Brokeback Mountain

Plot

In Wyoming in 1963, cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist are hired by rancher Joe Aguirre to herd his sheep through the summer on grazing pastures on Brokeback Mountain. When they meet in camp for supper and breakfast, the two men gradually become close friends. After a night of heavy drinking, Ennis and Jack have a sexual encounter in their tent. Despite both of them agreeing it was a one-time incident, Ennis and Jack develop a sexual and romantic relationship. When their contract is cut short in August, Ennis and Jack have a brawl that leaves them bloodied and they part ways.

Ennis marries his longtime fiancée Alma Beers and they have two daughters: Alma Jr. and Jenny. When Jack returns the next summer seeking work, Aguirre refuses him because he observed Jack and Ennis engaging in homosexual activity on the mountain. Jack then moves to Texas and meets rodeo rider Lureen Newsome, the daughter of a wealthy agricultural machinery manufacturer. They marry and have a son.

After four years apart, Jack visits Ennis. Upon meeting, they kiss passionately, which a stunned Alma inadvertently sees. At a motel room, Jack says he wants them to create a life together, but Ennis refuses to abandon his family and is haunted by a childhood memory of his father showing him the body of a man who was tortured and killed for suspected homosexuality.

Ennis and Jack meet infrequently for private fishing trips while their respective marriages deteriorate. Lureen abandons the rodeo and goes into business with her father, with Jack working in sales. Lureen's father openly dislikes Jack and disrespects and belittles him in front of his family. Alma and Ennis divorce in 1975. Upon hearing about it, Jack drives to Wyoming and tells Ennis that they should live together, but Ennis refuses to move away from his children, leaving an upset Jack to seek solace with male prostitutes in Mexico.

Alma takes custody of Alma Jr. and Jenny and marries Monroe, the manager of the grocery store where she works. When Ennis is invited to Monroe's Thanksgiving dinner, Alma confronts Ennis about Jack, causing Ennis to spar with Alma and cease contact with her. Ennis has a brief romantic relationship with Cassie, a waitress. Jack and Lureen befriend Randall and Lashawn Malone. Randall invites Jack for a fishing trip at his boss's cabin. At the end of a tryst disguised as a fishing trip, Ennis says he cannot see Jack again for months due to work demands. The pair argue about their relationship, before Jack embraces a crying Ennis after he blames him for his problems.

Cast

Credits adapted from TV Guide.

Production

Development

Screenwriter Diana Ossana discovered Annie Proulx's short story, Brokeback Mountain, in October 1997, just days after its publication. She convinced writing partner Larry McMurtry to read it; he thought it was a "masterpiece". The pair asked Proulx if they could adapt it into a film screenplay; although she did not think that the story would work as a film, she agreed. In a 1999 interview with The Missouri Review, Proulx praised their screenplay. Ossana said that convincing a director and production company to make the film was a challenging and nonstop process. Gus Van Sant attempted to make the film, hoping to cast Matt Damon and Joaquin Phoenix as Ennis and Jack, respectively. He also considered Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Ryan Phillippe. Josh Hartnett was originally attached to the film but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with The Black Dahlia. Damon, who previously worked with Van Sant on Good Will Hunting, told the director, "Gus, I did a gay movie (The Talented Mr. Ripley), then a cowboy movie (All the Pretty Horses). I can't follow it up with a gay-cowboy movie!" Van Sant assessed that most of the stars he approached were uncomfortable with the homosexual material. Due to the casting struggles, Van Sant went on to make the 2008 biographical film Milk, based on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk. According to Ossana, Edward Norton, Joel Schumacher and dozens of others were approached to direct: "They all came back saying they loved it but no one would commit."

Focus Features CEO James Schamus optioned the film rights in 2001, but thought it was a risky project. Pedro Almodóvar was initially offered the opportunity to direct, but turned it down, citing concerns about artistic freedom. At Ossana's request, Schamus showed the story and screenplay to director Ang Lee. Lee decided to make Hulk instead; his experience of Hulk, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon from two years prior left him exhausted. In 2003, he considered retirement but Brokeback Mountain came back to his mind and tempted him back into filmmaking. Lee attempted to get the film made as an independent producer. However, this did not work out, and before Lee would take a break after finishing Hulk, he contacted Schamus about Brokeback Mountain. Schamus thought Brokeback Mountain embraced the American West without being a traditional Western, and told Lee that he should consider directing it. Lee said, "Towards the end [of the script] ... I got tears in my eyes". He was particularly drawn to the authentic rural American life and repression depicted in the story. Bill Pohlad of River Road Entertainment, who had a two-year partnership with Focus Features, helped finance the film.

