Biggles Wrote:And keeping your tequila on the INside of the shot glass, where it belongs!

jimbow8 Wrote:Damn! That was funny. I can still picture Tony slamming his fists onto the table and the glass "falling" over. LOL!

AsMoral Wrote:I just saw Brokeback Moutnain on Friday night and I have to say that I managed to enjoy it and was bored silly at the same time.

Having read the short story and the thread posted by Maggers I can say that I expected some flaws.

For starters I have to commend Ang Lee on a brilliantly filmed picture. The scenery, as in most of his films, is the true star. With Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Lee gave us plush green scenes and desolate deserts that fit so well with the narrative. Each scene beautifully crafted and stunningly filmed.

With HULK, no matter how bad the script may have been, Lee managed yet again to use the scenery to his advantage. In my personal opinion there is not a single director out there who can use the environment to the capacity that Ang Lee can. Simply mesmerizing.

In Brokeback Mountain we get sweeping vistas, sprawling land, blue skies and dusty texas streets. The film has a washed out look which conveys the isolation the two men feel in this film. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, this picture is hypnotizing.

The cast in this picture is top notch, not one poorly acted scene in the entire movie. Surprisingly Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries) and Michelle Williams (Dawson's Creek) are competent actors who are miles away from their family-friendly, teens angst-ridden personas. Both actresses are simply amazing though their charcters are at the opposite end of the social spectrum. Both ladies deserve any accolades sent their way.

The subject of the movie is love. No matter how ugly some may deem the act of two men falling in love, the universal theme in above all else love, in it's most true and pure form.

The film is depressing, not a lot of feel-good moments take place, save for a few. When Jack Swift played by Jake Gyllenhall finally stands up to his curmudgeon father-in-law, the audience cheered.

Jake plays Jack Swift to perfection. He is endearing, sweet, and overall a doe-eyed innocent. He comes to terms quickly with who he is but is forced to live by societal norms. Even with a wife and child he looks for the chance to escape to the life that truly allows him to be who he is. It is in this struggle that his friend and lover Ennis Del Mar plays a pivotal role.

Swift can see his life with Ennis, the two of them owning their own ranch and settling down together. His ties to wife and family are constraints, truly ties that bind. The clueless Ann Hathaway is more concerned with keeping up appearances and doesn't seem to care that her husband disappears for days on end. She is unquestioning so long as he is by her side at fancy restaurants/dance halls. Ignorance is bliss.

This brings me to the tragic character played with oscar-caliber performance by Heath Ledger. Ennis Del Mar is a loner, haunted by the visions and hard knock life that he has endured. Ennis keeps everyone at arms length, too afraid to get close to anyone as his past dictates that if he loves someone they will vanish from his life.

He lost his family at an early age but not before his father showed him the body of an old man who was horribly beaten and dragged to his death just for being "different". He lost his brother and sister and was never formally educated. He settles into a life with his wife Alma and three children.

Alma is a perfect companion to Ennis' downtrodden persona. She is a housewife barely making ends meet through her part-time job at the local grocers while Ennis labors away with any blue collar job he can find.

When Ennis and Jack meet atop Brokeback Mountain a friendship is formed over several weeks. They see in each other a stark contrast to their own lives and slowly they begin to feel for each other. Slight nuances show the progession, from stories around a campfire to Ennis finally lowering his tough-guy facade. Eventually the two end up sleeping with each other and from there they spend the next twenty years trying to compromise a relationship.

What works for Jack doesn't necessarily work for Ennis and vice versa. The best they can manage is to see each other when they can, a plan that begins to deteriorate Jack Swift. His longing for somthething substantial can be felt and it is portrayed to heartbreaking effect.

The movie runs long considering the source material and could have been trimmed. What we get in return is a more fleshed out history which makes the tragedy of the film all the more heart-wrenching.

Is Brokeback Mountain a gay cowboy movie? No. It happens to feature men who are cowboys and fall in love. It is not garphic or pornographic. Of the 2 hour and 7 minute movie only 1 minute and change is spent on showing the men "together".

If this film earns any awards it will do so based on its own merit and talent, not because Hollywood loves a controversial film. Brokeback Mountatin is a simple film, beautiful, and sad.

Paige Wrote:My question to you would be how do you know that Brokeback Mountain doesn't promote tolerance of gays?

And frankly, I don't think that it's any kind of "Gone with the Wind." Gay or otherwise.

NewYorkjoe Wrote:Again, you don't promote tolerance by taking a treasured American icon and twisting it into a vehicle for a political message. Take the same story, bring it up to the present, and have the two protagonists marry each other in Boston and live happily ever after. No problem.

NewYorkjoe Wrote:Again, you don't promote tolerance by taking a treasured American icon and twisting it into a vehicle for a political message. Take the same story, bring it up to the present, and have the two protagonists marry each other in Boston and live happily ever after. No problem.