Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain (2005) is a romantic-drama film that depicts the complex romantic and sexual relationship between two men in the American West from 1963 to 1983.

The film was directed by Taiwanese director Ang Lee from a screenplay by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry, which they adapted from the short story Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx. The film stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams.

Brokeback Mountain won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and was honored with Best Picture and Best Director accolades from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Golden Globe Awards, Critics Choice Awards, and Independent Spirit Awards among many other organizations and festivals. Brokeback Mountain had the most nominations (eight) for the 78th Academy Awards, where it won three: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score. The film was widely considered to be a front runner for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but lost to Crash.^[2][3][4][5] At the end of its theatrical run, Brokeback Mountain ranked eighth among the highest-grossing romantic dramas of all time.^[6]

Plot

Brokeback Mountain is the story of ranch hand Ennis del Mar (Ledger) and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal), two young men who meet and fall in love on the fictional Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming in 1963. The film documents their complex relationship over the next twenty years.

Ennis and Jack first meet when they are hired by Joe Aguirre (Quaid) to herd his sheep through the summer. During the long months of isolation, a bond begins to develop between the two. One night, after heavy drinking, Jack makes a sexual pass at Ennis, who initially is repulsed by, then succumbs to Jack's advances. Although he warns Jack it was only a one-time incident, Ennis finds himself becoming involved in both a physical and a powerful emotional relationship with his partner through the rest of their tenure. Shortly after learning their summer together is being cut short unexpectedly, they briefly fight, during which each is bloodied.

After the two part ways, Ennis marries his long-time fiancée Alma Beers (Williams) and Jack ends up in Texas, where he meets and marries rodeo princess Lureen Newsome (Hathaway). The two men reunite four years later, and Alma accidentally witnesses them passionately kissing. Jack broaches the subject of creating a life together on a small ranch, but Ennis, haunted by a painful childhood memory of the torture and murder of a suspected homosexual in his hometown, fears such an arrangement could only end in tragedy. He also is unwilling to abandon his family. Unable to be open about their relationship, Ennis and Jack end up meeting only for infrequent fishing trips.

As the years pass, the marriages of both men deteriorate. Alma's awareness of the real nature of her husband's "fishing trips" with Jack have created a strain on the couple's relationship, and eventually they divorce. Meanwhile, Lureen has abandoned her fun-loving ways and become a straight-laced businesswoman who expects Jack to settle down and work in sales, a career for which he has talent but no drive. Hearing about Ennis's divorce, Jack drives to Wyoming in hopes they can live together at last, but Ennis refuses to move away from his children and is still fearful of possible repercussions if their relationship becomes public.

At the end of a camping trip, Ennis tells Jack he has to cancel their next outing because of his job, and an argument erupts. Ennis blames Jack for "making me the way I am" and for being the cause of his conflicted emotions, feeling they have trapped him and ruined his life. Jack attempts to hold him and there is a brief struggle, but they end up locked in an embrace.

An unspecified amount of time later, a postcard Ennis sent to Jack is returned stamped "Deceased." In a telephone conversation, Lureen tells Ennis that Jack died while changing a tire that exploded. Her explanation of the incident is overlaid with images of Jack being beaten brutally by three men; it is possible to interpret this as either Ennis's fear of what actually happened (inspired by his experience of the homophobic murder in his childhood) or a portrayal of what Lureen knows to be Jack's real fate, the account she relates being a sanitized version of her husband's demise. Lureen tells Ennis that Jack wished to have his ashes scattered on Brokeback Mountain, but she didn't know where it was. Ennis travels to see Jack's mother and father, where he offers to take Jack's ashes, but the father flatly refuses the request. Jack's mother asks Ennis if he would like to see Jack's childhood bedroom before he leaves. There he discovers on a hanger in the closet the old blood-stained shirt he thought he had lost on Brokeback Mountain, learning instead that Jack had stolen it. Here it waits on a hanger, tucked inside the also blood-stained shirt Jack himself had worn in that fight long ago. Ennis holds them up to his face, breathes in their scent, and silently weeps. He carries the shirts downstairs with him, and Jack's mother allows him to keep them, and gives him a bag to carry them in.