Casting

Casting director Avy Kaufman said Lee was very decisive about the actors for the lead roles. In 2003, screenwriters Ossana and McMurty suggested Heath Ledger (after being impressed by his performance in Monster's Ball), but the film studio thought he was not masculine enough. Regardless, Kaufman sent the script to Ledger, who thought it was "beautiful" and put himself forward. Gyllenhaal reacted to the script positively and signed on for the role; he also did not want to miss the opportunity to work with Lee and friend Ledger. Lee met with Mark Wahlberg for a role in the film, but Wahlberg declined as he was "creeped out" by the script. Gyllenhaal admired Ledger and described him as "way beyond his years as a human". Other actors were considered for the leads but Lee and Gyllenhaal said they were too afraid to take on the roles.

From the beginning, Ledger wanted to portray Ennis and not Jack. He opined that Ennis was more complex; a masculine and homophobic character. Ledger said, "The lack of words he [Ennis] had to express himself, his inability to love", made the role enjoyable. Ledger, who grew up around horses, researched his character's personal traits, and learned to speak in Wyoming and Texas accents. Lee gave Ledger and Gyllenhaal books about cowboys who were gay or shared similar experiences as the characters depicted in Proulx's story. Gyllenhaal later said:That what ties these two characters together is not just a love, but a loneliness. I think primarily it was deep loneliness. And what I always say about that movie [Brokeback Mountain], which I think maybe over time is more understood, is that this is about two people desperately looking for love. To be loved. And who were probably capable of it. And they just found it with someone of the same sex. And that does not dismiss the fact that it is about, really, primarily, the first kind of very profound gay love story. Hopefully it can create an equality of an idea: that is, it's possible that you can find love anywhere. That intimacy exists in so many places that convention and society won't always allow us to see. And we won't allow ourselves to see, because of what criticism—and danger, really—it might provoke.

Lee interviewed between 20 and 30 actresses for the roles of Alma and Lureen. Michelle Williams was one of the first to audition for the role of Alma, and Lee thought she was perfect for the part. Anne Hathaway, who was filming The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement at the time, showed up to the audition during her lunch break. She was wearing a ball gown and hairpiece "that was way over the top", but she still felt focused for the audition. At first, Lee did not think she was an obvious choice, but he was convinced with her audition and cast her as Lureen. Hathaway lied to Lee about her knowledge of horse riding in order to be cast. She took lessons for two months to prepare.

Filming

Principal photography began on May 25, 2004. While the Proulx story is set in Wyoming, Brokeback Mountain was filmed almost entirely in the Canadian Rockies in southern Alberta. Lee was given a tour of the locations from the story in Wyoming by Proulx, but chose to shoot in Alberta citing financial reasons. The mountain featured in the film is a composite of Mount Lougheed south of the town of Canmore, Fortress and Moose Mountain in Kananaskis Country. The campsites were filmed at Goat Creek, Upper Kananaskis Lake, Elbow Falls and Canyon Creek, also in Alberta. Other scenes were filmed in Cowley, Fort Macleod, and Calgary. Brokeback Mountain's production budget was approximately US$14 million.

Initially, Alberta's environmental department prohibited the crew from bringing domestic sheep into the Rockies, due to a risk of disease harming the local wildlife. The authorities eventually gave permission for them to shoot on one mountain, as long as they transported the domestic sheep in and out, every day. A biologist was hired to supervise this process.

Lee prefers working with cinematographers who are open minded, eager to learn, and able to show an interest in the story and content before talking about the visuals. Therefore, he selected Rodrigo Prieto for the job; saying, "I think he's versatile, and I wanted somebody who could shoot quickly [...] he was able to give me the tranquil, almost passive look I wanted for Brokeback. I believe a talent's a talent".

Ledger and Gyllenhaal, who were friends before Brokeback Mountain, were mostly unconcerned with the intimate scenes. The first sex scene between Ennis and Jack took 13 takes to meet Lee's expectation. The director would keep his distance from them during filming, allowing the actors to be free and spontaneous. Lee said, "I don't talk too much [to them] except for technical notes. So they [the intimate scenes] are a lot easier to deal with". Ledger was observant of Lee's directing style, saying, "There's two sides to Ang's direction — there's the pre-production, which is incredibly thorough and private, and then there's the shooting side, when he just doesn't say anything at all." Ledger said that this helped him try harder during takes. Gyllenhaal echoed Ledger's sentiment; "He just totally disconnects from you while you're shooting", but praised Lee's directorial skills. In regard to acting, Ledger was sometimes disrupted by Gyllenhaal's acting style; Gyllenhaal tended to improvise whereas Ledger preferred to be highly prepared. The director allowed Ledger to see his performance on the camera monitor so that he could improve.

