Scene 1: Jack getting out of pickup

[squashcourt]

Ennis stealing a quick glance at Jack.
Jack glancing inquisitively at Ennis.
I'm still debatting with myself if this is not their first mutual attraction towards one another.

[David]

Jack was definately checking out Ennis.   I think Jack knew he liked boys alot earlier.    Probably one of the reasons he left home so young. 

Ennis did glance over at Jack, but purely out of curiousity of seeing who his competition for the job was.   

[Jeff Wrangler]

Jack was definately checking out Ennis.   I think Jack knew he liked boys alot earlier.    Probably one of the reasons he left home so young. 

Ennis did glance over at Jack, but purely out of curiousity of seeing who his competition for the job was.   

Essentially I agree with David. Jack is clearly cruising Ennis.

For myself, however, I don't conceptualize Ennis's behavior as checking out the competition for the job, but this is one of those places where I'm guilty of allowing Annie Proulx' story to inform my interpretation of what's happening on the screen. Despite Joe Aguirre's line about the pair of deuces "lookin' for work," per the story, I believe they already had their jobs and had been told to report to Joe Aguirre in Signal at that time. So I conceptualize Ennis's behavior as just being curious about this other guy with whom he probably was going to be working that summer but being too shy and unsocialized to go over and say hello.

[Toast]

I think Jack was sizing up Ennis, even flirting with him
but Ennis was being more practiical, Like Jeff Wrangler,  I don't think Ennis saw Jack as competition since they had already come together on paper.

I think Ennis was sizing up if this guy was going to pull his own weight and be a good work partner.
And like Jeff said "but being too shy and unsocialized to go over and say hello."

[serious crayons]

I think they both already knew they were working together. So part of both their glances was natural curiosity about the guy they'd be spending the summer with.

Beyond that, Jack was overtly checking Ennis out. Ennis wasn't checking Jack out in the same way, but he probably looked at Jack, subconsciously found him attractive, subconsciously reminded himself that was a no-no, and made himself look away immediately.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I think Ennis was sizing up if this guy was going to pull his own weight and be a good work partner.

Good point, Toast! I'd never quite taken my own thinking to that point, but it makes good sense to me.

[Katie77]

Remember, Jack had worked for Aguire before, so he knew what kind of work was ahead of them, and I think HE was sizing Ennis up, not only thinking of whether he could do the work, but what kind of company he was gonna be.

Obviously, whoever Jack worked with before, didnt end up in the same tent as him, so I do doubt, whether there was any ulterior motives to the looks he was giving Ennis.

[serious crayons]

Obviously, whoever Jack worked with before, didnt end up in the same tent as him,

That's not obvious to me. I think the whole emphasis on the fact that this is Jack's second summer on Brokeback is meant to indicate he had experience with more than herdin sheep.

so I do doubt, whether there was any ulterior motives to the looks he was giving Ennis.

And even if Jack didn't share a tent with his coworker the previous summer (maybe his coworker was Timmy!) doesn't mean he might not get some ideas when he caught a glimpse of his hot new partner. To me, Jack's little smile after he first looks at Ennis and then looks away (like he's thinking, "Yesssss!!!") says it all.

[Jeff Wrangler]

That's not obvious to me. I think the whole emphasis on the fact that this is Jack's second summer on Brokeback is meant to indicate he had experience with more than herdin sheep.

Gotta agree with you here, Katherine. 

And even if Jack didn't share a tent with his coworker the previous summer (maybe his coworker was Timmy!)

 

doesn't mean he might not get some ideas when he caught a glimpse of his hot new partner. To me, Jack's little smile after he first looks at Ennis and then looks away (like he's thinking, "Yesssss!!!") says it all.

I'd say maybe just a "N-i-i-i-i-c-e!" might be more likely, but, gen'rally speakin', no real disagreement here, either. 

[serious crayons]

no real disagreement here, either. 

Yay! 

[jpwagoneer1964]

That's not obvious to me. I think the whole emphasis on the fact that this is Jack's second summer on Brokeback is meant to indicate he had experience with more than herdin sheep.

 

I still think that Jack was alone the first summer, the 25% loss in 1962 was likely the reason he was with Ennis in 1963.