In the final scene, 19-year-old Alma Jr. (Kate Mara) arrives at her father's trailer with the news she's engaged. She asks Ennis for his blessings and invites him to the wedding. Ennis, finally aware of the importance of love in a relationship and marriage, asks her if her fiancé really loves her. After Alma's departure, Ennis notices she has forgotten her sweater, which he folds and puts in the closet. Inside, hanging on a nail pounded into the door, are the two shirts with a postcard of Brokeback Mountain tacked alongside. Now, Jack's shirt is tucked inside of Ennis's. Ennis carefully fastens the top button of Jack's shirt, and with tears in his eyes mutters, "Jack, I swear...." while slowly straightening the postcard.

Cast

• Heath Ledger as Ennis del Mar
• Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist
• Anne Hathaway as Lureen Newsome
• Michelle Williams as Alma Beers
• Randy Quaid as Joe Aguirre
• Linda Cardellini as Cassie
• Anna Faris as Lashawn Malone
• David Harbour as Randall Malone
• Roberta Maxwell as Mrs. Twist
• Peter McRobbie as John Twist
• Kate Mara as Alma Jr.

Production notes

While the movie is set in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, it was filmed almost entirely in the Canadian Rockies in southern Alberta.^[7].

The "Brokeback Mountain" in the movie is so named because the mountain has the same swayback curve as a brokeback horse or mule, which is swaybacked or sagging in the spine,^[8] is actually a composite of Mount Lougheed south of the town of Canmore to Fortress and Moose Mountain in Kananaskis Country.^[9] The campsites were filmed at Goat Creek, Upper Kananaskis Lake, Elbow Falls and Canyon Creek, also in Alberta. Other movie scenes were also filmed in Cowley and Fort Macleod,^[10] Calgary.

The movie was filmed during the summer of 2004.^[11]

During filming it was reported Ledger almost broke Gyllenhaal's nose during a kissing scene, as the scene required violent passion.

Commercial success

Brokeback Mountain cost about U.S.$14 million to produce, excluding its advertising budget of (allegedly) $5 million. According to interviews with the filmmakers, Focus Features was able to recoup its production costs early on by selling overseas rights to the film.

The film saw limited release in the United States on December 9, 2005 (in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco), taking $547,425 in five theaters its first weekend.

Over the Christmas weekend, it posted the highest per-theater gross of any movie and was considered a box office success not only in urban centers such as New York City and Los Angeles, but also in suburban theaters near Portland, Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, and Atlanta. On January 6, 2006, the movie expanded into 483 theaters, and on January 13, 2006, Focus Features, the movie's distributor, opened Brokeback in nearly 700 North American cinemas as part of its ongoing expansion strategy for the movie. On January 20, the film opened in 1,194 theaters in North America; it opened in 1,652 theaters on January 27 and in 2,089 theaters on February 3, its widest release.

Brokeback Mountain's theatrical run lasted for 133 days and grossed $83,043,761 in North America and $95,000,000 abroad, adding up to a worldwide gross of more than $178 million. It is the top-grossing release of Focus Features, ranks fifth among the highest-grossing westerns (since 1979) and eighth among the highest-grossing romantic dramas (1980-Present).

The film was released in London, UK, on December 30, 2005, in only one cinema, and was widely released in UK on January 6, 2006. On January 11, Time Out London magazine reported that Brokeback was the number one movie in the city, a position it held for three weeks.^[12]

The movie was released in France on January 18, 2006, in 155 cinemas (expanding into 258 cinemas in the second week and into 290 in the third week). In its first week of release, Brokeback Mountain was in third place at the French box office, with 277,000 people viewing the movie, or an average of 1,787 people by cinema per week, the highest such figure for any film in France that week. One month later, it reached more than one million viewers (more than 1,250,000 on March 18), with still 168 cinemas (in the 10th week). Released in Italy on January 20, the film grossed more than 890,000 euros in only three days, and was the fourth highest-grossing film in the country in its first week of release.

Brokeback Mountain was released in Australia on January 26, 2006, where it landed in fourth place at the box office and earned an average per-screen gross three times higher than its nearest competitor during its first weekend despite being released in only 48 cinemas nationwide. Most of the Australian critics praised the film.^[13] Brokeback was released in many other countries during the first three months of 2006.^[14] The film was released in Peru and in the Netherlands on February 16, and opened in Germany on March 9. It premiered in Brazil on February 3 and quickly topped the charts with more than 100,000 viewers. The movie was released in India on March 10.

