Opening Scenes

[mwp2paris]

I just can't not see the posing and glances of Jack as anything but testing the waters. I tried on my second viewing to watch and see Jack as just a loving and open guy who is always looking for a friend or kick-back-and-enjoy conversation. Even in the bar, with the rodeo cowboy, one could try to interpret the buying of the beer as nothing else than that.

But then he gets out of that truck and stands and stretches out along the side of it and all that just falls away...he knew exactly what he was doing...testing the waters!

Did Ennis have any idea what was going? There are signals that one learns very quickly, so perhaps Ennis was a quick learner...the furtive glances, the holding of eye contact just a little longer, the quick grin or flick of an eyebrow. It is so ritualistic and yet the energy and wonder at where it will go are intoxicating when it does happen. Perhaps Ennis couldn't really put words to the sudden realization that he had become the center of attention for this guy, but he didn't seem to mind and may have even been flattered by it.

The layers one can analyze this movie to are amazing.

[sandyday]

one thing that has been bugging me since reading the story, screenplay and seeing the movie is something that might never be answered as Annie Proulx never did detail it in the story. but because the screenplay, for example, "drew out" the cassie character, i wondered if diana & larry ever thought about drawing this aspect out:

where did jack and ennis sleep over night after their first day at the bar? they were trucked the next day to the jump off point. ennis & jack got to the trailer early in the am. (well, ennis, way earlier) and jack maybe got there by 11am or something? aguirre by 12? have no clue.

did they sleep in jack's truck? stay up all night, and go to the truck off by 5 am? I am so curious? but as i said might never be nothing we will know because annie doesn't have that detail. though i wondered if we asked her, if it's a detail she has in her head, or something that was edited out. would love to see what others think.

[BBMje]

where did jack and ennis sleep over night after their first day at the bar? they were trucked the next day to the jump off point. ennis & jack got to the trailer early in the am. (well, ennis, way earlier) and jack maybe got there by 11am or something? aguirre by 12? have no clue.

In the shooting script, there is a shot of Jack and Ennis in Jack's truck overnight:

"JACK sleeps in his old pickup, slumped against the door.

ENNIS, in the passenger seat, wide awake, smokes, gazes through the steamed windows into the darkness."

[SquallCloud]

where did jack and ennis sleep over night after their first day at the bar? they were trucked the next day to the jump off point. ennis & jack got to the trailer early in the am. (well, ennis, way earlier) and jack maybe got there by 11am or something? aguirre by 12? have no clue.

In the shooting script, there is a shot of Jack and Ennis in Jack's truck overnight:

"JACK sleeps in his old pickup, slumped against the door.

ENNIS, in the passenger seat, wide awake, smokes, gazes through the steamed windows into the darkness."

Goodness, I hope this is in the deleted scenes of the DVD. If we can't have all the takes of the kissing and whatnot which would probably be in poor taste can we at least have this?

[DeeGilles]

You don't notice it at first, but neither Jake nor Heath get the opening line of the film, and more than that it is actually quite long time before anyone says anything at all. But in that time so much is set up and revealed.

It's a great opening scene.  The silence is very indicative of a lot of elements, such as the lack of population in the area--feels very deserted and desolate around there;  Ennis's lonliness, the boy's unease with each other until Aguirre speaks, thus "breaking the ice".  It reminds me very much of Eastwood's spaghetti westerns.  The dialogue was usually very spare, the men gritty and real... You know, it would have been a real kick to see what Eastwood could have done with this film.  Mad props to Ang, of course, but Clint is about the only director I could think of that could have done it just as well or better.  He's got that great history of the western, hybridized with a great understanding of human behavior, and he knows how to get amazing performances out of his actors, such as in Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby.

Okay...so who would not killl to see Eastwood direct Heath?  Those two would be kindred spirits, I am sure.

[sparkle_motion]

I've read and heard a lot of people say the opening scenes of Brokeback are very boring. I couldn't disagree more. I love every second of it. I love the glances. I love Jack trying to look cool and nonchalant against his truck. I love him shaving while trying to discreetly check Ennis out. I love Ennis trying to figure out the watch that Aguirre gave him.

[ingmarnicebbmt]

BORING ??

I think this scene is essential. Beautiful. Unforgettable. Everything's exposed here, everything can be developped from here... In a way, the movie could end here. It's just perfect.

[antena]

I feel the same way about Ennis and his paper bag (s).   

