A few points that struck me upon re-viewing last night:
1. When Jack is simulating for Ennis the experience of being on a bucking bull, he says (this is probably a paraphrase), "He's tossing me up to high heaven...but I'm not gonna let him dashboard me." The first phrase is an interesting reversal of his notion that guys like him and Ennis will "march off to hell" at the Last Judgment: clearly, riding the bulls is the closest Jack feels to heaven, even if he always ends up being dashed to earth. But I'm still sorting out the resonance of the second phrase. It suggests a car's dashboard, and of course both Ennis' parents and possibly Jack himself are killed as a result of a car malfunction. But it also suggests "paradise by the dashboard light" and the Meatloaf song of that name, in which a horny young man is lured into marriage by a woman, as Jack is by Lureen.
2. When Ennis says his "one shot thing" and "I ain't queer" lines, he is facing away from the camera. This suggests to me he's in deep denial: not only can he not look Jack (or us) in the face when he says this, but he's effectively rendering himself "faceless" by maintaining this straight facade. Jack, in contrast, is shown full-face when he replies "nobody's business but ours" and "me neither" - all the better to see the little facials tics that suggest he's lying to keep in Ennis' good graces, but also suggesting that even in dishonesty, Jack is more "open" than Ennis.
3. When Jack is bucked off the bull and seems in danger of being trampled, the announcer shouts, "Send in the clowns!" This scene occurs nearly a decade before Stephen Sondheim wrote the song of that name, but I couldn't help considering its lyrics and how they apply to our boys. Here they are:
Isn't it rich?
Aren't we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground
You in mid-air
Send in the clowns
Isn't it bliss?
Don't you approve?
One who keeps tearing around
One who can't move
Where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns
Just when I stopped
Opening doors
Finally knowing the one
That I wanted was yours
Making my entrance again
With my usual flair
Sure of my lines
No one is there
Don't you love farce?
My fault, I fear
I thought that you want what I want
Sorry, my dear
But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns
Don't bother
They're here
Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer?
Losing my timing this late
In my career?
And where are the clowns?
There ought to be clowns
Well maybe
Next year
4. When L.D. says "Rodeo can get" the boxes of formula, he tosses the car keys to Jack the same way Joe Aguirre tossed the watch to Ennis. Annie Proulx says this gesture indicated that Aguirre thought Ennis "wasn't worth the reach," and that would go double for L.D. and Jack.
5. As Ennis is leaving for the first "fishing trip," Alma looks out the window and hears Jack say, "I'm starving. Let's get something to eat." She starts crying at that point, perhaps partly because she realizes that Ennis' claim that Jack isn't the restaurant type was yet one more lie, and partly because she now grasps that Ennis wouldn't even consider asking her to fix something for them (and hence, in a way, doesn't need her any more). The latter thought, in fact, may explain her utter lack of sympathy for him in the "dinner's on the stove" scene.
6. When Alma suggests that Ennis pursue a job at the power company, he scoffs, "As clumsy as I am, I'd probably get electrocuted." We usually think of Jack as the clumsy one, so could this be more than just a dodge, but a clue that Ennis has already linked himself with Jack in his mind? (The irony of Jack's death, if one believes it was an accident, makes this all the more poignant.)
7. When Ennis first dances with Cassie, they're right next to a woman covered in tattoos. I couldn't help being reminded of the tattooed bikers Ennis beats up at the Fourth of July picnic. There, he was protecting the women and children from the unwanted advances of sexual predators; here, he's putting himself in danger of a sexual situation with a woman that, deep down, is unwanted, and which will end up being equally destructive, on an emotional level, for all concerned.