Smokes and Fire

[Front-Ranger]

It's funny that Alma is the only one in the movie to ask for a pack of cigarettes. The story says, "'Ennis--' said Alma in her misery voice, but that didn't slow him down on the stairs and he called back, 'Alma, you want smokes there's some in the pocket a my blue shirt in the bedroom.'" Alma's getting no fire from Ennis, that's for sure, and the little fire she does get comes from Ennis's blue shirt, the one he has to remind him of Jack's blue eyes.

Lureen is smoking when she asks Jack why it is that husbands don't never want to dance with their wives. She's using the fire as a substitute for the fire that she doesn't feel in their relationship. Jack brushes the barb off of himself, literallly--he brushes the cigarette ash off his sumptuous black duded up cowboy outfit, and says "Ain't never give it any thought." His fire for her is in ashes, since it never did burn that brightly anyway.

[Rutella]

And thinking of cigarettes, one part of the story which I wish was shown in the film is from the motel scene:
"Ennis pulled Jack's hand to his mouth, took a hit from the cigarette, exhaled. 'Sure as hell seem in one piece to me[....]'" There is something about the sharing of a cigarette in that way that gets me good. The next line also makes me feel a bit wibbly inside, though I can see why they might not have wanted Movie Ennis to say it.

And I also love the imagery when Jack is up with the sheep when he is smoking and looking down at Ennis' fire. The cigarette is a very small fire (and barely lit it seems) and despite the fact that Ennis is miles away, his fire is still burning bright. And the idea of Ennis as fire just seems so apt.

[Front-Ranger]

I don't smoke, but these passages make me want to fire one up and share it with each of you, Rutella and goadra!

[nakymaton]

The first image from the dozy embrace flashback is of the embers of the fire, still glowing.

[Rutella]

Ennis borrows Jack’s lighter at the bar. There’s a little spark between them as their fingers touch.

And as someone (sorry forget who) pointed out, Ennis is smoking outside Aguirre's trailer earlier so his asking for Jack's lighter at the bar is unnecessary and is his first kinda flirty thing.

I'm now having an imaginary cigarette (smoking....so sexy in Brokeback but makes me feel sick in real life)

I was just writing on another thread when I remembered another great cigarette moment that is written in the screenplay but not seen in the film; the beginning of the motel scene where the script says "the room is blue with cigarette smoke. The two men appear to be sleeping. We hold on them for a beat. Ennis awakens, rolls over, switches on the light, pulls out a cigarette, lights it. Jack awakens. Ennis lights a cigarette for him, hands it to him."

I'm not surprised the room is smoky with those two on fire all night. sigh.
  

[nakymaton]

What do you make of the scene when they've come down from the mountain and Aguirre is chewing them out? Ennis silently holds out his cigarette to Jack, and Jack turns his hand to show Ennis that Jack already has a cigarette of his own.

Almost seems to contradict the dynamic of the goodbye scene, where Jack seems to hope that the relationship can continue the next summer, and Ennis talks about getting married.

[Front-Ranger]

The goodbye scene is one of crossed signals anyway, and the smoke signals are crossed as well as the others!

[Brown Eyes]

And as someone (sorry forget who) pointed out, Ennis is smoking outside Aguirre's trailer earlier so his asking for Jack's lighter at the bar is unnecessary and is his first kinda flirty thing.  

Ooooo, good one!  I'd never stopped to consider this bit of evidence before... Ennis was able to light that very first cigarette while he was waiting, so he must have had a lighter or matches of his own.  I guess one could say that he's still being frugal here... he may be trying to save his own matches or lighter as much as possible... but still, this really does make his decision to ask for a light from Jack seem more flirty.  Even if it's sort of sub-consciously flirty for Ennis at this point.
 

And thinking of cigarettes, one part of the story which I wish was shown in the film is from the motel scene:
"Ennis pulled Jack's hand to his mouth, took a hit from the cigarette, exhaled. 'Sure as hell seem in one piece to me[....]'" There is something about the sharing of a cigarette in that way that gets me good. The next line also makes me feel a bit wibbly inside, though I can see why they might not have wanted Movie Ennis to say it.

