tent scene, in the short story.

[starboardlight]

"Too late to go out to them damn sheep," said Ennis, dizzy drunk on all fours one cold hour when the moon had notched past two. The meadow stones glowed white-green and a flinty wind worked over the meadow, scraped the fire low, then ruffled it into yellow silk sashes. "Got you a extra blanket I'll roll up out here and grab forty winks, ride out at first light."
"Freeze your ass off when that fire dies down. Better off sleepin in the tent."
"Doubt I'll feel nothin." But he staggered under canvas, pulled his boots off, snored on the ground cloth for a while, woke Jack with the clacking of his jaw.
"Jesus Christ, quit hammerin and get over here. Bedroll's big enough," said Jack in an irritable sleep-clogged voice. It was big enough, warm enough, and in a little while they deepened their intimacy considerably. Ennis ran full-throttle on all roads whether fence mending or money spending, and he wanted none of it when Jack seized his left hand and brought it to his erect cock. Ennis jerked his hand away as though he'd touched fire, got to his knees, unbuckled his belt, shoved his pants down, hauled Jack onto all fours and, with the help of the clear slick and a little spit, entered him, nothing he'd done before but no instruction manual needed. They went at it in silence except for a few sharp intakes of breath and Jack's choked "gun's goin off," then out, down, and asleep. "

From reading it again, I'm getting the sense that it was more mutually started than in the film. Ennis didn't start out sleeping outside but rather went into the tent right off the bat. They had gotten intimate even before Jack put Ennis's hand there.

[serious crayons]

From reading it again, I'm getting the sense that it was more mutually started than in the film. Ennis didn't start out sleeping outside but rather went into the tent right off the bat. They had gotten intimate even before Jack put Ennis's hand there.

I've had that sense, too, star. That's one of the reasons I find the movie characters more complex and distinct. The  idea of Ennis struggling with his own homophobia, one of the major themes if not THE major theme of the movie, is almost absent in the story.

When Ennis wakes up, jolts upright -- then stops, thinks about it, changes his mind, and moves slowly toward Jack ... well, that may be my very favorite moment of the movie.

[TJ]

It was big enough, warm enough, and in a little while they deepened their intimacy considerably.

The screenplay writers and/or the movie makers ignored what is in the quoted sentence which was even in the New Yorker Magazine version of the short story.

I say that when Jack felt the rise in Ennis's Levi's, the reason that took Ennis's left hand and put it on his (Jack's) erect cock was to show Ennis that he was just a horny, too.

And, knowing how to camp in cool weather and how to more more comfortably warm when sleeping in a bedroll or sleeping bag, I say that more than likely since Jack was an experienced Brokeback Mountain camper, he was probably sleeping naked.

In the book, Ennis slept, even snored, on the canvas floor of the tent before he woke Jack up with his teeth chattering, aka jaw clattering, from the cold. (Ennis did not lie down out in the open air by the campfire as in the movie.)

So, I say that there was some foreplay before they actually had anal intercourse. The reason that Ennis was the top, he liked to be the first to do things when given the chance.

[maggiesmommy GayLee]

i noticed something about this scene when i watched  with the subs on...it doesn't say "hammerin" it says "yammerin"?
that's new to me...anyone else??

[TJ]

When I watched the DVD with a friend this afternoon, both my friend, Ron, and I noticed that sometimes what was said by the actors was not the same as in the subtitles. And sometimes what was in the subtitles was not even said at all in the scene. And, sometimes when the actors talked, there was nothing as a subtitle.

[Ellemeno]

i noticed something about this scene when i watched  with the subs on...it doesn't say "hammerin" it says "yammerin"?
that's new to me...anyone else??

Yes, I noticed that.  The subtitiles are wrong, of course.    They are pretty accurate subtitles most of the movie, but there are a few errors.

[Jeff Wrangler]

No wonder Story Ennis was so cold his jaws were clacking. It was already established that Story Ennis doesn't even wear socks, yet he took his boots off to sleep on what was presumable a cold night.

I think TJ raises an interesting point that I don't think I've ever seen discussed anywhere, in relation to either the story or the film. While AP gives us no direct evidence for it, was Ennis already hard when Jack put his (Ennis's) hand on his own (Jack's) erection?

Um, if I may speak from personal experience, this is a completely logical assumption under the circumstances. ... 

[serious crayons]

I think TJ raises an interesting point that I don't think I've ever seen discussed anywhere, in relation to either the story or the film. While AP gives us no direct evidence for it, was Ennis already hard when Jack put his (Ennis's) hand on his own (Jack's) erection?

Um, if I may speak from personal experience, this is a completely logical assumption under the circumstances. ... 

Maybe. It does make a lot of sense in the story context. But Movie Jack couldn't have known either way.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Maybe. It does make a lot of sense in the story context. But Movie Jack couldn't have known either way.

I don't remember: Is movie Ennis lying on his side facing Jack's back?

[silkncense]

They had gotten intimate even before Jack put Ennis's hand there.

I understand it that although they were sleeping in the same bedroll, they became intimate shortly after Jack placed Ennis' hand on his (Jack's) erection.  Annie is foreshadowing what she was about to describe, IMHO.