I love this movie, I just feel cheated at what I expected them to present in this new version

Honestly, I thought this was an incredibly overhyped film that was just average - neither lousy or great, just somewhere in between. I definitely wouldn't watch it again. Maybe my expectations were too high?

I'd say Triniman that the movie is too sophisticated for what the viewing public expects.
It's a plain and simple love story.

There are no exploding cars and no explicit sex and it makes people think too much, and mindless entertainment is what people are more connected to these days.

Not everyone is going to respond to every film. Even if the person has taste and sensitivity and a lot of other folks think the movie is well done, there's no guarantee that particular individual will love that particular film. This seems almost too obvious to have to say it. Taste is subjective.

I love this movie about as much as Jet does, but the first time I saw it, I felt a bit let down. All the pre-release hype had allowed me to imagine something impossibly great, instead of simply a very well done movie. Since then, I've rewatched it a few times and read the beautiful original story a couple of times, and I've become convinced it's a masterpiece.

But just because someone else doesn't have that reaction doesn't mean that person only likes mindless car chase movies.

However, a lot of the online criticism of the movie, especially a year ago, had a political or polemical edge. People seemed to want to use the movie to express their favorable or [especially] unfavorable opinions about gay people and gay rights. Many of these comments were silly, offensive, and ugly...and had little to do with the film itself. Some were apparently written by insecure adolescent boys of all ages and genders.

PS If you have access to an HD television, watch this film on HBO in high-def. It is inexpressibly beautiful, so superior to the standard DVD.

What you seem to be ignoring is that this may well be the Director's Cut. I have yet to see an interview where Lee wished he could have included more scenes. Inserting scenes just because doesn't mean they are going to work. It could throw off the pacing.

With all the hype beforehand, I don't know anyone nor do I believe anyone didn't know what this film was about before walking in.

Why would there need to be a sequel? The story was over.

Your opinion of the Oscar is based solely on emotion and has no basis in fact. First off, no film is entitled to an award. Second, you have no idea how many votes it lost by. Third, let's stop and think about who the judges are: people living in Los Angeles, so it's no surprise they might identify more with a film set in LA than Wyoming. Fourth, Ledger, who I thought gave a brilliant performance, lost to Hoffman who was playing a homosexual, so how would that be PC exactly?

I thought the movie was very well done, one of the top ten of the year; however, I didn't think it was the best picture, so I hope I don't get tagged with your "firm conviction," which is presumptuous and insulting.

"the movie is too sophisticated for what the viewing public expects.
It's a plain and simple love story."

My complaint has to do with the presentation, Handyguy not the movie itself, though as I said they could've fixed the sound problem.

Elbicho, The original edit of this film was nearly three hours long. This is material that Lee thought enough of to have put on film. It was edited down because most theaters won't show a movie that's more than two hours long unless they have to because the more showings per day the more they and the studio makes.

This means that there's 45 minutes of footage somewhere that could be presented.

The end of the film left Ennis alone, with no prospects but to stay alone the rest of his life unable to recapture what he'd let escape through his fingers. There's another 40 years of his life that could be told.

If you'd like to see how I continued the story, you can click here

As for my firm conviction that he was robbed at the oscars. Arguing that both actors played gay characters isn't valid. Hoffman played more of nonthreatening a caricature of a character to be observed at rather than Heath, who played someone that nearly everyone could identify with, which some considered threatening and a little too close to home.

I stated at the end of this article that this was my opinion.

respect mine as valid, and I'll respect yours?

Jet

Thanks Matt. Beautifully put.

I didn't see this film until way after all the controversy settled down. I liked it pretty well, but not nearly as much as you did. It was well told, and well acted, and beautifully shot, but I didn't fully buy the story.

The opening quarter seemed more like two horny cowboys who needed to get laid and had only each other. It didn't show me enough of their relationship to make me believe that little bit of loving would haunt them as it did. But lots of movies do that trick, so I wasn't too bothered.

Has Ang mentioned anywhere that the cut that made it to the screen is in anyway not the cut he wanted to make? Every movie has scenes that were filmed but ultimately don't make it into the final cut for the reasons Bicho described.

