Brokeback Mountain meant a lot to people like me....

I'm 46 years old. When I was young, homosexuality was defined by Liberace and Paul Lynde. It was sexless, campy schtick.

Then things changed. Elton came out. Ellen came out. Rosie came out. Doogie fucking Howser came out.

We had no popular culture - although we had plenty of our own. But same-sex love was confined to porn and indie films.

Then a major production company, a top-tier director, and two fine actors took a short story and turned it into a beautiful movie. I hate to think how many actors turned down the roles - so many thought it would be a career-killer. But two young, beautiful, brave men took the jobs. And they made a masterpiece.

Among love movies, Brokeback Mountain is up there with the best of them. It's up there with Casablanca, and An Affair to Remember, and Dr. Zhivago.

RIP Heath Ledger.

That maybe, just maybe our GLBT friends and relatives would enjoy the same privileges we have.

RIP Heath Ledger.

When I read the short story (after seeing the movie) I saw the emotional connection in BBMtn and thought what a powerful film. And the scenery, the beauty of it all.

Yes, a classic.

We read the story in my Queer Lit class (one of the best experiences of my academic career, btw), and my whole class (3 straight girls, 2 Bi girls, 3 Lesbians, and one Gay male Prof) went to see it together when it came out.

x(

and a beautiful film.

and true love story ever brought to the screen. The scene with the shirts is exactly what it is like. Except MrG's are in a bag so I won't lose "him" for good. I thought that before, I know it now.

And it was so beautiful and honest.

And thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

that's the scene that made me weep.

When someone you love leaves you, you just want to hold on to any piece of him - a remembrance, a scent.

Loss sucks. Our challenge is to keep going, and that's what we must do.

You're absolutely right. It's a love story. I cried at the end...I just couldn't help it. I sat in a theater and cried.

It IS a masterpiece. I sat there, watching it, and thinking how groundbreaking this is. It took a straight director, 2 straight actors, to make a film that so damned honest. About same-sex love.

It didn't win the Oscar for Best Picture a couple of years ago. But, you know? Ultimately...so what? "Brokeback Mountain" is a classic. It's a classic that will be loved for years to come.

Thank you for posting this.

I loved this movie...

both, yes both of my brothers were gay....

both are gone
my baby brother died of AIDS and my big brother died of an anurysem....

sweety

I'm here for you... 'K????


:hug: :hug:

more to this story....
but thats for later....



lost

I haven't had a chance to see Brokeback Mountain yet. I'll take this as a compelling recommendation to do so.

was a great film, too. But a lot more camp than Brokeback.

The William Hurt character did camp it up a lot, but it was really a touching love story nonetheless.

I look forward to Brokeback.

It was my second time seeing the movie, his third, and we sat there and sobbed together.

Me too.

RIP

And it's a fucking crime that you have to explain WHY the movie should not be treated like a fucking punchline.

Brokeback Mountain is not a punchline to us.



RIP Heath.


edit to add: When my partner and I saw it, after the picture was over, we sat in the car and cried for half an hour. Couldn't compose ourselves. It infuriates me when this movie is marginalized.

Some people are just sociopathic assholes, and enjoy laughing at people in pain. They think pain and sorrow is weakness, and they want to show their strength.

Well Heath's anguished performance anyway, very reminiscent of the "Stella!, Stella!" scene in Streetcar. I was not a happy camper when it lost the Oscar, after winning practically every other film award. It may have won more awards than any other movie that ended up losing the Oscar. Gee, wonder why Brokeback would have that distinction, I couldn't venture to guess why...

was one of raw emotion, expressed. Ledger's was one of raw emotion, contained.

Both were wonderful.

regarding his passing.

:hug:

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One of the great leading man performances in American cinema history, IMO.

:loveya:

every person around me was crying. Men, women, gay, straight, it didn't matter. I have never seen such an outpouring of grief in public in my life, outside of an actual funeral.