I've always thought it was a shame they omitted the shared cigarette in the motel scene in the movie too.  It would have been a nice, subtle (not too explicit) erotic detail to leave in and would have helped establish the general idea of intimacy being a big part of the relationship as much as the sex and everything else.  I'm curious though, why do you say you can see why the filmmakers didn't want Ennis to say that line?  I know that Proulx seems to have fought long and hard to have more of the motel scene included in the film... it really is the heart of the story in many ways (it includes so much of the important background info and plot exposition in the story that it takes on a crucial importance in the text).  I think the details you point out would have been great for the filmmakers to include... and honestly, I don't understand why the cut so much of it out... especially since there's so little intimacy filmmed in the later camping trips.
 

[Brown Eyes]

What do you make of the scene when they've come down from the mountain and Aguirre is chewing them out? Ennis silently holds out his cigarette to Jack, and Jack turns his hand to show Ennis that Jack already has a cigarette of his own.

Almost seems to contradict the dynamic of the goodbye scene, where Jack seems to hope that the relationship can continue the next summer, and Ennis talks about getting married.

That's a really interesting little moment... and if flies by so that some of the subtlties are easy to miss.  The facial expressions are so stoic that it's also sort of hard to understand what the states of emotion are in this little exchange.  For the longest time I didn't even notice Ennis's hand gesture as being one of offering the cigarette to Jack.  I just thought we were supposed to be watching them leaning there smoking.  It took me a long time to see that the gestures/ arm movements could mean something more.  If Ennis truly is offering Jack his cigarette here... wow, that really would be flirty and surprisingly open for Ennis.  It seems sort of out of character that Jack would reject a relatively open act of friendship/ affection.  So, maybe we're supposed to think he's still really mad here.   I wonder if this is a little "bookend" to the early bar scene with the shared lighter.

[Penthesilea]

And as someone (sorry forget who) pointed out, Ennis is smoking outside Aguirre's trailer earlier so his asking for Jack's lighter at the bar is unnecessary and is his first kinda flirty thing.

Not necessarily. I'm a smoker. Lighters are just more convenient than matches. If I had matches and any other person a lighter, I'd ask for the lighter, too. Or if I had my matches (or lighter) somerwhere in my pockets, but the other one has it handy or on the table or is toying with it,  I'd take the other person's instead of pulling mine out from the pocket. Lighters and matches are always in the last pocket you look. I wonder how many hours of his life a smoker spends with looking for lighter/matches  .

So Ennis asking Jack for the lighter is maybe unnecessary, but is sure a complete ordinary occurrence. That doesn't exclude the possibility it is indeed a flirty thing. But it could just as likely be not a flirty thing.

On a sidenote and off-topic on this thread:
What I find far more remarkably at the bar scene is that Ennis tells Jack the story that and how his parents died without being directly asked.

Do we ever actually see Alma smoking? I think not.
After J's&E's night at the Siesta, it would have been logical to see a full ashtray in front of Alma at the kitchen table, presuming she sat there half the night (or longer).

[nakymaton]

I think I've seen a full ashtray in front of Alma in a screencap from the fullscreen version of the movie. (I don't have the fullscreen version, though, and it's been a long time since I looked at those screencap comparisons. But I think there is an ashtray that's invisible in the widescreen version.)

[nakymaton]

If Ennis truly is offering Jack his cigarette here... wow, that really would be flirty and surprisingly open for Ennis.  It seems sort of out of character that Jack would reject a relatively open act of friendship/ affection.  So, maybe we're supposed to think he's still really mad here.   I wonder if this is a little "bookend" to the early bar scene with the shared lighter.

Or maybe it's a way of reminding us of how comfortable they were together on the mountain? It does seem really open and flirty for Ennis, but, well, Ennis was pretty open and flirty at times on the mountain. They might have been in the habit of passing cigarettes back and forth. (And that makes me wish we had seen Ennis smoke from Jack's cigarette in the hotel... )

But it does seem out of character for Jack to reject the offer... though since he already had a lit cigarette, what else would he do? Smoke two at once? Even the sheep might have noticed that something was odd about that...

[Ellemeno]

Not sure of the wording, it's been a long time since I seen it:

Cassie: "Cowboys like you drinkin' and smokin', it gets tiresome."


Updated below.

[Front-Ranger]

I think you're almost right. Isn't it "Cowboys like U demandin beer after beer, smokin...it gets tiresome."