During its first week of release, Brokeback was in first place in Hong Kong's box office, with more than US$473,868 ($22,565 per cinema).^[15]

Brokeback Mountain was the highest-grossing movie in the U.S. from January 17 through January 19, 2006, perhaps due primarily to its wins at the Golden Globes on January 16. Indeed, the movie was one of the top five highest-grossing films in the U.S. every day from January 17 until January 28, including over the weekend (when more people go to the movies and big-budget films usually crowd out independent films from the top-grossing list) of January 20-22.^[16] On January 28, the movie fell out of the top five and into sixth place at the box office during that weekend before entering the top five again on January 30 and remaining there until February 10.

The movie was released on January 20, 2006, in Taiwan, where director Ang Lee was born. It ran until April 20.

The pair of shirts from the film sold on eBay on February 20, 2006, for US$101,100.51^[17][18] The buyer, film historian and collector Tom Gregory, called the shirts "the ruby slippers of our time," and intends never to separate them.^[19] The proceeds will benefit California children's charity Variety, which has long been associated with the movie industry^[20].

Reception

Professional film critics have heaped praise on Brokeback Mountain.^[21] The film won four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture-Drama, and was nominated for seven, leading all other films in the 2005 awards. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, as well as the title Best Picture from the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, the Florida Film Critics Circle, the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the Utah Film Critics Society, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (the BAFTAs).

Brokeback Mountain received an 87% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compiled from 223 reviews, with the consensus that "a beautifully epic Western, Brokeback Mountain's gay love story is embued with heartbreaking universality, helped by the moving performances of Ledger and Gyllenhaal."^[21] The film was given a "two thumbs up" rating by Ebert and Roeper, the former granting a four-star review in the Chicago Sun-Times. The film received "circumspect" positive reviews from Christianity Today.^[22] Conservative radio host Michael Medved gave the film three and a half stars, stating that while the movie's "agenda" is blatant, it is an artistic work. He did not, however, place the film on his year-end top 5 list.^[23]

Some gay cultural critics, such as David Ehrenstein, believe that the film's cultural impact is being overplayed at the expense of other groundbreaking films and the challenges that openly gay and lesbian actors still face. A few other gay commentators have written disapprovingly about the fact that, in what has been widely hailed as a "breakthrough" film for gay cinema, neither the film's two lead actors, nor its director, nor its screenwriters are gay.

The film's significance has been attributed to its portrayal of a same-sex relationship without any reference to the history of the gay civil rights movement.^[24] This emphasizes the tragic love story aspect, which leads many commentators to effectively compare Ennis and Jack's drama to classic and modern romances like Romeo and Juliet or Titanic, often using the term star-crossed lovers.^[25][26][27] This link to classic romances is no coincidence: the poster for the film was inspired by that of James Cameron's Titanic, after Ang Lee's collaborator James Schamus looked at the posters of "the 50 most romantic movies ever made".^[28]

There was also disagreement among reviewers, critics, and even the cast and crew as to whether or not the two protagonists of the film were actually gay, bisexual, heterosexual, or under no sexual label at all. Most often the film was referred to in the media as the "gay cowboy movie," but a number of reviewers wrote that Jack and Ennis were bisexual.^[29][30][31] Sex researcher Fritz Klein also asserted his opinion that the movie was "a nice film with two main characters who were bisexual", and further analyzed that Jack is more "toward the gay side of bisexuality" and Ennis is "a bit more toward the straight side of being bisexual".^[32] In an article in American Sexuality Magazine, bi activist Amy Andre critiqued the media's avoidance of the use of the term bisexual in association with Brokeback Mountain:

"Brokeback Mountain is a not a movie about gay people, and there are no gay people in it. There. I said it. Despite what you may have read in the many reviews that have come out about this new cowboy feature film, Brokeback Mountain is a bisexual picture. Why can't film reviewers say the word 'bisexual' when they see lead characters with sexual and romantic relationships with both men and women? I am unaware of a single review of Brokeback calling the leads what they are—a sad statement on the invisibility of bisexual experience and the level of biphobia in both the mainstream and gay media."^[33]