My husband was sobbing like a baby. When the lights can up I saw people from all walks of life crying. We ran into a friend of mine and his husband and they are both red eyed from crying.

I can't watch the movie anymore. We bought the DVD and I just can't watch. Even more now that Heath is gone.

and he said "I actually haven't seen Brokeback Mountain". It came out just before he and I met. I said, "Oh, we must watch it, we'll watch it tomorrow", and then I thought, man, I better brace myself for that. I remember being...not sad exactly, but subdued and a little "off my game" for a couple of days after I saw it. I felt the same way about Edward Scissorhands - that theme of feeling isolated from the world and totally alone really gets to me.

I have the disc, and haven't ever watched it. I've been debating all day whether to watch it, and I don't think I can.

I might watch A Knight's Tale instead.

I saw it 3 times in the theater, but haven't been able to watch it since. I've been afraid to go back there so far. I cried in the theater too, and it was the first time I'd cried at a movie. I thought it might be unusual that fans of the movie, find it hard to watch again, but apparently not. I've just thought I should wait until I was in an optimistic enough mood about my life, that the movie wasn't going to bring me down too much. I feel that way about "Monster" too, another movie I love. But Brokeback is definitely different, the character Ennis does a really good job of representing all the sadness I've experienced living in a world that is often very unkind to gays. And we don't have to look any further than this thread, to see how relentless the straight world is in ridiculing and abusing gays. But I look forward to watching it again. I'm actually a man (who will eventually get around to changing this ridiculous nic) and quite frankly, the movie is pretty homoerotic. I've definitely wanted to watch those hot guys make out again.

:hug:

It made me think.

Made me think that I'm so glad I live in a better world than what the characters went through.

Heath and Jake are heros to me. Heros for having the guts to take on these roles and play them with such heart and soul as they did.

I'll never forget that film. AND I will never forget my outrage when the Academy pissed on this film for Best Picture. When I go to the Sunset & Highland center and see the sign showing "Crash" as the "Best" Picture on the walkway to the Kodak, I want to throw a rock at it.

I'll probably never watch the movie, but that doesn't invalidate your feelings.

I can understand (well, at least as much as a heterosexual guy can, which maybe isn't all that much, but there it is) why you'd feel that way.

The merits of the specific movie aside, you made some good points there that heterosexual guys might not have considered.

Redstone

it was gorgeously filmed and the acting was terrific. It's a classic love-story, and a well-done one.

When I got to the theatre, I saw the greatest mix of people in line to get in. Old farmers, young highschool kids,couples, middle-aged moms such as myself. I even helped a blind woman get to the seat next to me. She couldn't "see" the movie but she wanted to see it.

I was proud to be there that day. And it was a fantastic movie, not just in terms of message, but the acting was superb and the score and photography was brilliant.

RIP to a FINE actor. An artist. And a very beautiful man.

You're making me cry!

That's a beautiful story.

I had to experience a different response when I saw "Philadelphia". I flew down from San Francisco to Bakersfield to see my family. Mom gave me INSTRUCTIONS ... bless her heart ... that I had to wait to see the movie with her. My step-dad bowed out because he had a hard time dealing with AIDS films following my brother's death. So my Mom, my Aunt Pat and I went to see it. Which was on the day of the '94 earthquake in LA.

During the part when Tom and Antonio dance together at their party, these two snotty ass little shit teenage girls started giggling and say "Oh gross" and shit like that. I leaned forward and said "Oh yeah it's sooooo fucking funny. Fuck off you little narrowed minded assholes". My mom was "Hushing" me and I said "Fuck that shit". They sank in there chairs and shut their fucking mouths the rest of the movie. At the end when the lights came up, Mom and Aunt Pat gave them major stink eye as they almost ran out of the theater.

Lesson: Don't fuck with a San Francisco queen and his momma and auntie.

I came out of that movie feeling hopeful because of the people who were with me in that theatre.