About Jack showing Ennis his hidden cigarette, does it mean that he's keeping his fire for Ennis hidden and protected? And is Ennis, by offering to share the cigarette, saying that his fire still burns for Jack, even after the mixup on the last day on the mountain?

I think this episode you point out, Mel, will have to go into the catalogue of favorite wordless moments, too!

[Meryl]

I like how Ang shoots the second tent scene so that the campfire is visible between their bodies.

[Mikaela]

There is an ashtray in front of Alma when Ennis returns after the motel night, but it is by no means overflowing. I doesn't seem to me they tried to make a point of her having been smoking heavily all through the night. Maybe rather the opposite - that her fire(s) were being quenched as the night progressed?


I've always seen Ennis asking Jack for a light in the bar before Brokeback as frugality on Ennis's part - perhaps he'd just used his last match. The way he carefully saves the half-smoked cigarette and then decides to splurge and smoke the rest of it there in the bar, although holding back from using his own match or lighter....... - to me all of it that illustrates how much he's used to "hard life and privation". How much frugality has become his second nature. But I rather like the idea that he's subconsciouly flirting a little. 


I suppose that the scene where Jack sees Ennis as far-off "night fire, a red spark on the huge black mass of mountain", is too obvious to be mentioned amid the subtlety of this thread. But I'll mention it nevertheless, because I love that little scene and how faithfully it manages to illustrate the short story's evokative description.

[serious crayons]

It's "Drunks like you, demandin beer after beer, smokin ... Gets tiresome." (Confirmed by the STS book, by my elbow.)

I haven't smoked on a regular basis for about 20 years, but whenever I watch the movie I always feel like buying a pack and firing one up.

[Ellemeno]

Thanks to goadra, FR, and latjoreme's elbow:

Cassie: "Drunks like you, demandin beer after beer, smokin ... Gets tiresome."

[Penthesilea]

I haven't smoked on a regular basis for about 20 years, but whenever I watch the movie I always feel like buying a pack and firing one up.

 


Another favourite smoking moment of mine:
Ennis getting ready to go up to the sheep the very first time, directly when they switch jobs. He's standing besides his horse twiddling with the saddle bag, cigarette first in left hand, then in his mouth as he mounts the horse.
Don't know if there's any deeper meaning to it, but I love this scene. And Ennis little coughing.
Ennis's whole demeanor is so typical here.

[nakymaton]

I've always seen Ennis asking Jack for a light in the bar before Brokeback as frugality on Ennis's part - perhaps he'd just used his last match. The way he carefully saves the half-smoked cigarette and then decides to splurge and smoke the rest of it there in the bar, although holding back from using his own match or lighter....... - to me all of it that illustrates how much he's used to "hard life and privation". How much frugality has become his second nature.

Thinking back to that half-smoked cigarette at the beginning of the movie... I've always looked at it as a very subtle way of showing us how poor Ennis is. But to play along with the fire-as-sexuality symbolism here, the fact that Ennis puts out his own cigarette, deliberately, by squashing it between his fingers, could also say something about the way that Ennis has repressed his sexuality. (And then he hides it in his pocket!) Maybe pushing a symbol too far, though. I dunno.

Jack lights up on the steps before he introduces himself to Ennis, doesn't he? (He lights up figuratively, too, with a great open smile during the "Your folks just stop at Ennis?" line.)

On Ennis's first night going up to the sheep, Jack is also smoking, isn't he? He stands there, smoking, while Ennis rides away?

[Mikaela]

Jack lights up on the steps before he introduces himself to Ennis, doesn't he? (He lights up figuratively, too, with a great open smile during the "Your folks just stop at Ennis?" line.)

Great observation. Jack's very good at lighting up figuratively - the further the film progresses the less he does it or has reason to do it. Which perhaps ties into the next comment:

On Ennis's first night going up to the sheep, Jack is also smoking, isn't he? He stands there, smoking, while Ennis rides away?

Yes he does. He's holding a cig, but it's after he's watched Ennis ride off that he takes a mighty puff of smoke. It's as if, having watched the one who makes him light up figuratively ride away, he needs the proxy, the comfort that the small literal fire of the cig gives him.


Another "fire" image I've been thinking of is Jack, trying to place his feet as close as possible to their camp fire without actually sticking his boots directly into the fire. It looks as if he's precariously close to being singed and hurt, never quite finding a good, comfortable position that is close to the fire's heat and light without being dangerously close. That does seem to illustrate his relationship with Ennis......

