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For this week's Hairy Harmonies, we have two films that are firsts of their types to win Oscars for Best Picture, and both are stories of trying to make it in the Big Apple.

The Broadway Melody (1929) 1h 40min 18sec

Synopsis: This is the FIRST sound movie to win an Academy Award for Best Picture -- which is somewhat amazing because it is not a particularly good film. It tells of two sisters from the vaudeville circuit who try to make it big time on Broadway, but matters of the heart complicate the attempt. This film is mostly interesting as a starting point for recurring musicals. It does not measure up to Gold Diggers of Broadway -- the start of its competing musical franchise -- that opened a few months later and garnered zero Oscars despite being considered a better film by modern standards.

Midnight Cowboy (1969) 1h 53min 53sec

Synopsis: This is the FIRST and ONLY X rated movie to win any Academy Award, and it got THREE in 1970: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It tells of a naive hustler who travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.

WARNING: Midnight Cowboy may be very triggering. It involves a fair amount of outdated attitudes towards homosexuality, slurs, and violence. Also, the film depicts people in desperate poverty and need. From BBC article:

But Schlesinger, who was himself gay, told the BBC in 1994 that the story of outsiders struggling to survive on society's margins was something he could identify with. "I'm not terribly interested in sort of pseudo-happy endings of people walking hand-in-hand into the sunset because I don't think it is true. So, most of the films that I made have question marks at the end," he said.

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Content Warnings

The Broadway Melody (1929) 1h 40min 18sec

Sex & Nudity: Mild
Violence & Gore: None
Profanity: None
Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking: Mild
Frightening & Intense Scenes: None

sexually assaulted (unwanted 'affection' but not brutal)
fat jokes
ableist behavior
stutterer
screaming
unconscious
alcohol abuse
homophobic slurs? (if guy had done doors they'd be 'done in lavender')

Midnight Cowboy

Sex & Nudity: Moderate
Violence & Gore: Moderate
Profanity: Moderate
Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking: Mild
Frightening & Intense Scenes: Moderate

flashing lights or images
shakey cam
shower scene
religion discussed
someone held under water (childhood baptism, distressing for character)
natural bodies of water
child abandoned by a parent
child abused
abused become the abuser
animals abused? (dog is forced to wear makeup and clothes in TV show)
someone uses drugs
someone drugged
someone restrained
r*pe mentioned
someone sexually assaulted
someone sexually assaulted onscreen
sexual content
someone sexually objectified
nude scenes
someone choked
someone beaten up by a bully
smoke or haze
someone has a chronic illness
someone terminally ill
someone has a seizure
someone falls down stairs
someone struggles to breathe
someone dies
major character dies
LGBT person dies?
someone disabled played by able-bodied
family member dead (grave visit)
parent dead (grave visit)
someone cheats
spitting
needles
car honk / tires screech
obscene language/gestures
someone suffers from PTSD
someone has a mental illness (ptsd)
someone homeless
misophonia? (gum chewing)
dissociation, depersonalization, or derealization
hate speech
homophobic slurs
blackface? (a scene briefly includes TV showing a minstrel show)

Does the dog die? links:

The Broadway Melody: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/156528
Midnight Cowboy: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/14820

Letterboxd

https://letterboxd.com/film/midnight-cowboy/
https://letterboxd.com/film/the-broadway-melody/

Links to films:

The Broadway Melody: https://tankie.tube/w/5B5qRa8JArtFbCZ1iVpEcp
Midnight Cowboy: https://tankie.tube/w/3rwSQ1khqmT9zeCoNQZNms
optional - 30minutes about making Midnight Cowboy: https://tankie.tube/w/iu3Jf3yHWngr4nYwgNy1XM

P.S. The plan for next week is lighter, family-friendly fairy-tale-type movies, (probably without any musicals) to get through the Solstice season with as little xmas baggage as possible.