Sigh. Such a shame about Ledger. Who knows how great he could have become?

:P

Btw Philadelphia is one of my top 3 fav movies all time. I've never come close to crying watching any movie, but that one made me come damn close to breaking down.

we all have to do our part when the opportunity arises: whether it's homophobic, sexist, rascist, etc. - we have to start talking out about it so others can hear that certain things will not stand unchallenged!

I do my share and have been somewhat ostracized (in my personal circle) for my 'big mouth', but I'd rather have a big mouth in speaking out against these injustices, than a small mind that refuses to see some light. ;)

Lots of straight pianists and comedians didn't thrust heterosexuality into their performances... Why bash the men who had to, in your inference, keep restrained just so they could make a living and entertain millions of people - regardless of sex, race, or credo? ;)

And I agree; RIP to a man who cut his life too short - either by deliberate design or unfortunate accident. :( His family will miss him most of all. And if his termination was suicide, his family will have double the agony. :(

As for the movie, or any of the others he has done, I have not seen them. Therefore I cannot verify the quality of his performances.

with your massive cock?

I have to admit I laughed out loud at that one, Ronny.

Very good. :-)

Now THEY knew how to entertain an audience.

:eyes:

Just stay out of these threads for fuck's sake. :eyes:

Glad you're enjoying yourself, takes you right back to the good ol' days in school, eh?

:rofl:

Otherwise you wouldn't be here.

I'm making fun of gays because Brokeback Mountain was bad.

What does that make Ang Lee? Fred Phelps?

And your excuse is supposed to be "oh, I just hated the movie so much." That's your opinion and now that you've stated it a hundred times, why else are you here? You're reliving your jr high days.

are allowed to post here.

I'm also surpised that someone as assholish as Bornagainhooligan is allowed to post here. All it is from him is snarky, meanspirted shit directed towards other DUer's. As seen last night.

There should be one simple rule on DU: Act like a grownup.

once was after my baby bro died we saw an Elton John AIDS benefit concert where I heard THE LAST SONG live, with my brothers SO we hugged and cried and laughed.. beautiful moment.... never ever forget it.......

the other was when he was sick and he was supposed to come to Barry Manilow concert with me.... couldn't come... Barry sang I Made it Through The rain....

omg


lost

:hug:

:hug:

...just last weekend. Ledger's performance is one for the ages, absolutely extraordinary.

So very sorry this happened.....

not seen a lot of movies over the past several years.

but I am certain that you are right and it is a tragedy that Heath is dead.

Anyone that makes things easier in some way for those who are GLBT is a winner in my book

:hi:

love stories I've ever seen. It touched me so much, I was holding back sobs at the end.

I'm really upset to see how many deleted posts there are on this thread. Judging from the posts that follow,
the deleted remarks were antagonistic, disrespectful or just plain ugly.

What a shame. Even here, even at a time like this when one of the young actors who starred in that iconic film
has just lost his life.

What is wrong with people like that??

It's beyond my comprehension.

...i kinda want to.

and there are NOT many movies you can say about.

next time, we'll watch it...and i will bawl

we have a long list, don't we? =)

Brokeback Mountain was a beautiful movie that, in the end, broke my heart in it's beauty and tragedy.

And kudos to Heath and Jake for taking on those roles.

We had the same reaction. It is one of the most beautiful love stories ever. Then, I watched it on DVD with my boyfriend. He was crying at the end of the movie, and really was touched by it as much as I was. Heath Ledger's performance in that movie was one for the ages.

Did you ever see "The Wedding Banquet"? I thought that was a really good movie about a gay couple.

for Best Film and Best Actor for Heath Ledger...

His performance was dead-on... a person trying to create a language (system of signification) for what they were feeling. As such it was the kind of role that doesn't generate fireworks. It was more subtle, more difficult, and more powerful than that. It was about how you move your body, deliver the lines you have etc. Every single delivered word spoke the inner pain, confusion, despair, and hope of his character.