[squashcourt]

I have to agree with JP.....19 -

Fantasies sometimes overtake some of us.

There is a lot of depthness in the stolen two glances than merely eyeing each other up as a possible "stem the rose" opportunity.

Let's not forget Annie Proulx's opening of the story. 

Pierre

[serious crayons]

Fantasies sometimes overtake some of us.

So true! But when this movie and story takes special care to emphasize a point, it's usually because they're trying to tell us something.

[Kd5000]

I just thought Ennis was just apprehensive that day.  His situation was much more dire.  He arrived with a paperbag, presume he hitchhiked to get there (?),  confides latter that he doesn't have any place to be as his brother got married, etc.   I would say he's got alot on his mind. 

Jack is more confident.  I think he might have met a cowpoke at a honky-tonk in the past.  Look at the moves he puts on Jimbo the Clown.   He knows something about cruising.  Yep, Jack is 19 and is not repressing his sexuality.  He's checking out his "company" for the summer.  I would. 

[Andrew]

What I really like about that scene is the transition between Jack getting out of the truck after that spectacularly bad entrance, kicking it, looking at it, then turning around to look at Ennis, first the quick glance then the leisurely  stare.

Here's the series of screen captures:

http://www.stripedwall.com/cpg/thumbnails.php?album=170&page=3

http://www.stripedwall.com/cpg/thumbnails.php?album=170&page=4

It's a great effect, that sputtering and lurching and door bang and kick thunk, then the silence as the machine and the noise recede, replaced by the silence, just the two men and their careful looks.  Jack's situation is presented in just a few seconds there, his poverty and his loneliness, the germ of the rest of his story.  The glance comes just a few seconds after the kick, but Jack's life is going to fork out in two opposite directions to address the two issues, to Texas and Lureen for the humiliating poverty represented by the truck, to Wyoming and Ennis for the loneliness.   In a way the contrast between the noise and the juxtaposed silence represents that.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I still think that Jack was alone the first summer, the 25% loss in 1962 was likely the reason he was with Ennis in 1963.

Sorry, Mark, but I still, respectfully, disagree.

The 25% loss in 1962 came from nobody watching the sheep during the night (as Aguirre says to Ennis and Jack) because both the herder and the camp tender spent nights at the approved Forest Service campsite, which, again, as Aguirre says, could be three or four miles from where they actually pastured the sheep. Aguirre's response to the prevous year's loss rate isn't to send up two men, it's to have the herder spend the night with the sheep on the QT instead of at the approved Forest Service campsite, where he's supposed to be at night. (Remember Jack's comment to Ennis, "Aguirre ain't got no right makin' us do somethin' against the rules.")

Moreover, I still feel sending up only one man would have been bad business--though I admit there is no basis in either the story or the film for this assumption. But if you sent only one guy up on the mountain by himself, and something happened--he had some sort of accident, maybe got thrown by his horse and broke a leg or hip or something--he could be dead and the whole flock of sheep lost--scattered and destroyed by coyotes--before anyone found him. Never mind any concern for the welfare of the herder, but do you really think Aguirre's bosses would risk losing an entire flock of sheep? I think not.

Incidentally, in her essay in Story to Screenplay, Annie writes about an old rancher who always sent his sheepherders into the mountains in pairs. The old rancher made a joke about it--said it was so that if they got lonely they could poke each other  --but surely the reason for sending up two men together was really that it was good business, protecting your investment in the sheep.

BTW, Pierre, if you do not yet have a copy of Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay, I strongly urge you to get one. No one who loves this movie should be without it. 

[squashcourt]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your observation and comments.

I respectfully disagree as I interpret the scene as I originally stated. 
I have the book you mentioned - read it in one sitting (story and screenplay).  Perhaps I'm missing something but it's not registering as my interpretation leans towards what I have observed.

Chat with you soon.

Affectionately,
Pierre

[Phillip Dampier]

Essentially I agree with David. Jack is clearly cruising Ennis.

For myself, however, I don't conceptualize Ennis's behavior as checking out the competition for the job, but this is one of those places where I'm guilty of allowing Annie Proulx' story to inform my interpretation of what's happening on the screen. Despite Joe Aguirre's line about the pair of deuces "lookin' for work," per the story, I believe they already had their jobs and had been told to report to Joe Aguirre in Signal at that time. So I conceptualize Ennis's behavior as just being curious about this other guy with whom he probably was going to be working that summer but being too shy and unsocialized to go over and say hello.