1963:   Here's a 19 year old boy reporting to work, where he'll spend the next ~3 months in the mountains, and the only possessions he takes with him fit in a folded-over paper bag.   Everything he has at that moment fits in that small bag.

1983:   When he leaves the Twist farm with the entwined, bloodied shirts in the folded-over paper bag, we realize that after 20 years, all Ennis has left fits in a folded-over paper bag.

Heartbreaking.

And the way Heath kind of cradles the bag, holds it so close, speaks volumes.  Just another indication of a phenomenal performance.

[memememe]

The opening scene and the apparent "slowness" of it is to depict the loneliness and boredom in herding sheep. As Aquirre said to Jack, "you boys sure found a way to make the time pass up there".

It's too bad that so many people see the movie as a sleeper.

[SquallCloud]

It's too bad that so many people see the movie as a sleeper.

Is it 'so many'? I wonder. I can definately understand it though. Most audiences see far more flashy jump cutty fair. I think I would become board in a traditional romance because romances tend to be slow. When Brokeback starts picking up speed I almost long for the first half hour spent on that idylic mountain.

[cythera4]

Is it 'so many'? I wonder. I can definately understand it though. Most audiences see far more flashy jump cutty fair. I think I would become board in a traditional romance because romances tend to be slow. When Brokeback starts picking up speed I almost long for the first half hour spent on that idylic mountain.

Some reviews have complained about the film's pace. The _New Yorker_ didn't like the first half hour on the mountain, but said the movie picked up when they got back to civilization. Other reviews said the film had several "false endings," dragging way past its natural conclusion (Jack's death?). I think these opinions are mistaken and/or obtuse, but they are out there. The most perceptive reviews have said the plain truth: that the film is a masterpiece of careful, intelligent pacing, sustained by brilliant direction and flawless performances.

[karind1]

Here is one of unanswered questions
 
Some of my unanswered questions are?
1.  Where did Jack and Ennis spend the first night after they finished the day before they were trucked up to the jump off?  Ift doesn't say in the movie or the book.  Could Ennis afford a motel?  Was there a motel in that town?  Where did they go all day and night?
 

[bluehorse]

Here is one of unanswered questions
 
Some of my unanswered questions are?
1. Where did Jack and Ennis spend the first night after they finished the day before they were trucked up to the jump off? Ift doesn't say in the movie or the book. Could Ennis afford a motel? Was there a motel in that town? Where did they go all day and night?
 

Funny, I was just reading the shooting script which someone posted (it's very different than the published screenplay, lots more scenes) and in that script Ennis & Jack show up at the bar at 9 AM an hour before the bar opens and Jack persuades the barkeep to let them in. . .jack says something like: we have to do a summer's worth of drinking in a day. . .so, I think that's what they did during the day, don't know where they slept, maybe in the jack's truck? No way Ennis had money for a hotel, in this omitted scene, Ennis didn't have money for a beer, Jack said he would take care of the bar tab. . .

[Supergirl]

could someone please post a link to the shooting script here.

I've got the screenplay, but would love to see the original movie material. Thanks x

[pilote]

I have been reading with interest some of the posts on the opening scene.  First of all I come at this movie from a film lover's perspective, this stated just to set the stage.  I strongly feel that the opening scene is being overanalyzed particularly in terms of the flirting aspect.  Some of the other comments, truck, brown bag etc...have been very insightful but this particular one,specifically as it relates to Jack, (see grooming etc...) is  not.  The most interesting about this movie and the whole notion or romantic love and why its appeal is cross generational and cross gender lies in the fact that love, true love, transcends gender and can strike at any time, anyhere.  When Jack and Ennis first meet there is obviously an awareness of each other after all they will be working together in close quarters for some time to come but their awareness stems from a natural apprehension of the other.  I don't feel that there was any flirting involved.  These men did not "circle" each other, they did not know they were going to fall in love - they are naive, young and inexperienced - the love is a total surprise.  I don't want to mitigate the importance of the relationship in terms of the homosexual nature of the love because it is pivotal to the story particularly in terms of the conflict it brings forth but I believe it simplifies the story to see it only in those terms.  The thing is that we want Ennis and Jack to stay together and be happy together IRRESPECTIVE of their gender.  Gender becomes immaterial when the love is all encompassing.  In a sense that is a much more hopeful, positive message and a much more difficult one to put across.