Music

Gustavo Santaolalla wrote the film's score, as well as a number of new songs for the movie. The score was recorded on February 7, 2005, and the album was released on October 25. The soundtrack album contains a mix of cues from the instrumental score; new songs composed by Santaolalla (some with Bernie Taupin and Jeremy Spillman) recorded by other artists including Emmylou Harris, Mary McBride, Teddy Thompson, Jackie Greene; new recordings from Willie Nelson and Rufus Wainwright; and existing source music used in the movie.

Based on the story and one conversation with the director, Santaolalla was able to score the music before filming began. He said, "I mean if you are connected to the story and to the director, it makes a lot of sense because somehow you know, the music then becomes a part of the fabric of that film from the very beginning." He also used a real orchestra and played his own guitar.

Release

Box office

The film received a limited release in the United States on December 9, 2005, and grossed $547,425 in its first weekend. Over the Christmas weekend, and beginning of January 2006, the film expanded into more domestic theaters. On January 20, the film opened in 1,194 theaters, then 1,652 theaters on January 27, and 2,089 theaters on February 3, its widest release.

Brokeback Mountain was released in one theater in London on December 30 and received a wider release in the United Kingdom on January 6, 2006. The film was released in France on January 18, to 155 theaters, expanding to 290 by the third week. In its first week of release, Brokeback Mountain was in third place at the French box office. In Italy, the film grossed more than €890,000 in three days and was the fourth highest-grossing film in its first week. The film was released in Australia on January 26, where it ranked fourth place at the weekend box office. Brokeback Mountain was released in many other countries during the first three months of 2006. During its first week of release in Hong Kong, Brokeback Mountain was ranked first place at the box office, earning more than US$473,868 ($22,565 per theater). The film opened in Lee's native Taiwan on January 20. The film grossed $83 million in North America and $95 million internationally, for a worldwide $178 million. It is the highest-grossing release for Focus Features.

The film was re-released in theaters in June 2025, to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

International distribution

The film has been given different titles in accordance to different languages and regions. For the film's release in French, Italian and Portuguese, it was titled Le Secret de Brokeback Mountain, I segreti di Brokeback Mountain and O Segredo de Brokeback Mountain (The Secret(s) of Brokeback Mountain), respectively. In Canadian French, the title is Souvenirs de Brokeback Mountain (Memories of Brokeback Mountain). The film received two Spanish titles: Brokeback Mountain: En terreno vedado (In a forbidden terrain) for its release in Spain and Secreto en la Montaña (Secret in the mountain) for its release in Latin America. In Hungarian, the title was Túl a barátságon (Beyond friendship).

The film was met with mixed responses in some regions, particularly China and Islamic nations of western Asia. According to reports, the film was not shown in theaters in China, though it was freely available in bootleg DVD and VHS. The Chinese government said the audience would have been too small; the foreign media accused the government of censorship. The word brokeback (Chinese: 断背; pinyin: duànbèi) also entered the Chinese lexicon as a slang for homosexuality. Brokeback Mountain was dubbed "the gay cowboy movie" by the press, a term that was propelled into the American vernacular. The film was also released in Turkey.

In the Middle East, distribution of the film became a political issue. Homosexuality is criminalized in most Islamic nations and is taboo in the few countries where it is legal. Lebanon was the only Arab country to show the film, although in a censored format. The film was officially banned from screenings in the United Arab Emirates; however, the DVD of the film was permitted to be rented from stores such as Blockbuster Video.

On December 8, 2008, the Italian state-owned television channel Rai Due aired a censored version of the film, removing all the scenes with homoerotic references. Viewers protested, saying the deletions made the plot hard to follow. The Arcigay organisation accused the channel of homophobic censorship. The state-owned television network RAI said the Italian film distributor had mistakenly censored the film. RAI showed an uncensored version of the film on March 17, 2009.

