• Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket

Thoughts on… Brokeback Mountain (2005)

September 27, 2010 by admin

Brokeback Mountain, 2005.

Directed by Ang Lee.
Starring Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Linda Cardellini and Randy Quaid.

SYNOPSIS:

An epic American love story about a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy who meet in the summer of 1963 and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection.

Dubbed at the time of release ‘The Gay Cowboy Movie’, you wonder why there was such controversy around Brokeback Mountain, a beautifully heart wrenching and poignant film from acclaimed director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)– there is nothing ‘controversial’ about it. It’s a love story – plain and simple.

‘60’s Texas and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) pulls his truck up outside Joe Aguirre’s (Randy Quaid) cabin, looking for work on Brokeback Mountain. He exchanges a few glances with ranch-hand Ennis Del Mar (the late Heath Ledger), who’s also looking for work, and then a handshake, after the two men are given their duties for herding sheep for the summer, both completely oblivious to the life bond they will share for the next twenty years.

Little to no dialogue in the half hour where the camera sweeps through the backdrop of Brokeback and captures the romanticized colours of the greenery while Ennis and Jack go about their assigned jobs is the perfect fitting for the bubbling tension in the men’s relationship where we are invited into their private world.

Brokeback Mountain serves as a key character in the story – When Ennis and Jack are on Brokeback; they can be themselves, without worrying about the outside world because they are together – something they do for the many years to come.

“This is nobody’s business but ours.” Jake says as he gazes out at Brokeback, referring to the night before where he and Ennis shared an intimate moment together. This is all that needs to be said between the two of them, before the summer of ’63 eventually ends and they go their separate ways and back to their ‘normal’ lives.

In the four years that pass, Ennis gets married to childhood sweetheart Alma (Michelle Williams) and has two kids, while Jack meets rodeo princess Lureen (Anne Hathaway) marries, and the two, like Ennis, start a family.

After replying to an unexpected postcard from Jack, Ennis waits anxiously for him to arrive, and when he hears Jack’s truck pull up outside, he darts down the steps and embraces him in an unbreakable hug, checking that no one is around before pinning him to the wall where the two passionately kiss. You feel the pain of their longing; the time that has gone by that the two haven’t been able to see each other aches as much in you as it does for Jack and Ennis.

The two make a pact – every four years, they will meet for fishing trips up on Brokeback – and as the years drift by, Ennis’s family life crumbles. He and Alma get a divorce, leaving Ennis alone with the company of his brief fling with Cassie (Linda Cardellini), while Jack and Lureen’s marriage is neither here nor there; they live together as roommates, barely conversing. Where Ennis and Jack have aged in their socially acceptable lives, their love hasn’t.

Brokeback Mountain’s screenplay (based on Annie Proulx’s tender short story) had been bunging around Hollywood for years, only to get the attention of Ang Lee and rightfully so – in the hands of another director, Brokeback wouldn’t have been the same film.

Ang Lee’s subtle but assured direction and breakout performances from Ledger and Gyllenhaal mark Ennis and Jack as the modern day Romeo and Juliet – a love that you root for every step of the way but you know as much as them that it can never be because of what society deems acceptable.

Cherokee Summer

Movie Review Archive

Filed Under: Uncategorized

FMTV – Watch Our Latest Video Here

WATCH OUR MOVIE NOW FOR FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

8 Great Cult Sci-Fi Films from 1985

The Film Feud of the 90s: Steven Seagal vs Jean-Claude Van Damme

10 Reasons Why Predator Is Awesome

Classic Retro Video Games Based on 80s UK TV Game Shows

Hasbro’s G.I. Joe Classified Series: A Real American Hero Reimagined

The Essential Revisionist Westerns of the 21st Century

The Must-See Movies of 2015

The Essential Films of John Woo

MTV Generation-Era Comedies That Need New Sequels

10 Alien Franchise Rip-Offs That Are Worth A Watch

Top Stories:

Peacock’s true crime drama Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy gets a trailer

Movie Review – Superman (2025)

Great Tarantino-esque Movies You Need To See

Great 2010s Thrillers You May Have Missed

New trailer for Netflix mystery-thriller series Untamed starring Eric Bana

7 Underrated World War II Romance Movies

Movie Review – Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (2025)

Movie Review – Sovereign (2025)

STREAM FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

FEATURED POSTS:

Seven Famous Cursed Movie Productions

7 Rotten Horror Movies That Deserve A Second Chance

Can Edgar Wright conquer America with The Running Man?

10 Great Movies from the Once-Dominant Carolco Pictures

Our Partners

  • Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

© Flickering Myth Limited. All rights reserved. The reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication of the content without permission is strictly prohibited. Movie titles, images, etc. are registered trademarks / copyright their respective rights holders. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. If you can read this, you don't need glasses.


 

Flickering MythLogo Header Menu
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket