Never noticed that before.....and now I have, makes me wonder IF either one of them would really have sat their ciggie in the ashtray. I am a smoker, and if I were sitting at a bar I would hold the cigarette and just use the ashtray to flick the ash, and butt it out when I had finished it, but I doubt if I would sit it in the ashtray like that. Would be interested to know if any other smokers on here would either.
That's an interesting point. I'm not a smoker, but I can see why it would be unappealing to rest a cigarette on a public ashtray. I'd have to watch the scene in motion again to see exactly how the dynamics of the motions regarding the cigarettes work. Previously the motions of the boys' fingers on the beer bottles have been noted as very choreographed. And, since Ennis's request to borrow Jack's lighter has always been seen as significant... the cigarettes themselves might be worth considering more carefully.
I think the fact that it's a fresh cigarette is important... and probably was supplied by Jack. I think the positioning of it... pointing in between J & E is also one of the key things here.
The suggestiveness of the cigarette reminds me of at least a couple other points in the film... including the close-up shot of Jack with a cig in his mouth with Ennis bathing in the background. And, then of course the famous use of cigarettes in the Randall scene.
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