A tall brick hotel tower above a low West Texas town under a grey sky — Big Spring, Texas, with the Settles Hotel standing over the town, January 2010. Clinton Steeds · CC BY 2.0

Big Spring, Texas → 42nd Street, New York · shot 1968 · released 1969

Jon Voight, fair hair, in a blue western shirt with white stars, talking — Jon Voight, Joe Buck, 1969 trailer. United Artists · Public domain

Dustin Hoffman, hair slicked back, in a dark jacket, at night on a city street — Dustin Hoffman on the set, 1968. Bernard Gotfryd · Public domain

Midnight Cowboy

Giant painted billboards above Times Square: a gin bottle and a smoking man — Times Square billboards in August 1973, photographed by Dan McCoy for the EPA’s Documerica project. Dan McCoy · Public domain

A dishwasher from Big Spring, a room over Times Square, a crossing at Sixth Avenue that nobody agrees about. Here is where it all is now.

Where this comes from

Big Spring, Texas: the bus leaves from outside the Settles.

Big Spring and Stanton, West Texas · summer 1968

It opens on a drive-in
in West Texas.

The first image of the film is the Big Tex drive-in. It was the Sahara Drive-In on Interstate 20, renamed only for the shoot. The drive-in stood west of town, and there is no trace of it today.

A row of closed brick shopfronts on a wide empty street, the hotel tower behind — Downtown Big Spring in 2012: an empty row of shops, the Settles behind. CletusDitto · CC BY-SA 3.0

Interstate 20The Big Tex drive-in: the film’s first image.
3rd and DonleyThe Big Spring Hotel. Joe walks out with his cowhide suitcase.
3rd and AustinMiller’s Restaurant, where he quits washing dishes.
309 NW 4thThe Rio cinema, open since 1947.
200 East 3rdThe Settles. The bus to New York stops outside.

Joe’s Big Spring in 1968, from the drive-in to the bus.

Where this comes from

A fifteen-storey brick hotel tower with a red neon sign on its roof, blue sky — The Hotel Settles on East 3rd Street, Big Spring, after its restoration, May 2013. Leaflet · CC BY-SA 3.0

The Hotel Settles

Joe boards the bus for New York on East 3rd Street, in front of the coffee shop of the Hotel Settles.

The hotel opened on 1 October 1930, paid for by Will and Lillian Settles in the oil boom. At 15 storeys it was the largest hotel between Fort Worth and El Paso. It closed in 1980 and fell into disrepair, then reopened in 2012 with 65 rooms.

A working hotel: the lobby, Settles Grill and the Pharmacy Bar are open to visitors. Joe’s bus left from East 3rd Street, right outside.

Where this comes from

Hotel Settles

Hotel Settles, Big Spring

Big Spring, Texas · Rates on booking · (432) 267-7500

Opened in 1930, closed in 1980, reopened in 2012. Joe’s bus left from East 3rd Street outside. Settles Grill and the Pharmacy Bar & Parlor downstairs.

Check rooms

Jon Voight noticed how polite young Texans were in Big Spring and used it for Joe’s manner.

Few people in town knew what the film was about, and some who were in it were appalled when it came out. Most of the film’s Big Spring was up by the railway; the heart of the town has since drifted south to Highway 87.

Where this comes from

A vertical neon sign reading Texas between two iron stars on a white wall — A Texas sign and two stars on an old building in Stanton, photographed by Carol M. Highsmith in 2014. Carol M. Highsmith · Public domain

Stanton, next town west

Behind Joe’s grandmother’s house you can glimpse Stanton’s old courthouse, since demolished.

The crew went to Texas after the Miami Beach dream scenes, and shooting there was under way by late August 1968.

When filming wrapped in Texas, Schlesinger was shaken and doubted what they had made. Voight told him it would be a masterpiece.

A small county seat just off Interstate 20. The old courthouse seen in the film has been demolished.

Where this comes from

Flat West Texas farmland in squares and circles around a small town, seen from a plane — Stanton and the farmland round it, from the air, July 2008. The house itself is not shown. Ken Lund · CC BY-SA 2.0

The Millhollon ranch house

The old house where Joe and Crazy Annie make out is the Millhollon House, just east of Stanton. At the time it was decrepit and reportedly overrun with rattlesnakes.

J. E. and Nettie Millhollon had it built in 1907 by N. H. Hunt of Big Spring. Restoration began in 1970, and it became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1974.

A private house: named here, not mapped. Please leave the people who live there in peace.

Where this comes from

The Hotel Claridge, Broadway at 44th Street

A room over Times Square,
and a star that read tomorrow.

Joe’s hotel was the 16-storey Hotel Claridge on Broadway at 44th Street, overlooking Times Square. Outside his window hung the Haig whisky sign, famous for its slogan, Don’t Be Vague.

Tomorrow’s weather

Temperature

The star is dark. Pick tomorrow’s weather.

The glowing sign on the Mutual of New York building at 1740 Broadway, with its Weather Star, runs right through the film.

The blinking MONY sign, famous from Midnight Cowboy, was finally taken down in 2007.

