Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
"Jack, I swear..." What do you think Ennis meant by that?
TJ:
Ennis's getting the postcard and putting up the postcard above the shirts on the wall of his trailer and his oath of "Jack, I swear--" was the beginning of Ennis working through his own handling of grief and bereavement due to the loss of his apparently first best friend who was also loved Ennis with no changes in whom he was.
In the short story as Diana Ossana first read it and had Larry McMurtry read in the New Yorker Magazine, there was nothing about a married daughter at all. But, I don't have a problem with Alma Jr. going to her father to tell him that she was going to get married and Ennis asking, "Does Kurt love you?" In the movie, she did not have to drive so many miles to the rural trailer park somewhere near Riverton; but, in the book, Ennis's trailer was not even in the same county and it was on the Stoutamire ranch. I actually had a little tear when Ennis asked that question in the movie.
We are sorta OT here; but, I have known many guys who were born to be great fathers, yet they failed miserably as husbands or should not have been married in the first place. My late partner/husband, Ed, had been married 13 years to a woman whom he loved as a friend and she already had a son and a daughter. His step-daughter, Linda, was 17 when she herself got married just before Ed divorced Jessie. Linda told me that Ed was the only father she ever knew and he could not have been a better father.
Aussie Chris:
--- Quote from: TJ on May 04, 2006, 01:15:39 am ---In the short story as Diana Ossana first read it and had Larry McMurtry read in the New Yorker Magazine, there was nothing about a married daughter at all. But, I don't have a problem with Alma Jr. going to her father to tell him that she was going to get married and Ennis asking, "Does Kurt love you?" In the movie, she did not have to drive so many miles to the rural trailer park somewhere near Riverton; but, in the book, Ennis's trailer was not even in the same county and it was on the Stoutamire ranch. I actually had a little tear when Ennis asked that question in the movie.
--- End quote ---
Yes TJ, this is one of the most powerful scenes in the film, everyone loves it and with the help of our Amanda (atz75) and others I appreciate it more each time. I was listening to a podcast that Phillip posted somewhere that has a really good interview with Ang Lee about the writing of that additional scene. He felt it was necessary to really establish Ennis' redemption. I think Ang was saying that he took it (or the idea I can't remember) to Larry McMurtry and he immediately loved it. I think they were so right to have it, I don't think I would have been so moved otherwise.
serious crayons:
And we've discussed this before, but a little repetition never hurts: the most moving part for me is not so much the question as Ennis' expression right afterward, when he gazes out the window.
I only started noticing the complexity of that amazing moment toward the end of my theater viewings, so when I finally get my DVD those are some frames I will especially concentrate on.
TJ:
I have noticed, in real time, that some men of few words do look to the side to pause to think before they say something very important. Because that looking to the side as though out the window was done in the movie, it added to the question about Junior's boy friend. And, that's why it affected my own response.
chris_chicago:
"Jack, I swear......I did love you"
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