Best Picture Winner
Midnight Cowboy
Best Picture
Director: John Schlesinger
Studio: United Artists
A naive Texan hustler and a sickly con man forge an unlikely friendship in New York City.
From the Worthy Podcast
Displaying the fringes of society, human connections, and misunderstandings
Fringes of Society: the film is all about the underground scene and counterculture. For 1969, so many of the interactions in the film are a basis for today’s world
Human Connections: How we are all connected by the smallest threads in life. The painting of a big city with so many stories to tell, but is every story a tragedy? If every story was tragic, wouldn’t that make it human?
Misunderstandings: How do we look at people we view as less because of societal misunderstandings. The unwillingness to let people be is the root of their downfall in society
A critical and commercial success despite controversy over what the MPAA termed its “homosexual frame of reference,” Midnight Cowboy became the first X-rated film to receive the best picture Oscar, and decades on, its influence still reverberates through cinema.
What are some X Rated films have you seen?
All Categories (25)
Best Picture
Midnight Cowboy— Jerome Hellman, Producer
Winner
Anne of the Thousand Days— Hal B. Wallis, Producer
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid— John Foreman, Producer
Hello, Dolly!— Ernest Lehman, Producer
Z— Jacques Perrin and Hamed Rachedi, Producers
Actor
Dustin Hoffman— Midnight Cowboy {"Ratso Rizzo"}
Jon Voight— Midnight Cowboy {"Joe Buck"}
Peter O'Toole— Goodbye, Mr. Chips {"Arthur Chipping"}
Richard Burton— Anne of the Thousand Days {"King Henry VIII"}
Actor In A Supporting Role
Anthony Quayle— Anne of the Thousand Days {"Cardinal Wolsey"}
Elliott Gould— Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice {"Ted Henderson"}
Jack Nicholson— Easy Rider {"George Hanson"}
Rupert Crosse— The Reivers {"Ned McCaslin"}
Actress
Genevieve Bujold— Anne of the Thousand Days {"Anne Boleyn"}
Jane Fonda— They Shoot Horses, Don't They? {"Gloria Beatty"}
Jean Simmons— The Happy Ending {"Mary Wilson"}
Liza Minnelli— The Sterile Cuckoo {"Pookie Adams"}
Actress In A Supporting Role
Catherine Burns— Last Summer {"Rhoda"}
Dyan Cannon— Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice {"Alice Henderson"}
Susannah York— They Shoot Horses, Don't They? {"Alice"}
Sylvia Miles— Midnight Cowboy {"Cass"}
Directing
Alice's Restaurant— Arthur Penn
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid— George Roy Hill
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?— Sydney Pollack
Z— Costa-Gavras
Writing (Screenplay Based On Material From Another Medium)
Midnight Cowboy— Waldo Salt
Winner
Anne of the Thousand Days— Screenplay by John Hale, Bridget Boland; Adaptation by Richard Sokolove
Goodbye, Columbus— Arnold Schulman
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?— James Poe, Robert E. Thompson
Z— Jorge Semprun, Costa-Gavras
Writing (Story And Screenplay--Written Directly For The Screen)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid— William Goldman
Winner
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice— Paul Mazursky, Larry Tucker
Easy Rider— Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern
The Damned— Story by Nicola Badalucco; Screenplay by Nicola Badalucco, Enrico Medioli, Luchino Visconti
The Wild Bunch— Story by Walon Green, Roy N. Sickner; Screenplay by Walon Green, Sam Peckinpah
Cinematography
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid— Conrad Hall
Winner
Anne of the Thousand Days— Arthur Ibbetson
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice— Charles B. Lang
Hello, Dolly!— Harry Stradling
Marooned— Daniel Fapp
Music (Original Song)
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid— Music by Burt Bacharach; Lyrics by Hal David
Winner
"Come Saturday Morning" from The Sterile Cuckoo— Music by Fred Karlin; Lyrics by Dory Previn
"Jean" from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie— Music and Lyrics by Rod McKuen
"True Grit" from True Grit— Music by Elmer Bernstein; Lyrics by Don Black
"What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?" from The Happy Ending— Music by Michel Legrand; Lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman
Art Direction
Hello, Dolly!— Art Direction: John DeCuir, Jack Martin Smith, Herman Blumenthal; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott, George Hopkins, Raphael Bretton
Winner
Anne of the Thousand Days— Art Direction: Maurice Carter, Lionel Couch; Set Decoration: Patrick McLoughlin