I'll agree that they deserve to make it into the deleted scenes section of the DVD (especially when it is a two disk dealie) but they might not need to be placed into the actual film.

Point taken Matt but What second version of a DVD didn't come with outtakes?

A personal pet peeve is that fact that way too many DVDs neglect to add all the special features that they have available, including outtakes, goofs and interviews (either filmed for the DVD edition or culled from press coverage).

I absolutely get what you're saying here, Jet. Great job!!!

I'll agree with ya there Jet. If they are going to make a second disk, they ought to jam pack it with extras including the stuff that got edited out of the actual film.

Thank you Tink, I was trying to make that point politely to them. It's a fact that they rushed the initial offering last year into production and release because they wanted it out before the Academy awards.

But now they've had a year to play with it and all they added was a meager 30 minutes or so of material that didn't come close to what fans were waiting for.

It's always been my opinion that studio bean counters think like this.

1. Well we'll put this out just in case someone wants to buy it, but we'll spend as little as possible... after all it is a fag film.

2. Holy Shit! they bought a lot of them. I know, we'll put a little more on it and add HD-DVD on it and charge 'em more for it, but leave out a bunch of stuff so if we decide to later down the road we can always sucker 'em into buying another one.

3. wow those fools bought two, now we'll give 'em what they want but we'll charge say... oh... $45 bucks for each. then we've suckered 'em into buying 3 DVDs when they could've held off and only bought one!.

I don't think this is Focus Features doing this, I think it Universal Studios.

That's why I'd like to hold out for the Director's cut.

Fortunately for me and my limited budget. I got the original DVD free when I bought some movies through TLA last year, and I got this one for free for reviewing it.

Others aren't so lucky.

Thanks for contributing Tink
Jet

Thanks Mat-To expand a little.

A. Okay VHS movies were all the rage and the studios knew DVDs were coming, but they wanted as many VHSs as possible sold, so that the consumer would want to upgrade to DVDs.

b. Sell DVD players for as low a cost as possible to sucker people into buying them and then having to spend hundreds or even thousands upgrading their collections.

C. Shut off all sale of VHS copies to force consumers to buy DVDs. Anyone with a VHS is shit out of luck. We'll laugh all the bank because the suckers have two copies of the same movie!

D. Don't tell anyone about HD-DVD until they've had time to upgrade to DVDs. Then flood the market with HD-DVD players and make the fools all buy third copies of their favorite movies. HEY THIS IS GREAT!!!

E. Don't tell them about Blue Ray.

What's next? having been in the fringes of the industry for a little while I'll tell you. Japan has found a way to store massive amounts of info in holographic form on discs, enough to store 10-15 HD movies on one disc, or 5 in a new more data consuming format that's coming that'll make Blueray-HD look like a VHS tape.

By the time that hit's the market we'll have bought our favorite movies 4-5 times in ascending formats and they'll have laughed themselves all the way to the bank.

ha ha

Wonderful review! I agree with almost 100% of what you've said. I'm so disappointed there is not more to love about this collectors edition. I too have seen this movie more times than I care to admit and intentionally waited to buy the dvd because I knew the collectors edition would be coming out. What a waste! How do we bring this to the attention of the "powers that be"? I want more!!

Pandora, as a reviewer I'm obligated to send the review to the people who supplied me with this DVD. Whether they do something about it or not... well that's another question.

I absolutely love this movie. If you'd like to see how I closed out their story up to Ennis' death in 2007 click on the link in comment 8

Thanks for your input
Jet

It's understandable that you feel let down by the lack of deleted scenes in this new package. DVD marketing often seems to include "rip-off" as part of the deal, especially when a film is released multiple times.

However...

I couldn't disagree more strongly about a sequel. What a beautiful story Annie Proulx wrote, so spare, not one extra word used. The ache you feel at the end is part of the great achievement of both story and film. A sequel would unavoidably cheapen that.

It's as unthinkable as a sequel to Casablanca or Gone with the Wind, which also had great endings where the main couple in the plot had split, with the future uncertain. [The laughable results when greed overcame good sense and a sequel to GWTW was indeed written speak for themselves.]

I feel virtually certain that Annie would agree with me on this. And saying she "should be compelled" to write a sequel....lordy, Jet. You're thinking like a fan rather than a critic in this instance.

