Well, maybe the nurse reference to Linda and nursing is like the reference Lureen makes to the "ice storm"~ I would guess this is a nod to Ang Lee. I've also often wondered if the Jolly Green Giant sign that we see behind Monroe in the peanuts scene is a goofy reference to the Hulk. I know that Lee sometimes likes to put himself in his movies as a cameo... He does this in the Wedding Banquet for example. So, I wonder if, especially the ice storm comment, is sort of a reference to himself.
As you see the two of them way back in the forest, Jack says, “I wish I could rope a coyote.”
LOL!
That's quite a kooky line.
Well, this issue of dialogue between our boys that we can't hear is really interesting. There are at least two moments like that during the '63 summer. When they're setting up their second camp (when Jack hoists that driftwood log up and Ennis comes over to him and maybe touches his shoulder) we can hear that conversation is going on, but we can't make out the words. The same thing happens, also during the camp shift, there's a scene where Jack is shown on his horse positioned in stark profile to the audience and is near the sheep herd and Ennis comes ambling into the frame (he sort of emerges out of the space of the audience) with the string of mules behind him. As he approaches Jack we can hear that they're talking... but again, it seems quite deliberate that we can't hear what they're saying. And, then those examples of the later camping trips are other good intances of this phenomenon (as people have posted above). The most interesting moment, I think of the filmmakers blocking our ability to hear what the boys are saying comes in the flashback... Well, here I mean we can't hear what Ennis is humming to Jack because of the soundtrack that swells and overwhelms Ennis's humming.
My theory is that all of these (many) moments of not being able to hear/ fully participate in all these scenes is meant to make us feel a little like voyeurs... that we're witnessing something intensely private between Jack and Ennis and that some of what goes on is so private that we're not granted access. This idea of "privacy" is interesting to me lately... it reminds me of Lee's description from the DVD bonus features of the relationship being "private and precious and something they can't articulate" (I'm paraphrasing a bit... but it's turning into one of my favorite descriptions of the relationship between Jack and Ennis... especially in the early '63 stage of things).
[Apologies if I repeated anything here that's already been mentioned... I haven't re-read a lot of this thread for a long time].