Heath Ledger was beyond good in this film.

Beyond the obvious issues of homosexuality, it stands as one of the great love stories in Cinema history. For me, right up there with Wuthering Heights, Zeferelli's Romeo and Juliet, and Dr. Zhivago.

Heath Ledger will be missed.

I cried in the theaters when I saw it with my friends, and I cry every time I see it.

That film means so much to so many people, those guys touched so many lives with their performance.

:cry:

...out of the ordinary. I cried in the theater, I cried in the car, and I bought the DVD and have not been able to watch it.

RIP Heath.

yes, it's hard to watch. Anybody who's ever had his/her heart broken finds such a perfect depiction painful.

God I loved that movie. I've seen it twice but can't watch it now. It's too painful.


I heard this song through quite a bit of Brokeback Mountain. It wasn't in the movie or on the soundtrack, but I heard it anyway.

Trail Of Broken Hearts
k d lang/Ben Mink

Trail of broken hearts
Looking back at you
Now and from the start
These words will travel true
The god-speed of trust
Will settle the dust
Weve been passing through
Leaving just a part
Down the trail of broken hearts

Broken trail so long
A long and tired past
An emptiness has gone
Ive found this place at last
And here will remain
With only the aim
Of staying sure and fast
Leaving just a part
Down the trail of broken hearts

It is a beautiful film, and it's absolutely right that such an important 'break-through' film should have been one which is a great film regardless of the nature of the plot. Brokeback will still be watched years from now when (hopefully) the gay element will seem totally normal.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/trivia

According to an interview in Premiere Magazine, Mark Wahlberg stated that at one point, he and Joaquin Phoenix were considered for the two lead roles. Although Wahlberg considered it due to his brother-like relationship with Phoenix, the script was ultimately too sexually graphic for him.

was such a prude?

Fuck him. He didn't turn it down because it was sexually graphic - there's one brief scene in the dark where they hump.

He turned it down because it was gay.

He would have been mentioning his heterosexuality about 20,000 times in interviews.

Brief rant. If a straight actor has a problem with doing a gay role...DON'T DO IT. I remember when Will Smith did "Six Degrees of Separation", where he protested to the director about doing a kissing scene with another man. Hell, even Eric McCormack was doing the "hey, I have a wife and kids" thing in interviews about "Will and Grace". And that's what I admired about Heath Ledger...he didn't do the "I'm heterosexual! I screw women" crap when doing interviews for "Brokeback Mountain".

for Will Smith because of that.

Shut the fuck up - do the role or don't do the role. It's ACTING!

For god's sake, you're an actor playing a role.

I like what the actor Perry King said years ago when he was questioned for playing a gay character. He said that, basically, he had played murderers, too, but no one ever asked him if he was one in real life.

Please.

Point taken.

Personally, I thought My Beautiful Laundrette was hotter.

I have a copy, but like some that have said here, I am not ready to rewatch the suffering and pain and loss so excruciatingly well done. that movie really hit home for me on how cruelty and meaness is so prevalent in our society - not that I was unaware before but somehow a certain tender chord was struck that I had missed along the way with Brokeback.

Message always seems to be - if it's different - kill it. :(

Growing up, probably the best gay role model on tv was Billy Crystal on "Soap".

I remember seeing the movie "Partners" with Ryan O' Neal. I knew I was gay at that time, but wasn't out yet. I walked out of that movie thinking, "I'm not like that. Is that what you have to be like to be gay?"

Then there was "Crusing"; the less said about THAT one (what the HELL was Al Pacino thinking?) the better.

"Brokeback Mountain" had my partner and I in tears. A beautiful love story that didn't shy away from showing the physical side of their relationship. The scene where he finds the shirt was just heartbreaking.

Yes, Cruising isn't worthy of discussion.

I shall not look upon his like again.