My favourite line is the one when Ennis is riding back u pto the sheep. He is so happy that he feels that" he could paw the white right off of the moon."
Too bad they couldn't convey that in the movie.
This is also one of my favorite parts/lines. Here is the exact passage, it give us such an insight into Ennis' happiness with Jack, way before anything physical happens.
They had a high-time supper by the fire, a can of beans each, fried potatoes and a
quart of whiskey on shares, sat with their backs against a log, boot soles and copper
jeans rivets hot, swapping the bottle while the lavender sky emptied of color and the
chill air drained down, drinking, smoking cigarettes, getting up every now and then
to piss, firelight throwing a sparkle in the arched stream, tossing sticks on the fire to
keep the talk going, talking horses and rodeo, roughstock events, wrecks and injuries
sustained, the submarine Thresher lost two months earlier with all hands and how it
must have been in the last doomed minutes, dogs each had owned and known, the
draft, Jack's home ranch where his father and mother held on, Ennis's family place
folded years ago after his folks died, the older brother in Signal and a married sister
in Casper. Jack said his father had been a pretty well known bullrider years back but
kept his secrets to himself, never gave Jack a word of advice, never came once to see
Jack ride, though he had put him on the woolies when he was a little kid. Ennis said
the kind of riding that interested him lasted longer than eight seconds and had some
point to it. Money's a good point, said Jack, and Ennis had to agree. They were
respectful of each other's opinions, each glad to have a companion where none had
been expected. Ennis, riding against the wind back to the sheep in the treacherous,
drunken light, thought he'd never had such a good time, felt he could paw the white
out of the moon.
I think the movie captured fragments of this when they were sitting around the fire drinking, talking and singing, Ennis banging a stick on the pot. I'm pretty sure that scene in the movie was the same night as the FNIT though, as this from the story shows Ennis riding back up to the sheep. The movie also portrayed this bonding when Jack tells Ennis that's the most he's spoken in two weeks, and Ennis' reply about the most he's spoken in a year.
This passage from the story is tied with the dozy embrace scene in Jack's memory as my two favorites, probably because they each show clearly the love between them.
