Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
"If your can't fix it, Jack...You gotta stand it."
dot-matrix:
I just now finished watching again on HBO for the umpteenth time and something struck me that I never picked up on before. If this has been shared or discussed please bear with me I did try to find a thread already started on this topic :) I looked at IMDB as well but no mentions of this specific scene as pivotal beyond that special line.
Ennis: Two guys livin together? No way. We can get together once in a while way the hell out in the back of nowhere, but...
Jack: ....Once in a while....ever' four fuckin years!?!
Ennis: If your can't fix it, Jack...You gotta stand it.
Jack: (quiet) For how long?
Ennis: Long as we can ride it. (pause) Ain't no reins on this one.
both quiet, Jack reaches out a hand and gently strokes Ennis' cheek.
I watched this over and over again lately and I think I finally got it. Everything about Ennis in that scene is about Ennis telling Jack he loves him even though he won't chuck it all to be with him. He shares his thoughts and fears with Jack something he would never do with anyone else even Alma. But the capper in my mind are the words "Long as we can ride it. Ain't no reins on this one". to me, Ennis is saying clear as he can: Jack you are important to me and I don't want to lose you, I love you but I've got responsibilities, work with me here. For a proud taciturn man like Ennis that scene is incredible and those few words he chooses are profound.
mvansand76:
I agree, I have always interpreted this scene like that. Without using the exact words he tells Jack that he loves him and that nothing in the world will keep him from loving him but that it's gonna be a difficult ride....ain't no reins on this one, (in the short story he adds, it scares the **** out of me if I remember correctly). He is so scared of what he is feeling, but he knows what he is feeling.
I just love this scene, I love how Ennis sighs when Jack strokes Ennis' cheek. It's so sad and he is so full of love, it's almost unbearable to watch....
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: dot-matrix on December 14, 2006, 04:21:48 am ---I watched this over and over again lately and I think I finally got it. Everything about Ennis in that scene is about Ennis telling Jack he loves him even though he won't chuck it all to be with him. He shares his thoughts and fears with Jack something he would never do with anyone else even Alma. But the capper in my mind are the words "Long as we can ride it. Ain't no reins on this one". to me, Ennis is saying clear as he can: Jack you are important to me and I don't want to lose you, I love you but I've got responsibilities, work with me here. For a proud taciturn man like Ennis that scene is incredible and those few words he chooses are profound.
--- End quote ---
I agree, Dot--and I'm not ashamed to say publicly that it took a long, long time for that to sink into my thick Pennsylvania German head. When I finally--finally--really took in the look on Ennis's face when Jack reaches out and strokes his cheek, it hit me like a ton of bricks. That had a profound affect on how I now view the film.
Brown Eyes:
Dot, that's how I've always seen this scene too. In fact, I think certain things that Ennis says here helps take the sting out of the rejection of the cow and calf operation. By saying "as long as we can ride it" Ennis seems to be saying he wants the relationship to last forever (or for as long as he has anything to say about it in terms of control, i.e. the reins). It really is awfully romantic coming from Ennis, especially combined with his demeanor in this scene (his vulnerability) and also directly following the "prayer of thanks" remark and the wink (also both romantic).
This is the first time that I really noticed the "Jack" thrown into the middle of that famous motto. I'm so used to thinking about it as simply "If you can't fix it, you gotta stand it" that seeing the "Jack" in the middle is a little jarring. It makes it seem a lot more personal this way and less like an abstract life-philosophy, which is what it really seems to be for Ennis. It's so interesting to me that the screenwriters decided to put this line (the last line of the story) in here at this moment in the film. It has tob be important.
Katie77:
Yes......aren't those words so damn strong.......
Referring to it the way Ennis did, was saying it in connection with Jack and his rodeo horse riding....." long as we can ride it"......knowing Jack, could picture, that the "ride" would not always be smooth, and that there were no "reins" to pull it up, no "reins" to control how long, how rough the journey was going to be......
Guess he was saying.....this could be the longest ride, he and Jack was gonna have......(and he was right)
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