Ang Lee and the POM synergy

[nakymaton]

If water symbolizes love, then Ennis needs a lot of containers to store up water between fishing trips.

Alternatively, Ennis may need a lot of containers for coffee for long days with the animals.

[Cameron]

It is amazing that there are new things to find out no matter how many times you watch.

I also always thought that Ennis was going straight to the post office.  I never noticed until I read it here that he went further into the apartment.

To take a shower....
Or to the think and imagine by himself?

Makes the reunion kiss so much less surprising.

But I did notice the thermos.  It looks likes the ones LLBean sell.  Actually maybe too expensive for Ennis and Alma. Why would he have it? Just for "fishing" trips?

Curious, like the knife set later in the trailer. I have been wondering about those too.

[Front-Ranger]

If water symbolizes love, then Ennis needs a lot of containers to store up water between fishing trips.

Alternatively, Ennis may need a lot of containers for coffee for long days with the animals.

I think you are right!! 

[Front-Ranger]

Early in the story, Aguirre points to Jack with a CHOP of his hand and says that the HERDER is goin a sleep in a pup tent a hunderd percent. In the movie, Jack can be seen relaxing by the fire, with an AX HANDLE behind him, appearing to come out of his head.  Also, in the movie, Ennis saws patiently on the trunk of a tree while Jack whacks at it with an ax. And then there's the scene where Aguirre rides up while Jack is chopping wood, and Ennis's saw is lying at the side.

[Front-Ranger]

Here's another example of the POM synergy: Annie Proulx brings in a wire clothes hanger during the fight at the lake scene to talk about how a hanger can be used to unlock a car door, then bent back into its original shape. Director Ang Lee shows the hanger in the closet holding the shirts, and has Ennis press them into his face when he embraces the shirts. It reappears at the very end, holding the shirts on a nail. The hook of the hanger is like a question mark, leaving the end of the movie ambiguous.

[Front-Ranger]

Just to reiterate, "POM" in this sense means the Proulx/Ossana/McMurtry synergy. Can you find examples where something in the story was worked into the screenplay, but in a different place or way? I'll bet there are at least a hunderd examples!!

[Front-Ranger]

Here's an example. This is a line from the story that was translated into the movie in a different place and way. Can anyone guess where this appears in the movie?

" ...a bandy-legged Basque showed Ennis how to pack the mules--two packs and a riding load on each animal, ring-lashed with double diamonds and secured with half hitches...."

Now, think outside the box everybody!!

[Fran]

I finally got around to looking up the definition of "bandy-legged," which means bowlegged... so I'll guess the little cowboy-and-horse figurine that Ennis discovered in Jack's bedroom in Lightning Flat.

[Front-Ranger]

That's very good FRiend FRan! A very poignant connection! I'm also reminded of the movie Little Big Man, where Gen. Custer looked down upon our hero and pronounced him a mule-skinner, because of his bandy legs. He went on to hire him on as a mule skinner for the famous battle...

But I digress...the POM synergy I was thinking of here has to do with the double diamond lashing. Does that ring a bell?

[Front-Ranger]

HERE are the double diamond half-hitches as seen in the movie!! Other translations/references are welcome!