Minute Detail - IMO The Best Line Delivery in the Movie

[loneleeb3]

Sorry! Didn't think of it like that.
SHe just always seemed real cold and like she took Jack for granted.
She never once took up for him! Not to her parents, not to those jerks in the office that day.
Plus those characteristics of Lureens mirror someone in my own life.

[Ellemeno]

Bitch Lureen? Ouch. Remember, at this moment, everything was coming together for her (fishing buddies, addresses in his head, never wanting to dance with his wife). Right there she is finding out why, all at once (like when Alma saw the kiss).  But she was still good enough to direct Ennis to Jack's parents, where he could find closure.
People tend to be hard on Lureen for some reason, as if not being primarily a homemaker means she somehow had less of a heart. But she just wanted to be noticed and loved, like anybody else.

[Insert clapping emoticon here!]

Thanks, Laura!  I agree, hunderd per cent.

[serious crayons]

Thanks, Laura!  I agree, hunderd per cent.

Me, too. In fact, I agree 150 percent with this part:

People tend to be hard on Lureen for some reason, as if not being primarily a homemaker means she somehow had less of a heart.

Not accusing anyone here specifically   but I find it a little disturbing that some people see Lureen's devotion to her work as evidence that she's a less than adequate mother/wife. I hope they wouldn't say that about the working mothers/wives they know now. Maybe the early '60s context, when Lureen's attitude was less common, throws people.

[loneleeb3]

Me, too. In fact, I agree 150 percent with this part:

Not accusing anyone here specifically   but I find it a little disturbing that some people see Lureen's devotion to her work as evidence that she's a less than adequate mother/wife. I hope they wouldn't say that about the working mothers/wives they know now. Maybe the early '60s context, when Lureen's attitude was less common, throws people.

Just to clarify my point! LOL
My reasons for disliking Lureen ahve nothing to do with work ethic or her mothering capabilities.
I always got the feeling that she used Jack and never took up for him. True, Jack used her to crate the image he needed to survive. But I can identify with Jack in that he really seemed to try to do everything right where she was concerned.
She always seemed cold and uncaring. Then at the end when she was talking to Ennis she was almost on the verge of being mean.
Laura brought up a great point that I never thought of, that everything was coming together in that moment. For that I can certainly empithize with her and sympathize for her. But i don't know, I just get a chill when I think about her.
But, thats just me.

[ifyoucantfixit]

     Well as everyone here has said, every situation, and every line is like chocolate.'
something so smooth and desirable that you become addicted...But the one that I  notice a lot that has not been mentioned here...Is  "time to get going cowboy"
they both are so distraught, and show the sorrow, and trying not to cry, its almost something you can feel in your soul...You know from the first time you see
that scene, until the last, it is the doomsday scream.....no matter how many times
you see the movie.

[loneleeb3]

     Well as everyone here has said, every situation, and every line is like chocolate.'
something so smooth and desirable that you become addicted...But the one that I  notice a lot that has not been mentioned here...Is  "time to get going cowboy"
they both are so distraught, and show the sorrow, and trying not to cry, its almost something you can feel in your soul...You know from the first time you see
that scene, until the last, it is the doomsday scream.....no matter how many times
you see the movie.

You are so right. I don't even like to think about that part. Ennis is so distraught e doesn't know what to do.
He just explodes in the only way he knows to channel any emotion. Jack tries to love it away but Ennis can't get a grip. It's like Jack trying to hug a tornado built out of rage, fearand total sadness.
I realy think Ennis is coming to the conclusion that, like his parents, he loses everything he loves. This poin comes up throughout the story.

[Meryl]

Just to clarify my point! LOL
My reasons for disliking Lureen ahve nothing to do with work ethic or her mothering capabilities.
I always got the feeling that she used Jack and never took up for him. True, Jack used her to crate the image he needed to survive. But I can identify with Jack in that he really seemed to try to do everything right where she was concerned.
She always seemed cold and uncaring. Then at the end when she was talking to Ennis she was almost on the verge of being mean.
Laura brought up a great point that I never thought of, that everything was coming together in that moment. For that I can certainly empithize with her and sympathize for her. But i don't know, I just get a chill when I think about her.
But, thats just me.

At least three moments redeem Lureen for me:  that look she exchanges with Jack when L.D. is being a putz and telling him to go get the baby formula; the smile on her face when Jack stands up to L.D. at Thanksgiving (and Jack touching her on the shoulder after he turns off the TV); and the way she is clearly on the verge of tears during the phone call with Ennis.  She loves him.

She also had to have stuck up for him when it came to marrying him against her father's wishes.  And although some people seemed to think she'd married a "pissant," she never divorced him for someone with more ambition/ability.

[LauraGigs]

Yes.  Lureen's obvious pleasure when Jack asserts himself with LD, and displeasure when the guys at the dealership denigrate him both indicate to me that she was on Jack's side.  A supportive spouse.

It wasn't her place to stand up for Jack at the dealership, much as she may have wanted to. The men were customers, and she was just a 'little lady' (hadn't inherited the business yet). For a guy's wife to stick up for him may have diminished his masculinity even more.

And what if she had stood up for Jack at the Thanksgiving stud-duck/alpha-male fight? No woman gets involved in those things ("what, you need a little lady to stick up for ya?")  Again, it would have threatened and diminished Jack's standing as a man. Lureen knew this.

Jack scored when he married Lureen: she gave him the means to earn a good living in his own right. Thus he is able to tell LD, "This is my house".  (Jack would never have gotten away with that otherwise.)

[loneleeb3]

OK,OK!
I was wrong and I stand corrected!
maybe Lureen isn't the ice queen I had first thought!
Lesson learned

[Meryl]

OK,OK!
I was wrong and I stand corrected!
maybe Lureen isn't the ice queen I had first thought!
Lesson learned

Thanks, Lee.  But no worries if you feel differently about Lureen.  The great thing about this movie is how it supports all sorts of different interpretations.  We've certainly proved it over the last year with all the thousands of words we've devoted to it.