Why not read the original short story by Annie Proulx?

[TJ]

While I might have liked the movie better if it had been from an original screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, I actually like the Annie Proulx's original short story better.

Larry McMurtry admitted in a Time magazine interview that he created extra women on purpose for the story because he likes women.

The screenplay writers also created other characters which were not in the book, too.

[Br. Patrick]

The Motel scene in the short story is just fantastic.  I have the book "Brokeback Mountain - Story to Screenplay" with the original short story (which I had to use a dictionary to get through (well worth the effort)) AND it also includes the Screenplay along with three additional short essays from Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.  (Great book!)

In Annie's essay she writes how she wrote a letter pleading for the Motel scene.  Some aspects of it turn up at the last meeting in the film, but there are really great other things too.  I especially like Jack wanting more time THEN with Ennis saying, "Come on Ennis, you just shot my airplane out of the sky - give me somethin a go on.  This ain't no little thing that's happenin here."

In the movie they DO get more time but it would have been great if they used Annie's dialog for Jack.   In the film Jack is SO happy but Ennis looks SO CONFLICTED!  This is true of course but as it been said in another thread, Annie's Ennis says, "Took me about a year a figure out it was that I shouldn't a let you out of my sights.  Too late then by a long, long while."

It's things like this that should make Annie Proulx's short story MANDATORY reading for everybody who loves the film!

[juneaux]

After seeing the film for the first time I purchased the short story and read it about 4 times before giving it to a friend.  Got another copy and read it a couple of times and gave *it* to another friend.  I now have a copy of "Wyoming Stories" in my bedside table.  (It is more difficult to give away when the book is NOT on my person.) 

[Lynne]

I loved the short story, but I must admit that the movie made the story come alive for me.  I've re-read the story several times interspersed with movie viewings and I appreciate it more each time.  I think the prologue about the dream is fantastic, considering how it's worked its way into many of our own dreams.  I'm slowly working my way through the other Wyoming short stories in that volume.

[iristarr]

Hi Lynne and Juneau.  In response to your posts about reading the story -- an evening or two ago I was re-reading it, and I noticed for the first time how (IMO) Ennis got a little shortchanged in the character-building department.  He's sometimes made me a tad impatient with his near-total emotional blockage and some viewers have voiced the opinion that they doubted the depth of his love for Jack.  

But here's what I think they left out: unless my ears failed me, Ennis never says "li'l darlin' during the kiss scene, as he does in the book.  In the motel scene he says, "I never had no thoughts a doin it with another guy except I sure wrang it out a hunderd times thinkin about you."  And in the next paragraph: "That summer, when we split up after we got paid out I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puke, thought I ate somethin bad at that place in Dubois.  Took me about a year to figure out it was that I shouldn't a let you out a my sights.  Too late then by a long, long while."

Not that I personally ever doubted Ennis' love, but I do believe these sentiments he expresses in the book round out and deepen my feelings about it and I think they might have a similar effect on other viwers, especially those not so addicted to the story that they stay up late at night discovering such little details six weeks after first seeing it.  Anyone else notice this stuff?  Iris

[BBMGrandma]

After seeing the film for the first time I purchased the short story and read it about 4 times before giving it to a friend.  Got another copy and read it a couple of times and gave *it* to another friend.  I now have a copy of "Wyoming Stories" in my bedside table.  (It is more difficult to give away when the book is NOT on my person.) 

HAHAH "J"...I gave away MY one copy to my therapist on Monday.  Had to go out and buy another copy too.  I'm going to have to do the same thing.  Purchase a copy of Wyoming Stories and NOT take it out of the house!!   

Nancy 

[juneaux]

Iris, you are correct.  The emotive things said by Ennis in the book were not carried through to the movie.  My guess is that leaving out those statements make the character more distant and closed thereby making his transformation at the end (in Jack's closet with the shirts and with Jr.) more extreme.  (By the way, the expression on her face when he agrees to attend her wedding makes my heart soar.  Not just for the characters either.  I see it as a testament to the ability of humans to learn from our mistakes and to make a conscious effort NOT to repeat them.)

Nancy, I suggest buying the collection to leave at home and the single short story to keep with you just in case run into someone who hasn't read it. 

[BBMGrandma]

By the way, the expression on her face when he agrees to attend her wedding makes my heart soar.  Not just for the characters either.  I see it as a testament to the ability of humans to learn from our mistakes and to make a conscious effort NOT to repeat them.)

Oh yes "J"  ....those are MY hopes too!!   That we "own" our mistakes and face them.  And when that's done...move along.  The past is over...done...kaput.  There is SO much more to gain by looking to the future!! 

 And what a smile...on 'Juniors' face....huh?  PURE LOVE!!   Ennis DID love his girls....that's for sure and it's quite clear they adored their dad! 

BTW....I truly believe that THIS is the place to 'own' those mistakes.  And more importantly....the springboard to the future. 

Much love to all....Nancy

[Aussie Chris]

But here's what I think they left out: unless my ears failed me, Ennis never says "li'l darlin' during the kiss scene, as he does in the book.  In the motel scene he says, "I never had no thoughts a doin it with another guy except I sure wrang it out a hunderd times thinkin about you."  And in the next paragraph: "That summer, when we split up after we got paid out I had gut cramps so bad I pulled over and tried to puke, thought I ate somethin bad at that place in Dubois.  Took me about a year to figure out it was that I shouldn't a let you out a my sights.  Too late then by a long, long while."

You know what Iris?  I love that we have another source to provide a better understanding of characters.  In particular, I love that he called Jack li'l darlin' and was really into him, but really, these little bits and pieces had to be left out from the film.  Could you imagine how confusing it would have been if "that" side of Ennis was retained in the film, but we are still asked to believe that Ennis couldn't commit to Jack beyond the sporadic trysts up on Brokeback Mountain?  I mean it would all still work, but how realistic would it have been if Ennis was up front with his feelings?  I just don't think it would work.

[TJ]

Oh, I think that more of the story could have been included in the movie. In one version of the screenplay which I found online, there were more things in that version of McMurtry's and Ossana's screenplay than what was in the final script of the movie.

I also say that since they show Ennis Del Mar's flashback of when they got blood on the shirts when discovers them in Jack Twist's boyhood closet as a scene early in the movie, they could have had Jack telling about his father urinating on him when he was a small boy when the guys were together at an earlier time. Ennis remembers that as a flashback when he is at Lightning Flat.

Oh, they would not have to show his father's penis in the movie; they could have just shown that he was undoing his pants and then cut to a little boy getting wet.

I just think that all of the action which is merely narrative when it takes place outside of Wyoming could have been done as a "voice-over" narrative, too.

I still don't understand why the other writers and the movie script had to have Ennis arrive in Signal in a semi truck, having hitched a ride with a trucker. In the screenplay, Ennis did not even know when he got to Signal; but, in the book, while Ennis is talking to Jack up on Brokeback Mountain, he does mention that his older brother lives in Signal.

Oh, I wouldn't have been surprised if Ennis had not called Jack, "little darlin" when they were up on Brokeback and being intimate.

Speaking of "intimate," unlike the movie, after Ennis gets into Jack's bedroll that first night in the tent, there was deepened intimacy before Jack took Ennis' LEFT hand and put it on his cock.

That was make to look rather awkward in the movie, with Jack lying on his left side with Ennis flat on his back behind Jack. Jack used his RIGHT hand to reach ACROSS Ennis to get Ennis' RIGHT hand and pull it across himself.

If Jack had actually done it like in the movie and knowing the character of Ennis, Ennis would not have had sex with Jack; he would have slugged him, giving Jack a cowboy "Attitude Adjustment."