Gyllenhaal himself took the opinion that Ennis and Jack were heterosexual men who "develop this love, this bond," also saying in a Details magazine interview: "I approached the story believing that these are actually two straight guys who fall in love."^[32] Still others stated that they felt the characters' sexuality to be simply ambiguous. Clarence Patton and Christopher Murray said in New York's Gay City News that Ennis and Jack's experiences were metaphors for "many men who do not identify as gay or even queer, but who nevertheless have sex with other men".^[34] A reviewer at Filmcritic.com wrote, "We later see Jack eagerly engage Lureen sexually, with no explanation as to whether he is bisexual, so in need of physical intimacy that anyone, regardless of gender, will do, or merely very adept at faking it."^[35] Ledger was quoted as stating in Time: "I don't think Ennis could be labeled as gay. Without Jack Twist, I don't know that he ever would have come out.... I think the whole point was that it was two souls that fell in love with each other." Conversely, others stated that the characters were undoubtedly gay, including GLBT non-fiction author Eric Marcus, who dismissed "talk of Ennis and Jack being anything but gay as box office-influenced political correctness intended to steer straight audiences to the film". Annie Proulx herself said "how different readers take the story is a reflection of their own personal values, attitudes, hang-ups",^[36][37] and the film's producer James Schamus said, "I suppose movies can be Rorschach tests for all of us, but damn if these characters aren't gay to me."^[32]

When Ledger and Gyllenhaal were asked about any fear of being cast in such controversial roles, Ledger responded that he was not afraid of the role, but rather he was concerned that he would not be mature enough as an actor to do the story justice. Gyllenhaal has stated that he is extremely proud of the movie and his role, regardless of what the reactions would be. Although he has repeatedly stated that he is heterosexual, he regards rumors of him being bisexual as flattering.^[38] Both have stated that the sex scenes in the beginning were difficult to do. Lee found the first scene difficult to film and has stated he has great respect for the two main actors for their "courage".

On January 3, 2006, Universal, the studio of which Focus Features is the specialty division, announced that Brokeback Mountain was the most honored film of 2005. The independent website criticstop10.net backed that assertion, reporting that Brokeback Mountain was the most frequently-selected movie on reviewers' year-end Top Ten lists of 2005.^[39]

On March 9, 2006, Brokeback Mountain made the news yet again when a press release was sent to more than 400 media outlets announcing that nearly $26,000 had been raised for an ad to be posted in the Daily Variety on March 10, 2006.^[40] This $26,000 had been raised by just over 600 fans through an online donations site, affiliated with a non-studio-sponsored online forum which is devoted to the film and the book.^[41] The story was quickly picked up by several outlets including Yahoo!, The Advocate, and The New York Times.^[42][43][44] The ad served as a simple show of fan support despite its losing the Best Picture Oscar.^[45]

Although there are minor differences between the original short story and the movie, Proulx stated in an extra essay published in a reprint of her "Brokeback Mountain" short stories compilation that she was positively surprised and impressed how Ang Lee, the scriptwriters and the actors were able to portray the story, calling it even an improvement from her original short story.

Reviews

• Allmovie link
• Empire link
• Roger Ebert link
• Rolling Stone link
• Premiere link
• TIME (mixed review, not ranked) link
• Salon (negative review, not ranked) link
• Slate (negative review, not ranked) link

International reception

The title of Brokeback Mountain has been translated into several other languages. Often the foreign title is literally The Secret(s) of Brokeback Mountain (how the French, Italian, Portuguese and Polish titles translate). In Canadian French, the title was translated to Souvenirs de Brokeback Mountain (Memories of Brokeback Mountain). The Region 1 DVD has English, Spanish (Latin American), French (Canadian), and on some DVDs, German audio tracks.