Gaily, Gaily— Art Direction: Robert Boyle, George B. Chan; Set Decoration: Edward Boyle, Carl Biddiscombe
Sweet Charity— Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen, George C. Webb; Set Decoration: Jack D. Moore
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?— Art Direction: Harry Horner; Set Decoration: Frank McKelvy
Film Editing
Z— Françoise Bonnot
Winner
Hello, Dolly!— William Reynolds
Midnight Cowboy— Hugh A. Robertson
The Secret of Santa Vittoria— William Lyon, Earle Herdan
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?— Fredric Steinkamp
Sound
Hello, Dolly!— Jack Solomon, Murray Spivack
Winner
Anne of the Thousand Days— John Aldred
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid— William Edmondson, David Dockendorf
Gaily, Gaily— Robert Martin, Clem Portman
Marooned— Les Fresholtz, Arthur Piantadosi
Costume Design
Anne of the Thousand Days— Margaret Furse
Winner
Gaily, Gaily— Ray Aghayan
Hello, Dolly!— Irene Sharaff
Sweet Charity— Edith Head
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?— Donfeld
Documentary (Feature)
Arthur Rubinstein - The Love of Life— Bernard Chevry, Producer
Winner
Before the Mountain Was Moved— Robert K. Sharpe, Producer
In the Year of the Pig— Emile de Antonio, Producer
The Olympics in Mexico— Comite Organizador de los Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada
The Wolf Men— Irwin Rosten, Producer
Documentary (Short Subject)
Czechoslovakia 1968— Denis Sanders and Robert M. Fresco, Producers
Winner
An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer— Donald Wrye, Producer
Jenny Is a Good Thing— Joan Horvath, Producer
Leo Beuerman— Arthur H. Wolf and Russell A. Mosser, Producers
The Magic Machines— Joan Keller Stern, Producer
Foreign Language Film
Z— Algeria
Winner
Anne of the Thousand Days— Georges Delerue
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid— Burt Bacharach
MUSIC (Original Score--for a motion picture [not a musical])
My Night at Maud's— France
Film received its 1969 nomination under the title My Night with Maud. It had no US distributor at the time.
The Battle of Neretva— Yugoslavia
The Brothers Karamazov— Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
The Reivers— John Williams
The Secret of Santa Vittoria— Ernest Gold
The Wild Bunch— Jerry Fielding
Ådalen '31— Sweden
Honorary Award
To Cary Grant for his unique mastery of the art of screen acting with the respect and affection of his colleagues.
Winner
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
George Jessel
Winner
Scientific Or Technical Award (Class II)
To HAZELTINE CORPORATION for the design and development of the Hazeltine Color Film Analyzer. [Laboratory]
Winner
To FOUAD SAID for the design and introduction of the Cinemobile series of equipment trucks for location motion picture production. [Stage Operations]
To JUAN DE LA CIERVA and DYNASCIENCES CORPORATION for the design and development of the Dynalens optical image motion compensator. [Photography]
Scientific Or Technical Award (Class III)
To OTTO POPELKA of Magna-Tech Electronics Company, Inc., for the development of an Electronically Controlled Looping System. [Sound]
Winner
To FENTON HAMILTON of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios for the concept and engineering of a mobile battery power unit for location lighting. [Lighting]
To PANAVISION, INCORPORATED, for the design and development of the Panaspeed Motion Picture Camera Motor. [Camera]
To ROBERT M. FLYNN and RUSSELL HESSEY of Universal City Studios, Inc. for a machine-gun modification for motion picture photography. [Stage Operations]
Music (Original Song Score And Its Adaptation Or Adaptation Score)
Hello, Dolly!— Adaptation score by Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newman
Winner
Goodbye, Mr. Chips— Music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse; adaptation score by John Williams
Paint Your Wagon— Adaptation score by Nelson Riddle
Sweet Charity— Adaptation score by Cy Coleman
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?— Adaptation score by John Green and Albert Woodbury
Short Subject (Cartoon)
It's Tough to Be a Bird— Ward Kimball, Producer
Winner
Of Men and Demons— John Hubley and Faith Hubley, Producers
Walking— Ryan Larkin, Producer
Short Subject (Live Action)
The Magic Machines— Joan Keller Stern, Producer
Winner
Blake— Doug Jackson, Producer
People Soup— Marc Merson, Producer
Special Visual Effects
Marooned— Robbie Robertson
Winner
Krakatoa, East of Java— Eugene Lourie, Alex Weldon