I agree.  I think those of us who are gay instantly picked up on Jack's wandering eyes right from the first moment, but for everyone else, it was conveyed like a hammer by the time Jack was shaving and adjusting the side view mirror to put Ennis dead in the mirror so he could stare even further.  Jack clearly knew what he was even if he was unwilling to publicly admit it.  When the first encounter happened, the following day, Jack quickly agreed he was not gay either, no doubt to try and protect what he had with Ennis.  Additionally, there was considerable prior discussion about whether those guys would have been able to comprehend what "queer" was in 1963 rural Wyoming, beyond the vague homophobic insults that I'm sure they would have heard growing up (and Ennis saw and heard even worse).  Denial and secrecy about sexual matters were far more common then than now, of course.

One wonders just how long they sat outside Aguierre's trailor waiting.... Uncomfortable silence.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your observation and comments.

I respectfully disagree as I interpret the scene as I originally stated. 
I have the book you mentioned - read it in one sitting (story and screenplay).  Perhaps I'm missing something but it's not registering as my interpretation leans towards what I have observed.

Chat with you soon.

Affectionately,
Pierre

I might have also added, if memory serves me correctly, in the sequence where they have to separate the two flocks of sheep after the hailstorm, the other flock is tended by two Chileans, so I would bet the usual practice was to send teams of guys into the mountains with the flocks.

[jpwagoneer1964]

Speaking of the sheep, it really wouldn't matter that the heard were mixed. the sheep know their herder(s) and will follow. the storm would have caused them to scatter though.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Speaking of the sheep, it really wouldn't matter that the heard were mixed. the sheep know their herder(s) and will follow. the storm would have caused them to scatter though.

"I know my sheep and my sheep know me." 

A reasonable expectation, but, reasonable or not, that isn't what happened in either the story or the film. Annie tells us that it took them a week to untangle the two flocks, and even then they weren't completely successful because the paint brands were worn off. Remember: "Some a these never went up there with you."

Occurs to me now, too, that it makes no sense to think that somebody with economic interests in a flock of sheep would have sent an inexperienced guy into the mountains with a flock of sheep alone in 1962 (1963 was only Jack's second year on the mountain).

[squashcourt]

I still hold firmly to my original interpretation of that scene.
Even as a gay man, I do not view it as Jack giving him the eye.

Affectionately,
Pierre

[nakymaton]

One of the great things about that scene is that you can read different things into it, depending on your expectations. In some ways, it looks like the first encounter between two antagonists in a Western -- you've got the guy in the black hat and the guy in the not-quite-white hat coming into town and looking each other over, and I'm not enough of a Western fan to give examples, but I'm sure I've seen a scene something like that in another movie. (Help! Somebody who has watched more movies, tell me if I'm crazy!) But if you know that the two guys are going to fall in love, it's also possible to see it as checking out an attractive guy.

It seems like Ang Lee plays with the visual expectations of a Western a bit, plays with the image of the cowboy, in ways that Annie Proulx didn't.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I still hold firmly to my original interpretation of that scene.
Even as a gay man, I do not view it as Jack giving him the eye.

Affectionately,
Pierre

So you're no longer "debating," you've come to an interpretation with which you are comfortable? Good!

And that's what you meant by "fantasies sometimes overtake some of us"?

All I know is, I've seen guys behaving just like Jack in any gay bar I've ever been in on a Saturday night. 

[squashcourt]

Hi Jeff,

The server of my ISP crashed.  I think you commented further.  Lost your comment.  If you're willing and have an opportunity, I'd be happy to read it.

Hope you're OK.

Affectionately,

Pierre - 

[BBM-Cat]

It seems like Ang Lee plays with the visual expectations of a Western a bit, plays with the image of the cowboy, in ways that Annie Proulx didn't.

Most definitely....my husband, upon seeing BBM for the first time two weeks ago, commented that the opening scene was like a Clint Eastwood movie! I had to chuckle.

[squashcourt]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks again for your comment. 