Home media

Brokeback Mountain was the first major film to be released simultaneously on both DVD and digital download via the Internet. It was released in the United States on April 4, 2006. More than 1 million copies of the DVD were sold in the first week, and it was the third-biggest seller of the week, behind Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and King Kong. Although the ranking fluctuated daily, by late March and early April 2006, Brokeback Mountain had been the top-selling DVD on Amazon.com for several days running.

The DVD in Europe was released in the UK on April 24, 2006. This was followed by France in July, and Poland in September, a considerable time after the theater release in both countries. Brokeback Mountain was re-released in a collector's edition on January 23, 2007. On the same day, it was also released in HD DVD format. The film was released on Blu-ray in the UK on August 13, 2007, and in the U.S. on March 10, 2009. The Blu-ray contains special features including interviews with the screenwriters, director and a short documentary about composer Gustavo Santaolalla. Kino Lorber released the film on Ultra HD Blu-ray on July 16, 2024.

Critical response

Brokeback Mountain was released to critical acclaim. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 253 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "A beautifully epic Western, Brokeback Mountain's love story is imbued with heartbreaking universality, helped by moving performances by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal." On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 87/100 based on 41 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

David Ansen of Newsweek gave the film a positive review, praising the faithful screenplay. He adds, "There's neither coyness nor self-importance in Brokeback Mountain—just close, compassionate observation, deeply committed performances, a bone-deep feeling for hardscrabble Western lives. Few films have captured so acutely the desolation of frustrated, repressed passion." Writing for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw praised Ledger and Gyllenhaal for their complementary performances. Bradshaw thought the film was "extremely moving, tragic even, and sensitive towards the feelings of the simple wives who attempt to understand their troubled husbands." Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post was equally positive, opining that the two lead actors' performances were unforgettable. In particular, she thought Ledger was impressive in his portrayal of a reserved and emotionally affected Ennis. Hornaday also praised the costumes and sets, writing "The Wyoming vistas are flawlessly manicured, Ledger and Gyllenhaal perfectly costumed and coiffed; even Ennis and Alma's sad little apartment over a laundromat seems to have been designed to death."

Roger Ebert gave Brokeback Mountain a rating of four out of four stars in his review. Ebert was impressed with the level of attention to the characters, and thought that the film was as observant as the work by Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, Sandra Hall praised the screenplay and called Ledger and Gyllenhaal "finely tuned". Noting that it is a slow film, Hall thought the filmmakers had adapted Proulx's story without missing any nuances. USA Today's Mike Clark observed that Brokeback Mountain was directed and photographed with restraint, and praised its old-fashioned quality, and "unassuming but people-oriented" nature. The film also received a positive reaction from Christianity Today; the reviewer gave the film 3 out of 4 stars. In a mixed review, Ed Gonzalez of Slant magazine thought the film was too long, and the critic from Time magazine felt that the story became less intense towards the end. Conservative radio host Michael Medved described it as "extremely well done" and that as a film, it was "better than the agenda".

Legal issues

On January 6, 2006, Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller removed the film from theaters at the Jordan Commons entertainment complex in Sandy, Utah. Miller said the film's content had no resemblance of a traditional family, which he believed is "dangerous". Focus Features threatened legal action and announced it would no longer do business with him.

On March 23, 2006, Randy Quaid, who portrayed Joe Aguirre in the film, filed a lawsuit against Focus Features for misrepresenting Brokeback Mountain as "a low-budget, art house film with no prospect of making any money", in order to secure his role for a cheaper rate. On May 4, Quaid's publicist said he dropped the lawsuit as the company agreed to pay him a settlement; the company denies this, however.

Accolades

Brokeback Mountain garnered awards and nominations in a variety of categories, including for its directing, screenplay, acting, original score, and cinematography. At the 78th Academy Awards, Brokeback Mountain was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and won three awards for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Original Score. The film garnered seven nominations at the 63rd Golden Globe Awards, winning four for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Song. At the 59th British Academy Film Awards, Brokeback Mountain was nominated for nine awards, winning in the categories of Best Film, Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Jake Gyllenhaal.

Best Picture controversy

After Brokeback Mountain lost the Academy Award for Best Picture to Crash, some critics accused the Academy of homophobia and for making a non-groundbreaking choice. Commentators including Kenneth Turan and Nikki Finke derided the Academy's decision, but Roger Ebert defended the decision to award Crash Best Picture, arguing that the better film won. Proulx wrote an essay expressing disappointment in the film not winning Best Picture. She also opined that Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance in Capote required less effort than that required of the actors in Brokeback Mountain. Following the loss, more than 800 supporters raised up to $26,000 to place an advertisement in the Daily Variety. The advert thanked the filmmakers "for transforming countless lives through the most honored film of the year."