The Weather Star forecast the next day: green for fair, orange for cloudy, flashing orange for rain and flashing white for snow. Its lights climbed or fell with the temperature. Forgotten New York remembers the code a little differently: green for sun, orange for rain. The beacon still lights up, but it no longer forecasts.

Where this comes from

A Broadway storefront under billboards, a truck and a yellow cab passing — Broadway at Times Square, August 1973, by Dan McCoy for Documerica. Dan McCoy · Public domain

The Claridge, gone

The Claridge opened in 1911 and was demolished in 1972. The tower on the site houses Times Square Studios.

Thrown out for not paying his bill, Joe spends the night over coffee and crackers in the Gold Cup, on 42nd Street.

The hotel has gone. Stand on the Broadway pavement at 44th Street and look up: ABC broadcasts from the corner now.

Where this comes from

42nd Street

Joe drifts along the then-notorious 42nd Street, past Hubert’s Museum at number 234, beside the Amsterdam Theatre.

Hubert’s had shown bearded ladies, tattooed men and a real flea circus since 1925. Its building was demolished in the 1990s.

A busy pavement, open at all hours. The block is cinemas and attractions now.

Where this comes from

A pale 1950 office tower with 1740 on its crown and a mast on top — 1740 Broadway, the former Mutual of New York building, in March 2025. Kritzolina · CC BY-SA 4.0

1740 Broadway today

The tower was built in 1950 for Mutual of New York.

An office tower: see the crown and mast from Broadway. The MONY letters have gone.

Where this comes from

Sixth Avenue at West 58th Street

Push the button.
Then step off the kerb.

The film’s most famous line comes as Joe and Rico cross 58th Street at Sixth Avenue.

DON’T WALK. Sixth Avenue at 58th Street, traffic running. Push the button.

Mental Floss

Mental Floss says the street scene was shot guerrilla-style in real traffic. After a near miss with a cab Hoffman shouted back in character, and Schlesinger loved the take and kept it.

Schlesinger, DVD commentary

On the DVD commentary Schlesinger said the moment was planned in advance, with the yellow cab arriving on cue.

Telling one: guerrilla, real traffic, a near miss. We keep both.

Where this comes from

A yellow cab angled across a crossing on Fifth Avenue, people crossing behind — A cab across two lanes at Fifth Avenue and 48th Street, August 1973, by Dan McCoy for Documerica. Dan McCoy · Public domain

Hoffman put pebbles in his shoe for Rico’s limp, so the pain did the remembering for him.

Where this comes from

People crossing Sixth Avenue on a zebra crossing, a yellow cab waiting, towers behind — Sixth Avenue at Central Park South, a block north of 58th Street, 2016. Frank Köhntopp · CC0

From here the two walk north past the terrace café of the Ritz-Carlton, since gone, and turn right on to Central Park South.

A busy crossing. Wait for the signal, please.

Where this comes from

Jon Voight in a cowboy hat and fringed jacket hands a cup to Dustin Hoffman — Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, in a frame from the 1969 trailer. United Artists · Public domain

On Grand Army Plaza, beside the Plaza Hotel, Rico checks the phone booths for coins while he promises to set up a meeting.

A public plaza at the corner of Central Park, open at all hours.

Where this comes from

The Plaza

The Plaza, New York

Fifth Avenue at 59th Street · Rates on booking · (212) 759-3000

Open since 1 October 1907, on Grand Army Plaza where Rico works the phone booths for coins. 282 rooms, 102 of them suites.

Check rooms

Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue

Uptown, looking for money,
one cross street at a time.

The Peninsula (left), once the Gotham Hotel, beside the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Motn · CC BY 3.0
55th Street · 700 Fifth Avenue at West 55th Street, Manhattan
The Peninsula, once the Gotham Hotel
Joe is sent to the “Berkeley Hotel for Women”: the Gotham, now The Peninsula.
The Gotham was built in 1902–1905 to designs by Hiss & Weekes, and became a city landmark in 1989.
A working hotel. The pillared entrance on 55th Street is the one in the film.
Where this comes from
Tiffany & Co. at 727 Fifth Avenue, on the corner of 57th Street, April 2022. Tdorante10 · CC BY-SA 4.0
57th Street · 727 Fifth Avenue at East 57th Street, Manhattan
Tiffany & Co., Fifth Avenue
Outside Tiffany’s, Joe sees a man lying face down on the pavement, ignored by everyone.
It is the same store as in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
It reopened as The Landmark in April 2023 after a renovation of nearly four years. The Atlas clock outside is intact.
The store is open to walk into. The scene is on the pavement outside, under the Atlas clock.
Where this comes from
The Plaza Hotel from Grand Army Plaza, December 2020. Epicgenius · CC BY-SA 4.0
59th Street · Fifth Avenue at 59th Street, Manhattan
Grand Army Plaza and the Plaza Hotel
On Grand Army Plaza, Rico checks the phone booths for coins.
The Plaza opened on 1 October 1907. It has 282 rooms, 102 of them suites.
A public plaza at the corner of Central Park, open at all hours.
Where this comes from
Park Avenue from 68th Street looking south, closed to cars for Summer Streets, August 2018. Deans Charbal · CC BY-SA 4.0
68th Street · Park Avenue between East 68th and East 72nd Streets, Manhattan
Park Avenue, East 68th to 72nd Streets
At Park Avenue and 68th Street, Joe asks a smart woman the way to the Statue of Liberty.
His first daydream of easy success plays out outside a townhouse a little to the north, on East 70th Street.
On East 72nd Street a building stands in for Cass’s penthouse. Like many of the film’s interiors, her apartment was built at Filmways Studios, 246 East 127th Street in East Harlem, which has gone.
Public pavements. The buildings in the film are private homes: look from the street only.
Where this comes from