Again, I respect your interpretation of the scene.  In some way, you are right but my observation of the scene may be one of a personal experience that happened in January 1999 when I applied for a 2-year assignment as an avionics designer with an aerospace company here.  There was another candidate applying for that same position.  We both got interviewed and both got the position at the same location (different aircrafts).  I met him the following day in the Project Director's office and that's where we stole questionnable glances at one another first with apprehension but there was something else (nervousness).  Three months passed although we saw each other almost every day with the usual small talk.  Being gay, I found him handsome and attractive- 2 years younger than me.  One night we had to work over both designs and that's when revelations were made - that was 3 months later.  It thrilled me that he also felt attracted to me.  We saw each other often thereafter until 911 when both of our positions were abolished (being contract workers) as aircraft orders were being cancelled by the tons.  Needless to say, we had our share of passions and, etc., etc.  Eventually, we lost contact somewhat sadly.

What I'm getting at is initially it was just a noticeablel physical attraction with no sexual intent in mind and I'm saying this with honesty.  He felt the same way. 

Perhaps this may clarify my observation of the scene.

Pierre - 

P.S. The person I very often have in mind is Chuck from Valemont, BC, who I met on a skiing vacation in December 1998 in Jasper, Alberta.  He, though, never revealed to me his sexual orientation and I never inquired into it although we spent every night together.

[Ellemeno]

That lean on the truck I used to think was Jack's sort of youthful bravado posturing, but I remember a gay fella here emphasizing heavily what a cruising posture that is.  Not that cruising and youthful bravado aren't intertwined.

[Jeff Wrangler]

That lean on the truck I used to think was Jack's sort of youthful bravado posturing, but I remember a gay fella here emphasizing heavily what a cruising posture that is.  Not that cruising and youthful bravado aren't intertwined.

That might have been me, Clarissa.  Or some other gay guy, too. 

And sometimes cruising involves middle-aged bravado, too.   

[Jeff Wrangler]

Hi, Pierre,

Ouch, sorry to hear about your "crash." Goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation, I'd say. 

You know, the beauty of these threads is that we all get to share the different perspectives, based on different life experiences, from which we view that film.

What I'm getting at is initially it was just a noticeablel physical attraction with no sexual intent in mind and I'm saying this with honesty.  He felt the same way. 

Perhaps this may clarify my observation of the scene.

With respect to Jack's behavior when he gets out of the truck, there's nothing I can really argue with in what you say here. When I say that I'm convinced that Jack is "cruising" Ennis, what I mean is that I think Jack immediately finds Ennis attractive, and he's trying to check Ennis out and get Ennis to check him out in return. But of course there's no way Jack could be sure that they would end up having sex, much less fall in love. He might, however, hope for the possibility of eventual sex. 

Jeff

[injest]

*Jess opens the door....tosses her hat in the ring*

I think Jack was getting busy the summer before and the half smile he gave when he saw Ennis was exasperation that his partner from the last time didn't come back...

and NO I have no back up for that position .....that is just what I think! I also think it didn't MEAN anything to him or the other guy and he didn't really think of it as being gay...

 

ok my only 'proof'? He seemed to be pretty smooth grabbing that hand and sliding it down there...he knew what he was doing...

[injest]

What I really like about that scene is the transition between Jack getting out of the truck after that spectacularly bad entrance, kicking it, looking at it, then turning around to look at Ennis, first the quick glance then the leisurely  stare.

Here's the series of screen captures:

http://www.stripedwall.com/cpg/thumbnails.php?album=170&page=3

http://www.stripedwall.com/cpg/thumbnails.php?album=170&page=4

It's a great effect, that sputtering and lurching and door bang and kick thunk, then the silence as the machine and the noise recede, replaced by the silence, just the two men and their careful looks.  Jack's situation is presented in just a few seconds there, his poverty and his loneliness, the germ of the rest of his story.  The glance comes just a few seconds after the kick, but Jack's life is going to fork out in two opposite directions to address the two issues, to Texas and Lureen for the humiliating poverty represented by the truck, to Wyoming and Ennis for the loneliness.   In a way the contrast between the noise and the juxtaposed silence represents that.

I thought it was interesting in almost EVERY screening...this is the one spot that ALL the audience laughed...for that one moment we were united in laughter...nice laughter...

after that it is as if there is something telling us to be quiet...something really big is coming...

