They didn't want Dustin Hoffman.

Despite the encomiums that accompanied its success, The Graduate had already given Hoffman an 'all-American' image, the kind of thing that studios didn't want to tamper with when casting for cripple con-artist 'Ratso' Rizzo.

Hoffman insisted on a meeting, and called the auditioning executive to a Manhattan street corner. Dressed in rags, Hoffman successfully worked the corner for spare change while the executive stood around, waiting. Finally Hoffman walked up to him and introduced himself, and the part was his.

Casting actually fell into place with great serendipity for Schlesinger. James Leo Herlihy's great novel was always going to require just the right couple of actors, and the director got lucky with one of the decade's most startling finds: Jon Voight's first major performance catapulted him right up there with Hoffman, both stars nabbing Best Actor nominations at the next Oscars.

Speaking of Oscars, it is important to note that while this is indeed the only X-rated film to win an Oscar, the rating was subsequently changed to an R (for Restricted) -- with no cuts or changes -- following the stigmatisation of X-rated films by the porn industry.

It is a spectacular achievement, this morbidly engaging story of an attractive yet masochistic 'stud,' whose ambition involves donning a cowboy getup and hiring himself out to rich women. Voight's Joe Buck soon runs into the 'scuzzy' (scummy + fuzzy) Rizzo, and the film is a twisted, tragic testament to the seamier side of the American dream.

There is a milestone every couple of scenes in Midnight Cowboy. For now, here is a scene that has become part of acting lore, because of the perfect timing involving the cabbie, and Hoffman's now-legendary snappy reaction: Click here for video.

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