Does ANYONE know who that man and the kid in front of the garage is?

Handyguy, in this instance, I can't separate the two. see comment 8 and the link

My guess would be that the boy is either Ennis or Jack, and the adult is a relative, in a flashback that got excised.

Nope sorry, in the original credits of the movie there's someone credited as killer mechanic, so I thought he was one of the guys enlisted to kill Jack.

In the picture behind them is a mid 70s dodge truck in the garage, so it can't be a flash back.

Possibly related to this scene? [from IMDB]

"According to an interview that Heath Ledger gave to the Philadelphia Inquirer's Steven Rea, there was a sequence that was filmed for the movie in which Jack and Ennis help some hippies get their car out of a river. According to Ledger, the scene took a week to shoot but was disliked almost immediately by everyone involved."

A long shot I know. But the two guys in the garage seem to be looking at and reacting to something...perhaps Jack and Ennis and the hippies coming into town?

Sorry, Jet, but your opinion that everyone not willing to vote the film Best Picture or Heath Best Actor due to homophobia is not valid. Certainly not in my case.

You should be careful with the broad brush because your view that everyone's motivations stem from homophobia are clouding your vision. To think that BBM got a bare bones release initially because "after all it is a fag film" shows you don't know the marketplace. Most films, especially ones doing well at the box office, are rushed out on DVD to combat piracy, which is rampant worldwide. Why did Sin City get a bare bones release? The Lord of the Rings? I could go on.

"It was edited down because most theaters won't show a movie that's more than two hours long"

BBM is over two hours, so that point doesn't apply here. I've been working in different aspects of film production for years, not the fringes, so I know the many reasons why films are cut. Time is only one, and I trust Lee as an artist.

Every film shoots more footage than it uses and just because the footage was shot doesn't mean the director thinks it should be seen. Woody Allen shot September a second time with a new cast because the first version didn't work. He reshot some of Purple Rose of Cairo because Michael Keaton seemed to modern for the role. Stanley Kubrick shot a famous pie fight at the end of Dr Strangelove. Sometimes, they even try ideas out on the set that don't work.

Absolutely agree with handy on there being no sequel or further adventures of Ennis. The ending was perfect.

If someone is listed as killer mechanic, my guess would be he was responsible for killing the gay man Ennis refers to seeing. The kid in the back looks like a younger version of Ennis.

I don't know how you could tell what model the truck is (kudos to you), but that has no bearing on the scene. Go to IMDb and look under goofs for a number of Anachronisms. The movie is filled with them.

Thanks Handy guy, a plausible solution.

EB I guess you weren't watching the press coverage as much as I was.

I wasn't talking about how widely the DVD was released, I was talking about how little effort was made in the extra content.

It was editied down FROM nearly three hours to placate the theater owners, who compromised and said 2.25 hours was better than 2.5 or 2.75.

The scenes that were to be cut were part of the movie as part of the intended content, that's why they were included in the trailer preview. it was only afterward that they had to be cut. Some of those pieces even had background music on them, so the were originally part of the movie.

I had to crop nearly the entire frame of the man and boy and I just barely show the truck. The gay man that was killed was when Ennis was 8 years old, and I sincerely doubt that they'd put a '75 Dodge truck in a scene that was supposed to have occurred in 1951.

Yes the movie is filled with goofs but nothing that big.

You have your opinion I have mine.

In my novelization, I continue the story by having Ennis accused of Jack's murder.

I have Jack's mother murder his father and recover his ashes.

I allow Ennis to find love again and live out the rest of his life happy doing the thing he loves most. Raising horses.

That'd make a good sequel.

Your results may vary.

Jet. You have set to words precisely what many of us at ennisjack.com feel about this edition.

Thank you.

You're very welcome TPE. Glad I could help.

If you really love Brokeback Mountain and respect it as a beautiful work of tragic art, contriving the afterstory you describe in 26 is shocking. Godawful. In unbelievably bad taste. Please, please keep it to yourself.

Sorry Handy guy, as a matter of fact most of it was published here at BC and I got nothing but praise about it.

You shouldn't judge it until you've read it.