(like the opening score of a classical movement....if that makes sense to you...the loud and momentous train and truck getting our attention and then silence; like when you hear shouting that fades away...you strain to follow the sound...paying attention more than you would have otherwise)

[injest]

dang I done kilt this thread....

sorry ya'll!!

[Katie77]

Needed to do some research into this, so yesterday, "forced" myself to watch the movie again..............isnt it a great movie, no matter how many times I see it, it still does things to me......

Anyway......watching this scene, again, I think Jack was sizing Ennis up, as "the new kid on the block", cause he had been there before....he tries to show authority to Ennis, by the way he leans about on the truck and then later on showing how good he can ride a horse.

Noticed something, when he was riding the horse, while Ennis was tying the knots, and Ennis said, "you better watch yourself, that horse has a low startle point"....Jacks answer..."aint no filly ever thrown me".......I wondered if by using the term "filly", was he referring to all females, human and horses.......

[serious crayons]

I wondered if by using the term "filly", was he referring to all females, human and horses.......

I'd go even further. I think by "filly" Jack was unknowingly referring to the future -- he didn't expect Ennis, despite his low startle point, to "throw" him. But he did.

[adrian]

Ennis did glance over at Jack, but purely out of curiousity of seeing who his competition for the job was.   

I think Jack was thinking the same thing.  Remember jobs were scarce and they were competing for what might have been only one position.  BUT when Jack realized they both got hired, he then became that happy, freindly Jack that we all know.



Adrian

[injest]

I think Jack was thinking the same thing.  Remember jobs were scarce and they were competing for what might have been only one position.  BUT when Jack realized they both got hired, he then became that happy, freindly Jack that we all know.



Adrian

see that didn't seem like a job interview to me....seemed more like they already HAD the jobs...that comment about "You pair of deuces looking for work better get in here" (sorry I know that is not perfect...ya'll get the gist) is just Aquirre posturing...

[Garry_LH]

Just letting my thoughts bounce here, as I'm reading this thread...

I'd have to drive a long five hours to even get to Wyoming. Though, I am from the rural mid west. Grew up among folks that could say, we were so poor, that when the Great Depression hit we couldn't tell the difference. This poverty, on both of these character's parts, is perhaps the most powerful force shaping their identities. For Ennis, it feels to me like he believes any change from what he knows would threaten his very survival. For Jack, it's something to escape however he can. Like, his marrying Lureen.

There's something I don't often see mentioned when it comes to talking about Ennis. It's just how much the fear of being noticed seems to bother him. In my mind, he can feel the attraction he might have for other men. However, his fear of this is to the point he wont let his thinking mind touch the subject. At least, he doesn't until after that first night in the tent with Jack.

I think each of us sees these characters through the lenses of our own lives. Not unlike how Mz. Proulx has said a story is not finished until each person has read it for themselves. I'm guessing my own personal lens would be one way closer to Ennis than Jack. Though in my case, I tended to use talking about everything, but what was important in life, to not deal with life. This colors my perspective on Ennis more than any other character in this story.

That first scene where they meet, I feel Jack is definitely putting on the strut. Part of Jack's escape from his own poverty its to see himself some what larger than life. That stance he takes leaning against the old black GMC is as much a statement of I got the right stuff, as it is a checking out Ennis. And I agree, that image of Ennis in the mirror of Jack's truck as he shaves, it is put there to show Jack's interest in Ennis as more than just a work partner for the summer. My vibe of this scene is Jack is going 'woo eee', this guy ain't hard on the eyes at all. What might be throwing us a curve in this dance between Jack and Ennis is how Ennis is giving off these signals of don't get close to me, don't touch me, I can't deal with that.

Ennis reminds me too much of a reaction I'm a bit familiar with. Even though Ennis might know he's being sized up. It's what he's being sized up for, that in his mind, that has him scared. Like, is this guy coming on to me just so he will have a reason to come at me with the tire iron.?  Not logical, I agree. Life has beat into Ennis that he is more an likely to be killed if anyone should know he might find some guys attractive. This fear has him so locked up, he can't even think he might be gay, even after he and Jack spent the summer on the mountain. Even at the first reunion, in the book, he can barely admit that it took him a year after they left the mountain to get through his thick head, he should never have let Jack out of his sight. Even at the end, after all those years, and the loss of Jack, the most Ennis can do is hold onto those memories  of one summer on Brokeback some twenty odd years gone, with the words, 'Jack, I swear...'  Even then, we don't really know what it is Ennis is swearing to.  Proulx's epilogue to those words is as cold as the long periods between their meetings in Wyoming.

