Smokes and Fire

[Front-Ranger]

It's funny that Alma is the only one in the movie to ask for a pack of cigarettes. The story says, "'Ennis--' said Alma in her misery voice, but that didn't slow him down on the stairs and he called back, 'Alma, you want smokes there's some in the pocket a my blue shirt in the bedroom.'" Alma's getting no fire from Ennis, that's for sure, and the little fire she does get comes from Ennis's blue shirt, the one he has to remind him of Jack's blue eyes.

Lureen is smoking when she asks Jack why it is that husbands don't never want to dance with their wives. She's using the fire as a substitute for the fire that she doesn't feel in their relationship. Jack brushes the barb off of himself, literallly--he brushes the cigarette ash off his sumptuous black duded up cowboy outfit, and says "Ain't never give it any thought." His fire for her is in ashes, since it never did burn that brightly anyway.

[Rutella]

And thinking of cigarettes, one part of the story which I wish was shown in the film is from the motel scene:
"Ennis pulled Jack's hand to his mouth, took a hit from the cigarette, exhaled. 'Sure as hell seem in one piece to me[....]'" There is something about the sharing of a cigarette in that way that gets me good. The next line also makes me feel a bit wibbly inside, though I can see why they might not have wanted Movie Ennis to say it.

And I also love the imagery when Jack is up with the sheep when he is smoking and looking down at Ennis' fire. The cigarette is a very small fire (and barely lit it seems) and despite the fact that Ennis is miles away, his fire is still burning bright. And the idea of Ennis as fire just seems so apt.

[Front-Ranger]

I don't smoke, but these passages make me want to fire one up and share it with each of you, Rutella and goadra!

[nakymaton]

The first image from the dozy embrace flashback is of the embers of the fire, still glowing.

[Rutella]

Ennis borrows Jack’s lighter at the bar. There’s a little spark between them as their fingers touch.

And as someone (sorry forget who) pointed out, Ennis is smoking outside Aguirre's trailer earlier so his asking for Jack's lighter at the bar is unnecessary and is his first kinda flirty thing.

I'm now having an imaginary cigarette (smoking....so sexy in Brokeback but makes me feel sick in real life)

I was just writing on another thread when I remembered another great cigarette moment that is written in the screenplay but not seen in the film; the beginning of the motel scene where the script says "the room is blue with cigarette smoke. The two men appear to be sleeping. We hold on them for a beat. Ennis awakens, rolls over, switches on the light, pulls out a cigarette, lights it. Jack awakens. Ennis lights a cigarette for him, hands it to him."

I'm not surprised the room is smoky with those two on fire all night. sigh.
  

[nakymaton]

What do you make of the scene when they've come down from the mountain and Aguirre is chewing them out? Ennis silently holds out his cigarette to Jack, and Jack turns his hand to show Ennis that Jack already has a cigarette of his own.

Almost seems to contradict the dynamic of the goodbye scene, where Jack seems to hope that the relationship can continue the next summer, and Ennis talks about getting married.

[Front-Ranger]

The goodbye scene is one of crossed signals anyway, and the smoke signals are crossed as well as the others!

[Brown Eyes]

And as someone (sorry forget who) pointed out, Ennis is smoking outside Aguirre's trailer earlier so his asking for Jack's lighter at the bar is unnecessary and is his first kinda flirty thing.  

Ooooo, good one!  I'd never stopped to consider this bit of evidence before... Ennis was able to light that very first cigarette while he was waiting, so he must have had a lighter or matches of his own.  I guess one could say that he's still being frugal here... he may be trying to save his own matches or lighter as much as possible... but still, this really does make his decision to ask for a light from Jack seem more flirty.  Even if it's sort of sub-consciously flirty for Ennis at this point.
 

And thinking of cigarettes, one part of the story which I wish was shown in the film is from the motel scene:
"Ennis pulled Jack's hand to his mouth, took a hit from the cigarette, exhaled. 'Sure as hell seem in one piece to me[....]'" There is something about the sharing of a cigarette in that way that gets me good. The next line also makes me feel a bit wibbly inside, though I can see why they might not have wanted Movie Ennis to say it.

I've always thought it was a shame they omitted the shared cigarette in the motel scene in the movie too.  It would have been a nice, subtle (not too explicit) erotic detail to leave in and would have helped establish the general idea of intimacy being a big part of the relationship as much as the sex and everything else.  I'm curious though, why do you say you can see why the filmmakers didn't want Ennis to say that line?  I know that Proulx seems to have fought long and hard to have more of the motel scene included in the film... it really is the heart of the story in many ways (it includes so much of the important background info and plot exposition in the story that it takes on a crucial importance in the text).  I think the details you point out would have been great for the filmmakers to include... and honestly, I don't understand why the cut so much of it out... especially since there's so little intimacy filmmed in the later camping trips.
 

[Brown Eyes]

What do you make of the scene when they've come down from the mountain and Aguirre is chewing them out? Ennis silently holds out his cigarette to Jack, and Jack turns his hand to show Ennis that Jack already has a cigarette of his own.

Almost seems to contradict the dynamic of the goodbye scene, where Jack seems to hope that the relationship can continue the next summer, and Ennis talks about getting married.

That's a really interesting little moment... and if flies by so that some of the subtlties are easy to miss.  The facial expressions are so stoic that it's also sort of hard to understand what the states of emotion are in this little exchange.  For the longest time I didn't even notice Ennis's hand gesture as being one of offering the cigarette to Jack.  I just thought we were supposed to be watching them leaning there smoking.  It took me a long time to see that the gestures/ arm movements could mean something more.  If Ennis truly is offering Jack his cigarette here... wow, that really would be flirty and surprisingly open for Ennis.  It seems sort of out of character that Jack would reject a relatively open act of friendship/ affection.  So, maybe we're supposed to think he's still really mad here.   I wonder if this is a little "bookend" to the early bar scene with the shared lighter.

[Penthesilea]

And as someone (sorry forget who) pointed out, Ennis is smoking outside Aguirre's trailer earlier so his asking for Jack's lighter at the bar is unnecessary and is his first kinda flirty thing.

Not necessarily. I'm a smoker. Lighters are just more convenient than matches. If I had matches and any other person a lighter, I'd ask for the lighter, too. Or if I had my matches (or lighter) somerwhere in my pockets, but the other one has it handy or on the table or is toying with it,  I'd take the other person's instead of pulling mine out from the pocket. Lighters and matches are always in the last pocket you look. I wonder how many hours of his life a smoker spends with looking for lighter/matches  .

So Ennis asking Jack for the lighter is maybe unnecessary, but is sure a complete ordinary occurrence. That doesn't exclude the possibility it is indeed a flirty thing. But it could just as likely be not a flirty thing.

On a sidenote and off-topic on this thread:
What I find far more remarkably at the bar scene is that Ennis tells Jack the story that and how his parents died without being directly asked.

Do we ever actually see Alma smoking? I think not.
After J's&E's night at the Siesta, it would have been logical to see a full ashtray in front of Alma at the kitchen table, presuming she sat there half the night (or longer).