The film also met with mixed reactions in other nations, including the People's Republic of China and Middle Eastern countries:

• According to news reports, the film has not been shown in theaters in the People's Republic of China, although it was freely available in bootleg DVD and video. The reason given by the state for not showing the movie in theaters was that the anticipated audience was too small to justify this type of release. However, foreign media advanced the argument that this was merely a cover and that government hostility is better explained by opposition to the homosexuality portrayed in the movie. ^[46][47][48] Although the movie wasn't shown in mainland China, the mainland Chinese media praised Taiwan-born Ang Lee for his Best Director Oscar win, but state TV cut part of Lee's acceptance speech mentioning China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, presumably because of the implicit suggestion that Taiwan and Hong Kong are not part of China.
• Brokeback Mountain did however open in theaters in Lee's native Taiwan on January 20, 2006, and Hong Kong on February 23, 2006.^[49] Such has been the media coverage of Brokeback Mountain throughout the Chinese-speaking world that the term "Brokeback" (斷背) has become synonymous with homosexuality in contemporary Chinese.
• In the Middle East, the film was a political issue. Homosexuality remains a serious crime in most Middle Eastern nations and remains a taboo subject even in the few nations where it is legal. Israel was the only country in the Middle East to show the uncensored version of the film. Lebanon was the only Arab country to show the film, but in a censored format. The film was also released in Turkey.^[50] The film was officially banned from cinema screenings in the United Arab Emirates however the DVD release of the film was permitted to be rented from stores such as Blockbuster video^[51][52]

Controversy

Utah theater cancellation

Miller speaking to protesters at the University of Utah regarding his decision

On January 6, 2006, Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller pulled the film from his Jordan Commons entertainment complex in Sandy, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The decision was made at the last minute after entering into a contract to show the film and heavily advertising for it. He reneged on his obligations approximately two hours before the first scheduled showing upon learning that the plot concerned a same-sex romance. Miller stated that the film got away from "traditional families", something which he believes is "dangerous".^[53][54][55] Focus Features threatened to sue him and announced it would no longer do business with him. In a statement the company added, "You can't do business with people who break their word."

Political pundits

Several political pundits on Fox News, including commentators Bill O'Reilly, John Gibson, and Cal Thomas, accused Hollywood of pushing an agenda. On December 23, 2005, the network reported that Brokeback Mountain was facing "Brokeback Burnout", citing as evidence a fall in revenues from Sunday, December 18, 2005, to Monday, as well as subsequent falls during the week,^[56] despite the fact that nearly all films see smaller business during the week compared to weekends. O'Reilly has persisted in his criticism, bringing up the movie as a subject of intense criticism on more than nine occasions on his show, and a half-dozen times on his radio program, saying, "I have nothing against the subject matter. The point is that these newspapers use entertainment to push political agendas. They do it all the time, it's indoctrination. I'll predict the movie will get a lot of awards, but will not do big box office outside of the big cities."^[57]

Gene Shalit and The Today Show

The film critic for the U.S. morning show The Today Show, Gene Shalit, called Gyllenhaal's character, Jack Twist, a "sexual predator" who "tracks Ennis down and coaxes him into sporadic trysts." This triggered complaints, particularly from gay media watchdog group GLAAD, which argued that Shalit's characterization of the character would be akin to calling Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Titanic a sexual predator for his romantic pursuit of the character played by Kate Winslet. Shalit later apologized.

In a letter to GLAAD, Shalit's son Peter, who is gay, wrote, "He may have had an unpopular opinion of a movie that is important to the gay community, but he defamed no one, and he is not a homophobe." He went on to say that GLAAD had defamed his father by "falsely accusing him of a repellent form of bigotry".^[58]

U.S. social conservatives

Several Christian fundamentalist groups, such as Concerned Women for America and Focus on the Family, lambasted the film heavily even prior to its release. Following wins by Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and Transamerica at the 2006 Golden Globes, Janice Crouse, a Concerned Women for America member, cited these films as examples of how "the media elites are proving that their pet projects are more important than profit" and suggested that they were not popular enough to merit so much critical acclaim.^[59]

Right-wing radio personality Rush Limbaugh has referred to the film as "Bareback Mountain" and "Humpback Mountain".^[60] Don Imus, another controversial radio personality, had labeled the film "Fudgepack Mountain".^[61]

Criticism of marketing

Some commentators have voiced concerns about the coverage of the movie's homosexual theme in the mass media both in advertising and in public events, such as press conferences and award ceremonies. Several journalists, including New York Daily News writer Wayman Wong, Dave Cullen and Daniel Mendelsohn,^[62][63] have complained that the movie's director, lead actors, and publicity team all avoided using the word gay to describe the story and pointed out that while the movie trailer does not show the two male leads kissing each other, it nevertheless includes a clip from a heterosexual love scene.

