The Bar Scene with Jack and Ennis

[Lumière]

And yet their steps are completely in synch.  Ennis is keeping his distance, but he naturally falls into step with Jack regardless.

Good point there, Mel!   

[Ellemeno]

Toast's rendition of this beautiful moment:

[Toast]

Thanks Ellemeno for posting the pic
I think it fits here.

Remember Jakefan that it was Jack who decided that drinking together was their occupation for the morning after Aguirre hired them.  In the movie trailer Jack says the line that "Well as long as we're going to be working together, then we may as well start drinking together."

  In the screenplay Jack tells the bar staff - who try and keep them out of the bar - that "Me and my partner here, we got us a summer's worth a drinkin' to do today. Reckon we're gonna need that extra hour."
As they drink in the screenplay we see that Ennis is ...   oh my why not read it yourselves:


JACK Nice to know you, Ennis Del Mar.  Since we're gonna be working together, I reckon it's time we start drinking together.
ENNIS looks at the watch AGUIRRE gave him: WE SEE it's eight thirty. ENNIS nods to JACK.

8 INT: EAR: MORNING:
The barroom is large and cavernous. All the chairs are stacked upside-down on the tables. It's empty except for a BARTENDER and WAITRESS, both middle-aged. The husky BARTENDER stands behind the bar and stocks bottled beer into the cooler. The skinny, middle-aged WAITRESS cleans ashtrays in a sink. ENNIS and JACK enter the dingy bar. Sunlight bursts into the dimly lit room, startling the BARTENDER and the WAITRESS.
ENNIS and JACK wait a moment for their eyes to adjust to the darkness.
BARTENDER (annoyed) We ain't open 'til ten.
JACK (friendly) Me and my partner here, we got us a summer's worth a drinkin' to do today. Reckon we're gonna need that extra hour.
BARTENDER (repeats) Told you...we open at ten.
The WAITRESS glares at the BARTENDER.
WAITRESS Aw, lay off 'em, Royce.  They're just buttons.
ROYCE shrugs.
WAITRESS (cont'd—friendly, too) you boys have a seat.
JACK and ENNIS take their seats at the bar. ENNIS lights up a smoke.
The WAITRESS finishes drying an ashtray on her apron, Places it in front of ENNIS.
WAITRESS Now then, what'll you have?
JACK Bud, please.
ENNIS Bud.

9 INT: BAR: DAY (LATER):
ENNIS and JACK still sit at the bar, each nurses a Longneck. ENNIS peels the label from his bottle. A few empties sit in front of JACK.
JACK My second year up here.  Last year one storm the lightning kill 42 sheep. (shakes his head) Thought I'd asphyxiate from the smell, We need to take plenty of whiskey, for when the lightning starts. (drinks)
The WAITRESS arrives.  Frowns, looks pointedly at ENNIS'S bottle, still half-full.
WAITRESS (to ENNIS) You drinkin' that beer, or was you plannin' a grow flowers in it?
ENNIS looks embarrassed, is about to say something, but JACK speaks first.
JACK (to WAITRESS) Tell you what, ma'am, you just keep linin' 'em up.
WAITRESS smiles.  Walks off.
ENNIS (in a low voice) I ain't got but a buck and some change.
JACK You drink up.  I'll worry 'bout the tab.
ENNIS chug their beers, slam the bottles on the bar. returns with two opened beers.
WAITRESS That's more like it.
WAITRESS gives each boy his fresh beer.  Gathers the empties, and leaves.
ENNIS What was you sayin' 'bout lightnin'?
JACK It smoked some sheep. Aguirre got all over my ass like I was supposed to control the weather. (drinks) Beats working for my old man. Can't please my old man, no way.  That's why I took to rodeoin!.
(proudly knocks his rodeo belt buckle) Ever rodeo?
ENNIS (reserved) Once in a while, when I can afford the entry fees.
JACK You from ranching people?
ENNIS I was.
JACK Folks run you off?
ENNIS (stiff) No. They run themselves off. One curve in the road in 43 miles, and they miss it.  Killed them both. (drinks) Bank took the ranch. Brother and sister raised me, mostly.
JACK Shit. That's hard. (yells to waitress) Two shots of whiskey, right quick.
   ------------------ This is from the 2003 screenplay.

I love that scene.
I think you see Jack being the leader and Ennis being the shy, economical guy - who can't believe that someone is treating him as an equal. 

Annie Proulx wrote the scene lik this:
They found a bar and drank beer through the afternoon, Jack telling Ennis about a lightning storm on the mountain the year before that killed forty-two sheep, the peculiar stink of them and the way they bloated, the need for plenty of whiskey up there.


About Ennis following and not leading Jakefan:
Later after the sheep have been mixed and sorted a bit, Jack and Ennis ride parallel as Ennis jokes about the harmonica scaring off the sheep again.  There we see the progress that the guys have made, now they are equal partners.   Ennis starts off almost as a beast of burden, expecting to work quietyly and to follow orders.   Jack brings out his "teamness". 