I'm going to have to agree with you Jet, about the letdown over the BBM's collector's edition. Sadly, it did not live up to people's expectations. Your opinion about universal studios seem interesting. I kind of see it that way too :( I wish they weren't like that, but sadly its how the industry works. It's all about the money.

regardless of its letdown or content, I planned on buying it anyways. my collection of BBM magazines, books, music, dvds (wide, full, collectors editiions) are all important. Heh.

Insomniac487, You're the kind of fan I'd really like to have you opinion of how I finished Ennis' story. Go to #8, click the link and tell me what you think after you've read it.

Jet.

This appeared in the ADVOCATE today...

Sound's pretty suspicious if you ask me, after all it's been nearly 10 years since BB was published in the NEW YORKER 5 since the movie has been in production and almost a year and a half since it was released, and only NOW she noticed it?

Give me a break
++++++++++++++++++++++++

Author files $250 million suit against makers of Brokeback Mountain

Janice Scott-Blanton, the author of My Husband Is on the Down Low and I Know About It, filed a $250 million lawsuit claiming copyright infringement against Universal and the studios that financed and distributed Brokeback Mountain, reports BlackNews.com.

Scott-Blanton claims there are over 50 substantial similarities between her novel and the Academy Award-winning film. An early bar scene in the movie reminded Scott-Blanton of a scene from her novel, but she chalked it up to coincidence until further scenes, including the first sexual encounter between Jack and Ennis, reminded her of her novel.

In Brokeback Mountain Alma confronts her husband Ennis about his homosexual activity during Thanksgiving dinner and tells him she purposely wrote a note and put it on his fishing line for him but he never found it. According to Scott-Blanton, this scene is strikingly similar to a scene in her novel wherein her character Annette confronts her husband James about his homosexuality on their ninth anniversary. James tells her he wrote a confession in his journal purposely, knowing she was secretly reading it. Both scenes are set in a kitchen.

Scott-Blanton will argue in court that the film is strikingly similar to her novel in terms of characters, plot, themes, and sequence of events. (The Advocate)

Just like the two stars of this trash...the movie sucked the big one. [Edited]
JustOneMan

A comment from another forum (and I agree) is that this woman has been laying in waiting for some years to see if it was going to be profitable before she brought this suit. Let's just hope there's a statute of limitations on the bitch.

Jet

After further reseach I find that Author Janice Scott-Blanton who filed $250 million lawsuit claiming there are too many coincidences between the film 'Brokeback Mountain' and her novel, 'My Husband is on the Down Low and I Know About It' is too full of shit to be real.

The similarities, she says, are evident in over 50 scenes in the movie, including the first sexual encounter between the two cowboys.

Publication dates may be of particular interest to the courts: Scott-Blanton's novel came out in March 2005; Annie Proulx's short story, later adapted nearly to the letter, into the film, was published in 1997. You do the math.
Jet

Sorry I haven't been around lately, I've been helping set up the new BC forum. Be back soon
Jet

Forgive me BC notices keep showing up as spam on my new e-mail-I'm trying to retrain it.

I think the reviewer may be wrong about what he identifies as the second "missing scene:" Judging from their clothes, the position of Ennis' hat and Jack's whiskey bottle, I think the guys are dressed for the earlier scene where Ennis comes to camp late, having been thrown from his horse. (Note Ennis' dirty jeans. Also, isn't he holding the wet bandana that Jack gave him for his bruised forehead?) Since it's not in keeping with the tone of the scene, I've always thought that it's simply a photo of Jake and Heath, out of character, shot between takes.

Another probable missing scene: some stills are around, showing Ledger/Ennis in his Lighting Flat duds, carring the shirt bag, in a little country cemetery.

I guess a short scene was filmed, wherein he takes a look at the Twist family plot, on his way back home from LF.

xplrr, if you go back to the "If you can't fix it..." scene-four years later, Ennis still has his hat on his knee at the opening of it, but he's laying on his back, and Jack is holding the same whiskey bottle.

The scene apparently is joined in the middle where Ennis is joking with Jack about thanking heaven for Jack forgetting his harmonica, in which they are laughing with each other.

it is definitely not a continuation of the bandana scene aftermath of Ennis getting thrown from his horse, because Jack never holds the whiskey bottle when their together, he hands it to Ennis after he asks for it.