[serious crayons]

Ennis getting ready to go up to the sheep the very first time, directly when they switch jobs. He's standing besides his horse twiddling with the saddle bag, cigarette first in left hand, then in his mouth as he mounts the horse.
Don't know if there's any deeper meaning to it, but I love this scene. And Ennis little coughing.
Ennis's whole demeanor is so typical here.

I love this scene, too, Penth! And especially the cough. Funny -- I was just thinking about this earlier today, before I read your post. 

Thinking back to that half-smoked cigarette at the beginning of the movie... I've always looked at it as a very subtle way of showing us how poor Ennis is. But to play along with the fire-as-sexuality symbolism here, the fact that Ennis puts out his own cigarette, deliberately, by squashing it between his fingers, could also say something about the way that Ennis has repressed his sexuality. (And then he hides it in his pocket!) Maybe pushing a symbol too far, though. I dunno.

Mel, any symbol you can endorse is rock-solid (so to speak), in my book. I think you're absolutely right about this one.

Yes he does. He's holding a cig, but it's after he's watched Ennis ride off that he takes a mighty puff of smoke. It's as if, having watched the one who makes him light up figuratively ride away, he needs the proxy, the comfort that the small literal fire of the cig gives him.


Another "fire" image I've been thinking of is Jack, trying to place his feet as close as possible to their camp fire without actually sticking his boots directly into the fire. It looks as if he's precariously close to being singed and hurt, never quite finding a good, comfortable position that is close to the fire's heat and light without being dangerously close. That does seem to illustrate his relationship with Ennis......

I love both these, too, Mikaela!

And speaking of proxy smoking, how about when Jack is gazing down from the mountain at night at Ennis' fire. And what about the scene where he doesn't gaze at Ennis (i.e., the bathing scene)?

[serious crayons]

Oh, I just thought of another one!

Alma: You oughta get married again, Ennis. Me and the girls worry about you being alone so much.
Ennis: Once burned ...

So of course, he's mainly referring to the bad experience in his first marriage. But at another level, the level at which fire=love, he could be talking about Jack: he's been "burned" once and therefore will never get married.

Going too far? Maybe ...

[Front-Ranger]

Nah, never too far, never too far....

Going back to the warshing scene, I was struck last time I saw it how the smoke from Jack's exhalation swirls around the out-of-focus image of naked Ennis in the background, further obscuring him (dang!) just at the time when we hear the swishing of alec the warshrag in the bucket of water. It's a potent image.

[nakymaton]

Well, I would be skeptical about reading too much into two guys smoking all the time in the early 60's, except for the whole tradition of post-coital smoking. (Geez, I've never smoked, but all this discussion makes me crave... something... too. )

It's interesting how different smoking in a person's arms can look, though. Ennis smoking while lying in bed with Jack is hot enough to make the whole damn motel spontaneous combust (or  maybe that was just the audience). But Ennis smoking while dancing with Cassie seems like a sign of disinterest.

[serious crayons]

But Ennis smoking while dancing with Cassie seems like a sign of disinterest.

What is that line from the "cowboy etiquette" thread? Something like, "If you should find yourself dancing with a woman, keep her at arm's length and smoke furiously until the situation subsides."

 

[Mikaela]

Going back to the warshing scene, I was struck last time I saw it how the smoke from Jack's exhalation swirls around the out-of-focus image of naked Ennis in the background, further obscuring him (dang!) just at the time when we hear the swishing of the warshrag in the bucket of water. It's a potent image.

I just wanted to agree with this. It really is!  And this discussion has managed to make more sense of the prominently placed cigarette in that scene.

Ennis smoking while lying in bed with Jack is hot enough to make the whole damn motel spontaneous combust (or  maybe that was just the audience).

This has to be the time for an illustration on the thread:

My excuse is that I absolutely love Ennis's expression here, and the way he holds the cig here is just perfect.  (Not that I don't love the entire scene and everything in it....... )


Getting back to the discussion at hand..... there is less smoking in J&E's scenes together towards the end. And then they share that joint. In a way, more intimate because they're actually sharing the one joint, but on the other hand.... is this indicating that their fire is struggling, in danger of going out; and so those ordinary cigs don't suffice anymore? That it's getting more desperate in a way, more in need of an artificial boost? Probably rather far-fetched, but still..... it's a thought.