On was Jack alone on the mountain the year before?  Well, we sure know that Jack, through omission or out right lying, will side step anything he feels his listener might not think too highly of. It makes me wonder who it is that Aguirre is talking to on the phone when he first talks to Jack and Ennis. Could it be the other man that was up on the mountain with Jack the previous year?   In the real world, I would think it would be highly unlikely to send one person to a remote area to herd a couple of thousand sheep. It wasn't like Aguirre was gonna ride up that mountain every couple of days to check on them.

In the who might get the job category, I can't really separate the short story from the film. Jack and Ennis had been hired through a service. They already knew they had the job... So...

[injest]

well we have been discussing what Jack thought and did in this scene....I hadn't even given Ennis's thoughts any thought at all...

He is awfully buttoned up...both literally and emotionally. He strikes me as being so inept socially that he was unsure how to even introduce himself...let alone react to Jack's posturing...

and that thought....about "is this guy coming on to me just to have an excuse for using the tire iron." well that really happens doesn't it? Think Matthew Shepherd and countless others....

Ennis had internalized that so well he was trapped by his own walls..

[adrian]

In the who might get the job category, I can't really separate the short story from the film. Jack and Ennis had been hired through a service. They already knew they had the job... So...

Thanks Garry, the book does imply that.  I stand corrected.

So, then, why all the tension between the two?   Jack has never been the shy retiring type, I would've expected him to walk right up to Ennis with his hand out, "Jack Twist".

[nakymaton]

For a moment, Jack does look like he's about to walk up to Ennis and stick out his hand. But Ennis looks down and away, letting his hat shade his face, and Jack changes his mind, and looks down and away himself.

Let's see if I can get links from www.stripedwall.com to work...

http://www.stripedwall.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-151101
http://www.stripedwall.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-151103
http://www.stripedwall.com/cpg/displayimage.php?pos=-151108

[injest]

I think Jack hopped outta that truck all chipper and ready then turned and saw Ennis all hunched up and  body language saying STAY AWAY and he hesitated..

hey even the boldest among us get cold feet sometimes!

Ennis wasn't overly inviting...

I am learning more and more that there is a lot in body language I haven't noticed (even in real life) you men say more with your bodies than you do with your words....that seems to be a masculine trait...(not trying to kick up dust...but we women tend to be talkers..men seem like doers...)

I was talking to a gay man the other day and he said he could be walking down the street, look at another guy and be having sex within moments....never saying a word to one another...couldn't do that with a woman I don't think...

[injest]

dang Mel is just too quick with that reply button!! must be on that souped up high speed internet I been hearing about...

[Phillip Dampier]

Just letting my thoughts bounce here, as I'm reading this thread...

This is good stuff.  I appreciate the great added perspective.  One great thing about being able to discuss this is we all come from different backgrounds and experiences, and critically important, age groups as well.

That first scene where they meet, I feel Jack is definitely putting on the strut. Part of Jack's escape from his own poverty its to see himself some what larger than life. That stance he takes leaning against the old black GMC is as much a statement of I got the right stuff, as it is a checking out Ennis. And I agree, that image of Ennis in the mirror of Jack's truck as he shaves, it is put there to show Jack's interest in Ennis as more than just a work partner for the summer. My vibe of this scene is Jack is going 'woo eee', this guy ain't hard on the eyes at all. What might be throwing us a curve in this dance between Jack and Ennis is how Ennis is giving off these signals of don't get close to me, don't touch me, I can't deal with that.[/quote]

I agree about Jack.  You notice throughout the movie Jack talks a better game than he performs.  No horse has thrown him, until one does.  He misses the wolf, he isn't the best rodeo cowboy out there, his co-workers dismiss him as an embarrassment, he is turned down by a rodeo clown he was hitting on, and even Jack's father tells us Jack talked a lot and did less.  Ennis barely spoke at all, but in the end did more by *finally* growing his character in the final moments of the film.  Jack was definitely the bolder of the two.