Quaid lawsuit

On March 23, 2006, actor Randy Quaid, who played Joe Aguirre (Ennis and Jack's boss), filed a lawsuit against Focus Features (LLC), Del Mar Productions (LLC), James Schamus, David Linde, and Does 1-10 alleging that they intentionally and negligently misrepresented Brokeback Mountain as "a low-budget, art house film with no prospect of making any money" in order to secure Quaid's professional acting services at below-market rates. The film had grossed more than $160 million as of the date of his lawsuit, which sought $10 million plus punitive damages.^[64] On May 5, Quaid dropped his lawsuit. Quaid's publicist said he decided to drop the lawsuit after Focus Features agreed to pay him a bonus. Focus Features denies making such a settlement.^[65]

Allegations of animal cruelty

The American Humane Association raised concerns that animals were treated improperly during filming, alleging that sheep were handled roughly and that an elk appeared to have been "shot on cue", suggesting further that the animal was anesthetized for this purpose, violating standard guidelines for animal handling in the movie industry.^[66]

Post-Academy Awards reaction

Main article: Critical reception of Brokeback Mountain#Post-Academy Awards reaction

Some critics accused the Academy of homophobia for failing to award the Oscar for Best Picture to Brokeback Mountain and instead giving it to a rival nominee, Crash. Michael Jensen notes that prior to the Oscar ceremony, Brokeback Mountain became "the most honored movie in cinematic history", ^[67] winning more Best Picture and Director awards than previous Oscar winners Schindler's List and Titanic combined, and pointing out that prior to Brokeback, no film that had won the Writer's Guild, Director's Guild, and Producer's Guild awards did not go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and that only four times in the previous twenty-five years had the Best Picture winner not also been the film with the most nominations. He also notes that only once before had a film not even nominated for the Golden Globe's Best Picture go on to win the Academy Award.

Awards

Main article: Critical reception of Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain won 71 awards and had an additional 52 nominations.^[68] The winners include three Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Score as well as four Golden Globe awards for Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Director, Best Song, and Best Screenplay and four BAFTA Awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Jake Gyllenhaal). The film also received four Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Ensemble, more than any other movie released in 2005. The film is one of several highly acclaimed LGBT-related movies of 2005 to be nominated for critical awards; the others are: Breakfast on Pluto, Capote, Rent, and Transamerica. Some of the most significant awards and nominations for Brokeback Mountain are listed below:

Won

• 78th Academy Awards: Best Director (Ang Lee), Best Adapted Screenplay (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana), Best Original Score (Gustavo Santaolalla)
• 59th BAFTA Awards: Best Film (Diana Ossana and James Schamus), Best Supporting Actor (Jake Gyllenhaal), Best Director (Ang Lee), Best Adapted Screenplay (Larry McMurty and Diana Ossana)
• Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2005: Best Picture (Diana Ossana and James Schamus), Best Director (Ang Lee), Best Supporting Actress--(Tie) (Michelle Williams), Best Original Song (Emmylou Harris, Gustavo Santaolalla, and Bernie Taupin, "A Love That Will Never Grow Old")
• Directors Guild of America Awards: Director of the Year Award — Theatrical Motion Picture (Ang Lee)
• European Film Awards: Best Director (Ang Lee)
• GLAAD Media Awards: Outstanding Film — Wide Release (Ang Lee, Diana Ossana, and James Schamus)
• 63rd Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture — Drama (Diana Ossana and James Schamus), Best Director — Motion Picture (Ang Lee), Best Screenplay (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana), Best Song (Gustavo Santaolalla and Bernie Taupin, "A Love That Will Never Grow Old")
• Independent Spirit Awards: Best Picture (Diana Ossana and James Schamus), Best Director (Ang Lee)^[69]
• MTV Movie Awards: Best Performance (Jake Gyllenhaal), Best Kiss (Heath Ledger & Jake Gyllenhaal)
• Producer's Guild Awards: Producer of the Year Award — Theatrical Motion Picture (Diana Ossana and James Schamus)
• Time Magazine: TIME 100: The People Who Shape Our World (2006) (Ang Lee)^[70]
• Venice International Film Festival: "Golden Lion" for Best Film (Ang Lee)
• Writers Guild of America Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana)
• National Gay Pride Association: Best Motion Picture (2006) (Diana Ossana and James Schamus)
• Australian Film Institute award for Best actor in an International film Heath Ledger

