Hi,
this topic as been tangent to in the thread called "Black hats, white hats". Since it is ot over there, I opened new topic here
I still see it as Ennis going directly from the bus station/diner to the post office to the phone booth all on the same day. When you watched it again, Katherine, did you get this sense, too? I can see where he'd go to Lightning Flat on a different day - he'd have to look up the Twists and arrange a visit with them beforehand after all. But those three other things seem to take place in succession to me in the movie, anyway.
Barb, I've always assumed they happened on different days. Either of us could be right, I guess (let's check to see if the shirt under the jacket changes to find out for sure!).
I think the last scenes happen not only on different days, but they are weeks or even months apart from another. With one exception: receiving the postcard and the phone-call. I'm very sure they both happen on the same day, directly in a row. Ennis went right to the phone box after reading the card. He couldn't believe it (and didn't
want to believe it) but was horrified by the feeling it
is true. He needed to have certainty that it happened and needed to know
what had happened. He could not have waited for days to call Lureen, no way.
I can't think of Ennis reacting otherwise but directly call Lureen as soon as he read the card.
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Editing the above written:
I wanted to know it for sure and checked the screencaps at heathbaby.com
I was right. Ennis wears the same shirt when receiving the postcard and when calling Lureen. He wears a different one in the pie scene (which is shown directly before) and a different one at the Twist home scene (which is shown directly afterwards).
So my personal view of the time-line for the last scenes is:
pie scene - a couple of weeks, maybe more (one or two months) - receiving the postcard - immediately followed by the phone call - couple of days or weeks (not a long time) - Ennis at Twists' home - some months (a longer time now, nearly one year later because it has to be before June 1984) - trailer scene with Alma Jr and "Jack, I swear".