The film is one of several highly acclaimed LGBT-related films of 2005 to be nominated for critical awards; others include Breakfast on Pluto, Capote, Rent, and Transamerica. It was voted the top film involving homosexual relationships by readers at TheBacklot.com. In 2010, the Independent Film & Television Alliance selected the film as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years.

In 2015, The Hollywood Reporter polled Academy members on controversial past decisions, in which Brokeback Mountain won the revote for Best Picture.

Characters' sexuality

Critics and the cast and crew disagreed as to whether the film's two protagonists were homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, or should be free of any sexual orientation classification. The film was frequently referred to in the media as the "gay cowboy movie", but a number of reviewers noted that both Jack and Ennis were bisexual. Sex researcher Fritz Klein said that the film was "a nice film with two main characters who were bisexual" and suggested that the character of Jack is more "toward the gay side" of the spectrum and Ennis is "a bit more toward the straight side".

Gyllenhaal said in 2006 that Ennis and Jack were straight men who "develop this love, this bond," saying in a Details interview: "I approached the story believing that these are actually two straight guys who fall in love." However, in 2015, he told The Hollywood Reporter that this was a "gay love story", and that his character was the more "overtly gay" of the two. Ledger told Time magazine in 2005: "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."

Others said they felt the characters' sexuality was meant to be ambiguous. Clarence Patton and Christopher Murray of New York's Gay City News wrote 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". Entertainment Weekly wrote that "everyone called it 'The Gay Cowboy Movie' until they saw it. In the end, Ang Lee's 2005 love story wasn't gay or straight, just human." Tom Ciorciari of EFilmCritic.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."

LGBTQ non-fiction author Eric Marcus dismissed "talk of Ennis and Jack being anything but gay as box office-influenced political correctness intended to steer straight audiences to the film". Roger Ebert believed that both characters were gay, but doubted it themselves: "Jack is able to accept a little more willingly that he is inescapably gay." 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." Brokeback Mountain author Annie Proulx said, "how different readers take the story is a reflection of their own personal values, attitudes, hang-ups."

Legacy and impact

Brokeback Mountain was lauded as a landmark in LGBTQ cinema and credited for influencing several films and television shows featuring LGBTQ themes and characters. In Out at the Movies, Steven Paul Davies explains that as a result of the film's success, "most major film studios have been clamouring to get behind new, gay-themed projects... thanks to Brokeback, film financiers will continue to back scripts that don't simply rely on gay stereotypes...and that will certainly be progress." Davies cites Milk, Transamerica, and I Love You Phillip Morris as examples of such films. In 2018, Brokeback Mountain was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The February 2020 issue of New York Magazine lists Brokeback Mountain as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars." In 2021, members of Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) ranked its screenplay 13th in WGA's 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (so far).

The pair of shirts worn by Ledger's and Gyllenhaal's characters were sold on eBay on February 20, 2006, for US$101,100.51. The shirts were sold to benefit children's charity Variety. The buyer, Tom Gregory, film historian and collector, described the shirts as "the ruby slippers of our time", referring to an artifact from The Wizard of Oz film. In 2009, Gregory loaned the shirts to the Autry National Center in Los Angeles for its series, Out West, which explored the history of homosexual, bisexual and transgender people in the Old West. The series included a gallery tour, panel discussions, lectures and performances, with events held in four installments over the course of 12 months. According to the Autry, the series was the "first of its kind" for a western heritage museum.

A book, Beyond Brokeback: The Impact of a Film (2007), is a collection of personal stories of how people were influenced by the story and film, compiled from members of the Ultimate Brokeback Forum website. In an associated Out West series program, the Autry screened Brokeback Mountain in December 2010 to commemorate the film's fifth anniversary and held a staged reading of Beyond Brokeback by historian and Out West organizer Gregory Hinton. Beyond Brokeback has been presented as a staged reading at other venues, such as Roosevelt University in Chicago, on November 13, 2011, together with a panel discussion and screening of the film. An American opera, Brokeback Mountain, was composed by Charles Wuorinen with a libretto by Annie Proulx. Written in English, it premiered at the Teatro Real in Madrid on January 28, 2014. It was championed by impresario Gerard Mortier, who had commissioned it. A play, based on Annie Proulx's short story, written by Ashley Robinson with songs by Dan Gillespie Sells, opened on May 10, 2023, at @sohoplace in London's West End.