[Front-Ranger]

Hey, meryl, that was a good observation about TS2, shot with the campfire in the background between their two faces. I almost missed that post where you pointed that out!

Also, Mikeala, you bring up a good point: how they hold their cigarettes. In my neighborhood, there were two ways: with the fingers over the cigarette, which was the "rural" or "cowboy" way and with the cigarette perched between the index and middle fingers, which was the citified way. The latter hold was good for use while driving a car, but the cupping hold was better if you were on a horse or out in the wind, to protect the flame from going out. Well, I'll just have to watch the movie again to see how they hold'em and then we can extrapolate the meaning from it.

[Brown Eyes]

Thinking back to that half-smoked cigarette at the beginning of the movie... I've always looked at it as a very subtle way of showing us how poor Ennis is. But to play along with the fire-as-sexuality symbolism here, the fact that Ennis puts out his own cigarette, deliberately, by squashing it between his fingers, could also say something about the way that Ennis has repressed his sexuality. (And then he hides it in his pocket!) Maybe pushing a symbol too far, though. I dunno.

Jack lights up on the steps before he introduces himself to Ennis, doesn't he? (He lights up figuratively, too, with a great open smile during the "Your folks just stop at Ennis?" line.)

On Ennis's first night going up to the sheep, Jack is also smoking, isn't he? He stands there, smoking, while Ennis rides away?

These are some fine observations here, Bud.  I like the new interpretation of the half-smoked cigarette especially. 

Also, those stills posted above of Ennis getting ready to mount the horse and Jack approaching really make the "cigarette-choreography" stand out.  The play of Ennis taking a drag mirrored by Jack taking a drag in the distance is great.  And, those stills really make it look like Jack is cruising Ennis... if there was ever any doubt.  Somehow it seems more obvious in these still images though than it does in the film as it plays.

[Mikaela]

Somehow I feel this picture might fit this thread.

The cigarettes and the way both men hold them seem part of a very deliberate set-up. Which can surely be read more ways than one - but one seems to be in the studied and somehow disinterested way they handle their smokes: They're smoking mainly to have something to do, to make time pass, to hide any awkwardness behind. There's not much urgency in those cigs, small fires banked low and certainly not about to blaze out of control there and then. Could be taken to infer something about their upcoming relationship, I suppose.  (And I  also figure that potentially something could be made of the positions of those cigs and the way the men hold them - but I'm not giving that one a go.)

[Brown Eyes]

Good one Mikaela,

Yup, that photo seems very appropriate to the thread.  Those cigs are certainly suggestive in numerous ways.

My question about the pic is sort of off topic... is that a true still from the film or is it another promo photo? 

[Mikaela]

I think it's probably a snippet that wasn't used directly - I think looks like a photo of the actual scene in the film in progress, from a slightly different angle. At any rate I believe it's close enough to the actual scene, and that both actors are in character - so IMO it's OK to use it in this thread.

[LauraGigs]

Another potent (sorry) image to me is the positioning of the fire in the shot just prior to the first tent scene. 

(Basically right in front of Ennis' groin area — a seething volcano of masculine energy about to be released?  Or am I seeing too much/getting too explicit?)

[Meryl]

I don't think you're off the mark, LauraGigs.  Just look at the positioning of that coffee pot when Ennis is stretched out there. 

[Mikaela]

Isn't that one of the behind-the-scenes things it would be - ahem - interesting to watch in a Collector's Edition DVD?

You know, Ang Lee and Rodrigo Prieto and Heath..... setting up camera angles, having Heath find exactly the right place and position... for the shot to look just like that. Must have taken some effort on all their parts after all. It's certainly far from a coincidence. 

[Front-Ranger]

There's been a lot of discussions of ashes in the story and the movie...not all of it has made it onto this topic. We'll have to do some catch-up. Currently I'm reading a story in the Close Range collection that brings up the metaphor of ashes as well:

She had two women friends, Pamela Gratt and Ruth Wolfe, both of them burning at a slower rate than Josanna, but in their own desperate ways also disintegrating into drifts of ash.

This is from A Lonely Coast, a story about Wyoming that imagines it as the coastline of an ancient ocean, which it is, buffeted not by waves but by wind.