Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > All Things Brokeback: Books, Interviews and More
The Deleted Hippie Scene from the 2004 Screenplay.
Lynne:
I suppose I agree that the movie is better without the hippie scene, because I prefer to think of their time after Brokeback as invisible and uninterrupted. Nonetheless, I think that Jack's line that 'He coulda been a hippie if he had more education.' is profound.
It highlights for me that the very smallest changes in their circumstances - born a little bit later, somewhere a little less conservative, finishing that sophomore year, may have made an enormous difference to them and the way they viewed their options. Maybe they wouldn't have been the types to become hippies and head for SF, but Denver would have been a realistic choice. For me this simple realization, is poignant - very small changes in circumstance ripple and can make a world of difference.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: smellykellyjay on June 15, 2007, 10:46:46 pm ---I don't think we really see changing fashions with Ennis. Maybe the sideburns. But not changing is part of his character.
--- End quote ---
Right. I was thinking mainly of the sideburns. And Lureen's appearance. And Jack and Lureen's interior decorating.
--- Quote ---I think it would have been better if Ennis didn't like the hippies because he didn't understand them, didn't know how to deal with them, had no experience with people like that. Make it be about his insecurities around strangers and unfamiliar things than some nasty prejudice. I suppose the scene voilates my ideal of Ennis as being kind hearted and loving unless he's messed with or feels threatened.
--- End quote ---
I agree. Well put.
--- Quote from: Lynne on June 15, 2007, 10:58:53 pm ---I think that Jack's line that 'He coulda been a hippie if he had more education.' is profound.
It highlights for me that the very smallest changes in their circumstances - born a little bit later, somewhere a little less conservative, finishing that sophomore year, may have made an enormous difference to them and the way they viewed their options.
--- End quote ---
You're right, Lynne, and in that sense it is profound. Differences like that could have changed their fates drastically.
Still, that line seems to me to imply a self-awareness and larger cultural awareness in Jack that strikes me as somewhat unrealistic and too precocious. Even if Jack thought he coulda been a hippie, it seems more likely he'd attribute the fact that he isn't one to his age or the fact that he lived in small towns or something more obvious. Though WE can see how education might make the difference, because it would have changed his political views and level of sophistication, those are fairly subtle points -- after all, technically there's nothing to stop an uneducated person from becoming a hippie (and in fact, by 1973 many uneducated people HAD become hippies) -- so it's hard to imagine Jack noticing, from his perspective, how education would be a key factor.
Mikaela:
--- Quote ---How do you know what was and wasn't filmed?
--- End quote ---
Oh, for sure I do not know anything with absolute certainty, I've got no connections that would give me any kind of inside information (more's the pity!). It's just based on circumstantial evidence available to all of us, - from being in the fandom nearly two years and looking at every image, reading and watching every interview etc. etc. that have come my way inclusive a lot of stuff on the net. So your guess is as good as mine. However, if by now noone's ever mentioned filming a particular scene, and there isn't a single image that could be construed to be from the scene, and the scene as available in early script drafts clashes profoundly with the tone, substance and characterizations in the scenes actuallly filmed, then I think we've got enough to base a conclusion on.
Though it's an uncertain science to be sure. I'd say that the Star Wars scene is a very safe bet as "never filmed". Back when I read it it just struck me to be completely off from the scenes that were filmed. Then there's a sliding scale of probability towards the "possibly filmed" and "likely filmed" ones. Though it's mere conjecture I'd still hold the scene where the Twists rescue the Malones as a "possible". At the other end of the scale are the ones that I felt or feel pretty sure had been filmed. Best example of that would be the prolonged part of the one camping scene, where Jack (according to the early script) gives Ennis an expensive gun and gets thoroughly upbraded for it. An image just surfaced that seems to confirm that this was in fact filmed. But we won't know till we get the deleted scenes. And I'm very surprised that nothing is happening on the DVD front. The film was the best by far in its year, it won so many awards it takes long time just to list them, it has a quite large, still active and very devoted fanbase; - obviously willing to spend money, buying thank you ads, publishing books, etc.... I do have a hard time understanding why Focus Films won't produce a DVD with proper commentary tracks and high quality bonus material worthy of the film. But I've been griping about that for a year, I think. ::)
Fans like me, demanding deleted scene after deleted scene.....It gets tiresome. ;)
Mikaela:
--- Quote from: Lynne on June 15, 2007, 10:58:53 pm ---Nonetheless, I think that Jack's line that 'He coulda been a hippie if he had more education.' is profound.
It highlights for me that the very smallest changes in their circumstances - born a little bit later, somewhere a little less conservative, finishing that sophomore year, may have made an enormous difference to them and the way they viewed their options. [ ] For me this simple realization, is poignant - very small changes in circumstance ripple and can make a world of difference.
--- End quote ---
Oh Lynne, THANK YOU so much for this! This is such a generous and wise take on that one line of Jack's.
I'm embarrassed to say that when first I read that, I cynically and sadly read it as Jack's way of showing disapproval of the Hippies at the same time as disparaging his own childhood dreams. I heard Jack almost echoing his father. "They've got education, probably been to college, got out into the world, and just look where the education got them. It wasn't worth much. I'm much better off without."
Yes, I actually read it as a "There, but for the grace of God, go I". :( :-\ Needless to say I'm very happy to embrace your interpretation instead, Lynne.
----
On a separate note, I see that the script says that the VW bus is so far into water that it has "water at window-height". But in the picture of Ennis getting the girls to shore, the water is barely lapping at the bus's tires. The girls could therefore easily enough have waded to shore on their own pretty feet. Then again, the image can't be from the scene as it would have appeared if included in the film, since there's another rider visible who isn't Jack. I wonder if that particular part of the filmed scene would have been closer to the script if finalized. I hope so, but if so I don't see why they would not just stick the VW in deeper water from the very first. However it would have seemed really silly for Ennis to "save" the girls from the situation in the image. The only reason for him to do that would be if he really *wanted* them close up, and as quickly as possible.
Fran:
--- Quote from: Mikaela on June 16, 2007, 02:35:47 pm ---
On a separate note, I see that the script says that the VW bus is so far into water that it has "water at window-height". But in the picture of Ennis getting the girls to shore, the water is barely lapping at the bus's tires. The girls could therefore easily enough have waded to shore on their own pretty feet. Then again, the image can't be from the scene as it would have appeared if included in the film, since there's another rider visible who isn't Jack. I wonder if that particular part of the filmed scene would have been closer to the script if finalized. I hope so, but if so I don't see why they would not just stick the VW in deeper water from the very first. However it would have seemed really silly for Ennis to "save" the girls from the situation in the image. The only reason for him to do that would be if he really *wanted* them close up, and as quickly as possible.
--- End quote ---
Good observation, Mikaela. Your "The girls could therefore easily enough have waded to shore on their own pretty feet" made me smile. Well said!
Maybe the photo is from a "dress rehearsal" of the scene. BTW, I assumed the other guy in the background was Jack -- so much for my powers of observation. :)
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