Nominations

• 78th Academy Awards: Best Picture (Focus Features: Diana Ossana and James Schamus), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Heath Ledger), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jake Gyllenhaal), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Michelle Williams), Best Cinematography (Rodrigo Prieto)
• 59th BAFTA Awards: Best Actor (Heath Ledger), Best Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams), Best Cinematography (Rodrigo Prieto), Best Score (Gustavo Santaolalla), Best Editing (Geraldine Peroni and Dylan Tichenor)
• Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2005: Best Actor Heath Ledger, Best Supporting Actor Jake Gyllenhaal, Best Writer (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana)
• European Film Awards: Screen International Award (Ang Lee)
• 63rd Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor — Motion Picture Drama (Heath Ledger), Best Supporting Actress — Motion Picture (Michelle Williams), Best Original Score (Gustavo Santaolalla)
• 49th Grammy Awards: Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media (Gustavo Santaolalla, producer)
• Independent Spirit Awards: Best Male Lead (Heath Ledger), Best Supporting Female (Michelle Williams)
• Screen Actors Guild: Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Heath Ledger), Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Jake Gyllenhaal), Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Michelle Williams), Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid, Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris) ..
• Grammy Award Nominations: Best Soundtrack Compilation Album.

DVD release

This film is the first to be released the same day as both a DVD and a downloadable movie available via the Internet.^[71]

It was released in the United States on April 4, 2006. The film moved more than 1.4 million copies on its first day of release and was the second biggest seller of the week behind Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.^[72] Though the ranking fluctuates daily, by late March and early April 2006, Brokeback Mountain had been the top-selling DVD on Amazon.com several days running.^[73] The Region 2 (Europe) DVD was released on April 24, 2006, though at first only in the UK. Other release dates are much later: France on July 19, 2006, and Poland in September, a considerable time after the theater release in both countries. The Region 4 (Australia/New Zealand/South America) DVD was released on July 19, 2006.^[74] Brokeback Mountain was re-released in a collector's edition on January 23, 2007. On that same day, Brokeback Mountain was also released as a Combo Format HD DVD/DVD.^[75] Brokeback Mountain was released on Blu-ray Disc on September 30, 2007, but only in the UK.^[76]

Other media

• Brokeback Mountain was parodied in the Family Guy episode "The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou". When Brian Griffin asks Devon for a cigarette, he also gives Brian a copy of his last movie being Brokeback Mountain from the horses' point of view. When one of the horses was waiting for Ennis and Jack to get out of bed for an hour, he peeks into their tent and screams at what he sees, telling the other horse to run.

• Brokeback Mountain was also parodied in the Drawn Together episode "Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree". The background music heard during some of their scenes together is very similar to the movie's score. Xandir's line, "I wish I could quit you", is a variation on the film's most famous line, "I wish I knew how to quit you".

• The movie also sparked a phenomenon of spoofs on the internet, the most notable being Brokeback To The Future.

See also

• Brokeback Mountain (short story), description of original/amended Proulx story.
• Brokeback Mountain (soundtrack), description of related soundtrack recordings.
• Critical reception of Brokeback Mountain, awards and nominations the film received, and post-Oscar reaction.
• Queer Cinema
• Mixed-orientation marriage (sometimes referred to as a 'brokeback' marriage)

References

Further reading

• Proulx, Annie (1997, 1999, 2006). Close Range: Wyoming Stories
• Proulx, Annie; McMurtry, Larry; Ossana, Diana (2005, 2006). Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay. London, New York, Toronto and Sydney: Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-00-723430-1
• Packard, Chris; (2006) Queer Cowboys: And Other Erotic Male Friendships in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-7597-3
• Cante, Richard C. (March 2008). Gay Men and the Forms of Contemporary US Culture. London: Ashgate Publishing. Introduction; Chapter 3. ISBN 0-7546-7230-1. 

External links

• Official site
• Brokeback Mountain at the Internet Movie Database
• Brokeback Mountain at Allmovie
• Brokeback Mountain at Box Office Mojo
• Brokeback Mountain at Rotten Tomatoes