first picture of Hollywood’s new wave – Best Picture.

Maciej Jarkowiec

John Schlesinger (1926–2003) was one of Britain’s most influential directors, a master of realistic social cinema. His breakthrough came with Midnight Cowboy (1969), the first X-rated film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Marathon Man (1976) showcased his talent for building suspense, while A Kind of Loving (1962) offered a poignant look at post-war England. His films, often centered on outsiders, combined social awareness with bold storytelling.