Suffolk Street · East 127th Street

Rico’s room was never on Suffolk Street.
Only the stairs were.

The stairs: Lower East Side

A broad street with traffic running towards a steel suspension bridge — Delancey Street and the Williamsburg Bridge, a block from Suffolk Street, October 2021. Rhododendrites · CC BY-SA 4.0

Suffolk Street, Lower East Side

Rico’s squat, in a tenement waiting to be demolished, was 64–66 Suffolk Street, just south of Delancey Street.

The film used the building’s stairwell and corridors. Rico’s room was rebuilt in the studio.

The block was demolished.

The tenement has gone. Walk down Suffolk Street from Delancey.

Where this comes from

The room: East Harlem

Filmways Studios, 246 East 127th Street

Interiors are staged at Filmways Studios in Harlem.

Cass’s penthouse: outside on East 72nd Street, inside at Filmways Studios in East Harlem.

The studio has gone, so there is nothing to visit. The rooms you remember were built there.

Where this comes from

Rows of white headstones and crosses with the Manhattan skyline at dusk — First Calvary Cemetery, Queens, with Midtown Manhattan behind. Plowboylifestyle (English Wikipedia) · Public domain

First Calvary Cemetery, Queens

A grave in Queens.

Joe goes with Rico to his father’s grave in First Calvary Cemetery, then overlooked by the old Kosciuszko Bridge.

Then Joe gets the two of them on a bus to Florida. The film ends on that bus, and we leave it there.

That girder bridge has since been replaced by a cable bridge. It is seen again when Don Corleone is buried here in The Godfather. The land was bought in 1845 and consecrated in 1848. More than 1,750,000 people are buried here.

Open every day, 9am to 4.30pm. A working cemetery: keep to the paths and give funerals room.

Where this comes from

Calvary & Allied Cemeteries

Calvary Cemetery, Queens

Queens · Free · open daily 9am–4.30pm

Where Joe goes with Rico to his father’s grave. A working cemetery with Manhattan on the skyline.

Visiting

What happened to the film

25 May 1969The film opens on 25 May 1969 at the Coronet Theater in New York, rated X.
1969–1971The ratings board first offered an R; United Artists chose X. After a 60-day withdrawal in 1971 it went back out rated R.
1970It wins Best Picture, Director and Screenplay, the first X-rated film ever nominated.
1994It is added to the National Film Registry in 1994.

Where this comes from

Get on the bus.
Here is where it all is now.

Where it is now

13 places you can visit, from the Hotel Settles in Big Spring to First Calvary Cemetery in Queens. The Millhollon ranch house is a private home: named, not mapped.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working hotel: the lobby, Settles Grill and the Pharmacy Bar are open to visitors. Joe’s bus left from East 3rd Street, right outside.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Public streets, open to all. The film’s buildings on this stretch are gone: walk east along 3rd Street and the Settles is still there at the end.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A small county seat just off Interstate 20. The old courthouse seen in the film has been demolished.

The Hotel Settles on East 3rd Street, Big Spring, after its restoration, May 2013. Leaflet · CC BY-SA 3.0
200 East 3rd Street, Big Spring, Texas
The Hotel Settles, Big Spring
Joe boards the bus for New York on East 3rd Street, in front of the coffee shop of the Hotel Settles.
A working hotel: the lobby, Settles Grill and the Pharmacy Bar are open to visitors. Joe’s bus left from East 3rd Street, right outside.
Where this comes from
Downtown Big Spring in 2012: an empty row of shops, the Settles behind. CletusDitto · CC BY-SA 3.0
East 3rd Street at Austin Street, downtown Big Spring, Texas
Joe’s Big Spring, East 3rd Street
The first image of the film is the Big Tex drive-in. It was the Sahara Drive-In on Interstate 20, renamed only for the shoot.
Public streets, open to all. The film’s buildings on this stretch are gone: walk east along 3rd Street and the Settles is still there at the end.
Where this comes from
A Texas sign and two stars on an old building in Stanton, photographed by Carol M. Highsmith in 2014. Carol M. Highsmith · Public domain
Stanton, Martin County, Texas, west of Big Spring on Interstate 20
Stanton, Martin County
Behind Joe’s grandmother’s house you can glimpse Stanton’s old courthouse, since demolished.
A small county seat just off Interstate 20. The old courthouse seen in the film has been demolished.
Where this comes from

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