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Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond => Brokeback Mountain Open Forum => Topic started by: Jeff Wrangler on July 19, 2006, 11:11:19 pm

Title: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on July 19, 2006, 11:11:19 pm: I've always been a mite puzzled by this line from Annie Proulx:

"Jack said his father had been a pretty well known bullrider years back but kept his secrets to himself, never gave Jack a word of advice, never came once to see Jack ride, though he had put him on the woolies when he was a little kid." (Italics added.)

Well, this evening, I saw a very good illustration of just what that was all about. With nothing on broadcast except reruns, I finally made time to watch the DVD I'd bought weeks ago of The Cowboy Way, with Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland (of course I missed it in the theater years ago). The opening scenes of the film include a sequence of little kids riding sheep! And sure enough, there it was: "put him on the woolies." ;D

Incidentally, one of the little sheep-riding buckaroos wore a shirt just like Annie's description of the shirt Ennis wore for his reunion with Jack, white with black stripes.

Kiefer wore the white hat here, Woody the black hat--complete with a feather stuck in the band.

It was a fun movie, but--Lord, help me--I swear I kept thinking: Ennis, Jack, and a very Alternative Universe! :laugh:
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Brown Eyes on July 19, 2006, 11:25:06 pm: Thanks for the info Jeff! That line from the book really was sort of puzzling to me. By the way, "woolies" is now one of my favorite words. It's an unusually cute word to come out of the mouth of a guy like Aguirre.

I wonder if this is another way that Jack is linked to sheep as a symbol (as in the sacrificial lamb, the sheep Ennis is supposed to guard, etc.).
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Meryl on July 20, 2006, 01:09:32 am: That's interesting, Jeff, thanks for posting. I guess I always assumed that line was referring to calves, but sheep make better sense. They'd certainly be "woolier" (also kinder on the bottom). ;D
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Katie77 on July 20, 2006, 01:41:43 am: Over here in Australia, we use the term "woolies" a lot for sheep, as there is a lot of sheep country over here....

Funny thing is, we use the term "woolies" also for all our jumpers (i think you call them sweaters) and cardigans.....we call them our "winter woolies"...because they are usually made out of wool.

We also say "woolies" as a nick name for the department store Woolworths....

And I have no doubt, Jack learnt to ride an animal first on a sheep....the "woolies"....
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Ellemeno on July 20, 2006, 02:35:35 am: Somehow, I figured it out the first time I read it. From context, I guess, like "puttin' the blocks to," and "stemmin the rose."
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on July 20, 2006, 08:59:02 am: Quote from: Ellemeno on July 20, 2006, 02:35:35 am
Somehow, I figured it out the first time I read it. From context, I guess, like "puttin' the blocks to," and "stemmin the rose."

What had puzzled me wasn't so much the meaning of the words but rather, What was the deal with a kid riding a sheep? The scene in The Cowboy Way looks like it's some kind of race for little kids, like it's supposed to be a little kid's first rodeo event. So in this light, it seems to me that Jack might be saying that his father had gotten him started in rodeoing by putting him in one of these kids' events, and then never followed through with teaching Jack anything about rodeoing--kind of interesting in light of John Twist's snide remark about Jack's plans never coming to anything. Also, I'm guessing now Jack didn't mean his father just put him on the back of sheep to ride around the home spread. It's actually a rodeo-type event for kids.

Another Brokeback resonance in The Cowboy Way: Sonny, Keifer Sutherland's character, had an unresolved issue with Pepper, Woody Harrelson's character, because Pepper had failed to show up for a national championship team calf-roping event that they were supposed to enter, thereby preventing Sonny from winning the money he needed to set up the little cow and calf operation he had dreamed of since childhood.

Oh, yes, their event was calf-roping, so in my mind I kept hearing the bartender say to Jack, "Ever try calf-ropin'?" :)

Slightly OT: I also recognized Alison Janney, later/late of The West Wing, in a small role as a police officer.

Katie77, my folks here in Pennsylvania, USA, also used the term "winter woolies"--to mean old-fashioned woolen long underwear. ;D
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Meryl on July 20, 2006, 11:54:26 am: Quote
Slightly OT: I also recognized Alison Janney, later/late of The West Wing, in a small role as a police officer.

That just rang a bell with me, Jeff. Someone posted a pic on the "Heath Heath Heath" thread a few days ago with Allison Janney in it. She was in "10 Things I Hate About You" with Heath, five years after "The Cowboy Way." (Has absolutely nothing to do with anything, but that never stopped me posting about something.) ;D
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Front-Ranger on July 20, 2006, 01:40:19 pm: This reminds me of the old Six Degrees of Separation game we used to play. I never had enuf time to do the research. Jeff, this sounds crazy but sometimes I think Jack's dad hated him because Jack turned out to be just like him. See my theory is that Jack's dad was gay and homophobic sort of like Ennis. After all, he starts out by saying, "I know where Brokeback Mountain is." I take that in a metaphorical way. So John Twist did the rodeo circuit, rode bulls, and then swore off that life and he wasn't about to have it for his son, so he didn't teach him about it. But Jack was naturally attracted to the rodeo. That's just my half-baked theory (I also think Uncle Harold was gay).
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: YaadPyar on July 20, 2006, 02:59:00 pm: Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on July 19, 2006, 11:11:19 pm

"Jack said his father had been a pretty well known bullrider years back but kept his secrets to himself, never gave Jack a word of advice, never came once to see Jack ride, though he had put him on the woolies when he was a little kid." (Italics added.)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j125/yaadpyar/SheepRider.jpg)

Poor kid looks terrified!!!
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on July 20, 2006, 04:14:25 pm: Quote from: YaadPyar on July 20, 2006, 02:59:00 pm
(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j125/yaadpyar/SheepRider.jpg)

Yup, that's it, like in The Cowboy Way.
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Brown Eyes on July 20, 2006, 10:23:43 pm: Wow! That kid is really tiny! That pic is both cute and worrisome...
:-\
Title: Re: "Put him on the woolies"
Post by: Mikaela on July 21, 2006, 05:45:58 pm: Quote
Poor kid looks terrified!!!

I always figured that we were supposed to think that Mr. Twist putting Jack on the woolies when he was little was to be understood as a supportive father-son bonding thing to do.

Having seen the picture now I'm not at all sure about that - probably he just did it to "toughen that kid up, teach him how to take a fall and forget about those stupid dreams....?"

Ah well. One more illusion gone.....