Jack put it down when he heard the sound of Ennis' approach in the dark and never picked it back up again until after Ennis asked for it.


Jet

bbguy, there's also a scene that was filmed where Jack and Ennis rescue some hippies that are involved in a car accident.

That still of Jack and Ennis leaning back against Jack's black truck in the field, is nowhere in the film either.

Jet

Jet, until now I had never actually checked the "missing scene" in question while holding a copy of the out-take photo in my hands. I have just done so. I think if you do so as well, you'll agree with me. In the post-bear scene, the fleece of Jack's jacket is dark colored, like the photo above. In the "4 years later" scene, it's a different jacket and the fleece is decidedly light-colored. Note all the clothes. Also, Ennis is absolutely hold Jack's bandana in his hands and the knees of his jeans are filthy, like someone who was just thrown from his horse.

I stand by my original contention that the photo was taken of Jake and Heath between takes, out of character. It's nice to see that the two of them really seemed to enjoy one another's company.

Just re-reading this: While I'm very confident about what scene the photo comes from, I failed to indicate that "my contention" regarding the guys being "out of character" was definitely an opinion. In the scene immediately following, the "elk" scene, Ennis says: "I'm tired of your dumbass missing." Obviously there's a leap here between the scenes we see and what MAY have been initially planned for the movie.

I think we're getting away from the main point. There ARE missing scenes, despite where they did or didn't come from. The point is they should've been included.

The fact that the movie was edited DOWN to 2 hours and 14 minutes when most theaters prefer movies no more than 2 hours in length would indicate that they had to slice stuff out that they didn't want to in order to bring the time down, rather than add things that didn't need to be there in order to bring the running time up past an acceptable level.

That means things they would've wanted in, were out and a "Collector's edition" should've included them, or at least some out takes.

Jet

I found this site while looking for a reasonably balanced review of the Collector's Edition DVD. I thought this review was well-written and solid and obviously put together by a fan -- which I candidly appreciated. I didn't realize that "comments" would be encouraged but that was a pleasant surprise as well. (To be honest, I haven't read through them all. In scanning them, I found them to be not dissimilar to the IMDb and BetterMost sites. After a year of visiting these sites, the commentary becomes fairly predictable.)

Anyway, having found what I was looking for, I'm out of here. Just a couple of comments though, Jet, as I head out: It's not necessary to second-guess the filmakers' decisions. After all, they did a great job in ensuring the film's success. Like you, however, I would LOVE to see any part of what ended up on the cutting room floor. Hopefully, some day we'll get to see some of it. And, finally, when you're proven wrong, own it. Don't change the subject. Owning it will only enhance your credibilty.

Thanks for your good work.

Adios.

xplrr

1 You haven't credibly proven I was wrong
2 there's no such thing as a "Wrong Opinion"

NICE TO SEE YOUR STILL OUT THEIR ALIVE AND I HOPE WELL ON PLANET EARTH. NUKE THE UNBORN GAY WHALES.

Thanks SR.

Just barely.

I've been busy trying.

Trying can be hard sometimes.

Jet

Attention: I'd like to invite everyone to look at the right side menu. That button marked BC Forums....

HEATH LEDGER-an icon to the gay world as Ennis Del Mar was found dead this afternoon in his apartment in New Yorkl

details to follow

hi,
this is a great article! i was disappointed too with the extras. i think you mis one picture wich is in the trailer but not in the film and i think it's an important picture. it's the one with ennis closing his eyes apprently moved and at his side, there is jack. both they're in a car, perhap's in jack's car. i think it's corresponding to the separating scene at the end of the summer

It's actually a continuation of the sceen where Jack and Ennis are driving on their way to their first "fishing trip".

I've gotten hold on an original shooting script and it appears as if most of the shots I mentioned were excised as to not go over budget, or were shot in order to see if the worked and didn't.

Since they couldn't be used, they decided to let nothing go to waste and used them in the preview reel instead.

sigh

My Brokeback Mountain webNovel outlining what happened to Ennis after Jack died has moved to its own custom web page.

You can find it here now.

Thanks to all my readers-sorry I couldn't take the great comments you left with me...
Jet