[Brown Eyes]

This is a really interesting topic.  I love the beginning of the movie and this early bar scene.  So full of interesting innuendoes.   I agree whole-heartedly with earlier comments that this is one of the first instances where we're really aware that Jack is in the lead.  It's also the first visualization of what Jack refers to much later as his short leash.  So, this image can probably be read at least two ways.  Probably the absolute first moment of Jack taking the lead is when he is the first to introduce himself.  The first of the pair to break the silence that characterizes the opening sequences of the film.  And, Jack's lead is fairly consistently depicted in the film (even in one of the special features in the current version of the DVD, we see a "making of" moment when someone in the filiming crew yells that Jack should be a bit ahead in one of the shots when the boys are heading up the mountain with the sheep).  Jack's the one that leads the herd (Ennis is in the rear with all the mules and the supplies).  And, of course he's the one in the lead romantically too.  He makes the first move physically.  He takes his shirt off first while Ennis is still in shirt sleeves.  Etc.  This metaphor or issue of Jack in the lead can be extended to many aspects of the film.  Even to emotional issues... did Jack accept his sexuality long before Ennis did?  

Back to the early bar scene with Jack and Ennis... I know this has come up in other threads, but I want to re-emphasize how interesting the background props are in this scene.  For anyone new to the film... notice what's shown behind Ennis's hat... behind Jack's hat.  Amazing!
 

[Cameron]

Back to the early bar scene with Jack and Ennis... I know this has come up in other threads, but I want to re-emphasize how interesting the background props are in this scene.  For anyone new to the film... notice what's shown behind Ennis's hat... behind Jack's hat.  Amazing!
 

Hi,

I haven't noticed that yet, I have been trying real hard to notice every little detail but I guess I am still focuss on the boys amazing faces.

Are there pictures of this?

I guess I'll have to watch again tomorrow. To late now.

[Brown Eyes]

Hey marlb42!  Yeah, I'd say just watch the beginning again (not such a hardship  ).  The little details in this film are astonishing.  Background details and things that seem somewhat mundane at first take on incredible significance the more you think about the film as a whole and about the way ideas and symbols re-emerge throughout the story.  I like to think that Brokeback is about the poetry that can be found in everyday things... the poetry of the mundane.  I think this applies equally well to both the film and the story.   I think it's fun to discover some of this on one's own so I won't go into the details of my own interpretations too much here yet.  I'd love to just hear what you think when you look for these little details.

p.s.  Have you found the threads yet about the hat colors?  I'll bump it.
 

[Cameron]

Hi,

No I haven't seen that thread yet, I will definitly read it and watch again tomorrow to look at the bar scene more closely.  I have watched the whole opening part and mountain scenes many times already, yes i am totally astounded at how many new things there are to see each time, and yet there is so much I haven't seen or noticed yet.  it is all amazing!!!!

I will look more closely and read that thread, I do have a lot to learn!!

[Toast]

About the bar scene and what's behind the hats:

notice what's shown behind Ennis's hat... behind Jack's hat.  Amazing!
 

What should I see:
the skull or the dartbaoard for Ennis?
and farm inplements for Jack?

[Ellemeno]

Toastie, could you poastie your alternating glances version of the above shot?    It's so great.

[Brown Eyes]

Heya,

I like the shot you have here Toast because you can see my favorite detail behind Ennis's head in this particular shot.  It's hard to notice sometimes when the film is in motion bacause they keep moving their heads around and obstructing different things.  And, this shot also happens to be a strong example of what's going on behind Jack too (this one is maybe more subtle).  The dart board behind Ennis I think is just amazing... the fact that the darts are all pointed as if they've come from Jack's direction.  There was an old discussion about the very early and super subtle moments of flirtation here (Ennis being willing to even ask to borrow the lighter... and then the spark from the lighter being important perhaps as a metphor for their chemistry... the electricity between them that comes up again, "Ennis as night fire", etc.).  Anyway, the idea here for me is that the darts are like cowboy versions of cupid's arrows... indicating the early moments of attraction.  I know there are others among us who get very excited about that skull and the ropes.   And for Jack, well, it's that he's sitting in a ray of sunshine.  Again, these background details seem to all be super subtle indications of the beginnings of attraction.  If we see the scene through Ennis's point of view (and since he's positioned as the protagonist, this seems to be logical) then Jack as the object of attraction (even if subconscious or just-barely-developing at this stage) is idealized... and therefore the "sitting in a ray of sunshine" idea.  The idea that when one first develops a crush the object of attraction is idealized.

Well, there's so much going on in terms of props in even this one shot that there's a ton that can be said, I'm sure.  And, Elle, you're right, multiple angles of this scene make a big difference.  I didn't even notice the dart board in the film for a very long time.  Ennis's hat covers it for much of the time when this scene is in motion.