I was just thinking of something that I'm not sure has been addressed before. Many have commented on the fact that we never hear Ennis or Jack tell each other 'I love you.' In fact, the word 'love' occurs only once in the film (when Cassie tells Ennis, "Girls don't fall in love with fun"), while 'loves' is uttered by Ennis at the end (asking Alma Jr., "This Kurt fella--he loves you?"). We don't doubt that Jack and Ennis are in love with each other, but the verbal expression of this state is circumspect and subtle.
But today I got to thinking that we don't even hear Ennis or Jack compliment one another in the way that lovers are wont to do. We never hear one man telling the other that he is handsome, for example, or that he is a wonderful kisser, or any of the other multiple ways that people in love convey their admiration and gratitude for their beloved. I recall that in the short story, Jack comments on Ennis's strong thighs, and Ennis leaves no doubt that he enjoys his physical trysts with Jack, but there is no comparable moment of verbal affirmation in the film, of which I can now recollect.
This is all consistent, of course, with the deficient vocabulary both men have in expressing their complex emotions for one another, compounded by Ennis's innately taciturn nature. But I think it adds another level of poignancy to reflect that these little endearments, taken for granted by so many lovers, might have remained alien to Ennis and Jack's experience. I think Jack might have been capable, in time, of expressing his admiration for Ennis, but may well have remained silent for fear of Ennis's reaction (after all, in Ennis's mind, the two of them are just straight guys who have this strange "thing" that "takes hold" of them). Such effusions would have been tantamount to an admission of "queerness", and Jack would have known this. I have little doubt that by story's end, Ennis fully and consciously appreciates Jack's beauty, along with the love he shared with him, but by then it was tragically too late to express this to Jack.
Scott