(Anthem Art and Culture), by Gary Morris (Editor), Bert Cardullo (Introduction), Jonathan Rosenbaum (Foreword). London and New York: Anthem Press, 2009.
— David Hudson, IFC.com
Queers aren't manly? Hey, these guys wear cowboy hats!
2 They drive pickup trucks! They ride horses! They tie knots! They shoot elk! They eat red meat!3 They drink whiskey straight from the bottle. No blue martinis need apply!
Brokeback Mountain isn't a bad film. It's not dated, not to say comatose, at birth, like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? , or farcically bad, like Blue Lagoon.
7 But it's too elegiac — too many "grand" shots of gorgeous mountain scenery, too many rushing streams, too many crackling camp fires, too much austere, understated solo acoustic guitar on the soundtrack.8 The heteros, while not screaming caricatures, are too predictable — the men are callous, domineering bullies, while the women are just kind of whiny and boring.
The ending, showing Ennis exploring the bare, empty boyhood room of his dead lover, is touching. Here is where he grew up, here is where he dreamed, and now all his dreams are over. The experience gives Ennis the strength to connect with his daughter, in a not-too convincing scene when she shows up to announce her engagement, tossing her hair and flashing a movie-star smile.
10
1. Millionaire shock-jock (and convicted felon and former coke head) Don Imus has contributed "Fudgepack Mountain," claiming that the film "lacks resonance with the real cowboys I know." Fudgepack Mountain? Isn't that what happens to you when you use a word like "resonance" in a bunkhouse?
2. The old line about cowboy hats — they're like hemorrhoids, because sooner or later, every asshole gets one — is so trite, yet so true! All too often, living the myth simply makes you look like a schmuck.
3. Presumably, they butcher elk too, but I'm guessing that no one, straight or queer, wanted to see that one.
4. Anne Hathaway (as Lureen, right) whose magnificent breasts supply the one moment of hetero heaven in this flick.
5. After Ennis finishes kicking butt, Lee shows him for a split-second standing tall and sturdy as an oak while skyrockets explode in the background. Queers are as American as apple pie! If this shot had lasted a half second longer, my rating for Brokeback would have fallen from a C to a D-.
6. Jack and Ennis are so "straight" that if they ever actually did anything gay, like whistle a show tune or whip up a quiche, the audience would explode with laughter.
7. Yeah, but Blue Lagoon did have Brooke Shields young and naked. Talk about your eye candy!
8. Which, I confess, is a lot better than austere, understated tinkly piano. Hey, I'm giving it a C!
9. Naturally, the more Ennis runs away, the more Jack and Alma run after him. Thanks to that ongoing neurosis we call human nature, there's no better way to inspire affection than to withhold it.
10. Lesbians take note! Want to help daddy get in touch with his feelings? Just turn yourself into a glamour girl and land a man! It's that easy!
11. Thank you, Britney Spears! Others may laugh, but I at least am grateful.
12. On the other hand, BB Mountain did allow SNL's Tina Fey to make fun of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's sissy-boy southern accent. So the film can't be considered a complete waste of time.
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