One interesting point, albeit more salacious, at least from the perspective of a gay guy, is that Jack's more dominant strutting and bolder risk-taking didn't translate into the tent scene, where Jack was "the bottom."  Among the more macho-self conscious types, I have repeatedly heard comments about how the guy on top isn't gay, only the bottom would be (this is especially common among the Latino community).  A lot of macho guys won't even admit to being a "bottom."  We really don't have any added perspective about their sexual encounters to follow, to learn if they switched positions, but it wouldn't surprise me if Ennis would have never allowed himself to be on the bottom either.

[serious crayons]

I was talking to a gay man the other day and he said he could be walking down the street, look at another guy and be having sex within moments....never saying a word to one another...couldn't do that with a woman I don't think...

That's an understatement! The only way you could do that with a woman is if she stepped forward, looked you in the eyes, and said, "Señor?"

There's something I don't often see mentioned when it comes to talking about Ennis. It's just how much the fear of being noticed seems to bother him. In my mind, he can feel the attraction he might have for other men. However, his fear of this is to the point he wont let his thinking mind touch the subject. At least, he doesn't until after that first night in the tent with Jack.

Good way to put it, Garry.

[adrian]

For a moment, Jack does look like he's about to walk up to Ennis and stick out his hand. But Ennis looks down and away, letting his hat shade his face, and Jack changes his mind, and looks down and away himself.

Ah I see.  I guess Ennis did send a "leave me alone" message to Jack.   So no words were needed just body language.

[Ellemeno]

Ennis makes that sour little prune face, leaning against the wall of the trailer.  I wouldn't go bouncing up to him wagging my tail either.

[ffrn]

This poverty, on both of these character's parts, is perhaps the most powerful force shaping their identities. For Ennis, it feels to me like he believes any change from what he knows would threaten his very survival. For Jack, it's something to escape however he can. Like, his marrying Lureen.

I totally agree Garry.  To me anyway, the poverty both had grown up with explained much of their actions throughout their lives. 

[nagsheadsea412]

It is a question mark though..here are two men in the silence of the day waiting for their employer and no one talks, introduces themselves...I know it's cowboy country and 1963...but so what/ was Ennis so shy and repressed that he would look down and shuffle...If I were Jack, I'd wonder what the hell this guy is all about and I'm going to be shut away with him all summer?

[Front-Ranger]

A similar scene was depicted in the classic novel The Virginian, which is actually not set in Virginia, it takes place in Wyoming. Two people meet at a party and make a serious effort to ignore each other, thus conveying the depth of their feeling for each other. So, I call this the "Wyoming handshake," when two people studiously ignore each other.

[nagsheadsea412]

I never knew that......I'm like a babbling brook, especially when nervous, or anticipating a new job...those two would have fled to the hills if I were the third party!

[LauraGigs]

When I first saw the film, I thought they were checking each other out (and being rather wary of each other) more on a professional-rivalry level... as if thinking "what's this other guy doing here?" 

It wasn't until after seeing it several times and reading other observations (especially from gay men) that my interpretation changed (quite a bit).

[ifyoucantfixit]

    I had the opinion for a very long time, that they were sizing each other up.  Specially Ennis.  They probably didn't know
there was going to be more than one hire.  They were probably figuring it was one guy only.  Specially Jack, because he
had been there before, and we know nothing of him having a partner up there.  But Ennis's life was probably more dependent on his getting the job, because he had hiked there, and had no where else to go...Period.
    When he did check him out though, he looked to be a very fit person for the job.  Plus quite handsome.  Any man that
has the gay mindset then probably was going to check him out in another direction.  He felt quite abated by Ennis's
demeanor however, so he latched onto the way of checking him out on the sly.  By his surreptitious shave in the rear view
mirror.  Thus being able to check him out quite thoroughly, without detection.
     Ennis being scared of his own mind and shadow, was just trying with all his might to see Jack for what he was, and at the
same time, not be obvious at doing so.  I think that was why the friendship started to warm up soon after they found out
that they were both going to be taken on.  Not just one of them.