Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy backdrop

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy

2023·Documentary·1h 42m
7.0
This is not a documentary about the making of Midnight Cowboy. It is about a humane and groundbreaking masterpiece and the flawed but gifted people who made it. It is about a troubled era of cultural ferment, social and political change, about broken dreams and strivers, then and now. It is about an era that made a movie and a movie that made an era.
Directed by Nancy Buirski
filmmaking
cinema history

Cast

Bob Balaban
Bob Balaban
Self
Michael Childers
Michael Childers
Self
Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Self
Adam Holender
Adam Holender
Self
Jennifer Salt
Jennifer Salt
Self
Brenda Vaccaro
Brenda Vaccaro
Self
Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Self
Edmund White
Edmund White
Self

Crew

Nancy Buirski
Nancy Buirski
Director
Nancy Buirski
Nancy Buirski
Writer
Geralyn White Dreyfous
Geralyn White Dreyfous
Executive Producer
Regina K. Scully
Regina K. Scully
Executive Producer
Nancy Buirski
Nancy Buirski
Producer
Nathalie Seaver
Nathalie Seaver
Executive Producer

Popular Reviews

5 reviews
Donkles
Donkles
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy
That “everybody's talking” intro feels like the first time i read “catcher in the rye”, yes, including the dead body during the rush hour.
MC was a zeitgeist of the 60s and making of the movie was meaningful for everybody involved. The documentary (felt more like a video essay honestly) was about that for 100 minutes, and yeah current Voight is a bastard. The interviewees don't contribute anything unique to the discussion, all along the lines, it’s all been said. 
I don’t know why people rated this so low though.
That “everybody's talking” intro feels like the first time i read “catcher in the rye”, yes, including the dead body during the rush hour.
MC was a zeitgeist of the 60s and making of the movie was meaningful for everybody involved. The documentary (felt more like a video essay honestly) was about that for 100 minutes, and yeah current Voight is a bastard. The interviewees don't contribute anything unique to the discussion, all along the lines, it’s all been said. 
I don’t know why people rated this so low though.
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Evan
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy
Like a failed Criterion bonus feature. No one asked for this. No one needed this. Just watch Midnight Cowboy and you’ll get a lot more out of just watching it than watching a whole 100 minute-long self indulgent documentary where they have to have the cameras almost touching the faces of the people being interviewed.
Like a failed Criterion bonus feature. No one asked for this. No one needed this. Just watch Midnight Cowboy and you’ll get a lot more out of just watching it than watching a whole 100 minute-long self indulgent documentary where they have to have the cameras almost touching the faces of the people being interviewed.
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Ida
IdaPRO
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy
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Tilly Smith
Tilly Smith
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy
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Mike Godlewski
Mike Godlewski
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy
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