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Movies / On DVD / Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain

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Brokeback Mountain (2005)

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Reviews Counted:225

Fresh:194

Rotten:31

Average Rating:8.1/10

Consensus: A beautifully epic Western, Brokeback Mountain's gay love story is embued with heartbreaking universality, helped by the moving performances of Ledger and Gyllenhaal.

Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $82,970,165

Synopsis: From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee comes an epic American love story, based on the short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx and adapted for the screen by the team of... From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee comes an epic American love story, based on the short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx and adapted for the screen by the team of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. Set against the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas, the film tells the story of two young men – a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy – who meet in the summer of 1963, and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love. Early one morning in Signal, Wyoming, Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) meet while lining up for employment with local rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid). The world which Ennis and Jack have been born into is at once changing rapidly and yet scarcely evolving. Both young men seem certain of their set places in the heartland – obtaining steady work, marrying and raising a family – and yet hunger for something beyond what they can articulate. When Aguirre dispatches them to work as sheepherders up on the majestic Brokeback Mountain, they gravitate towards camaraderie and then a deeper intimacy. At summer's end, the two must come down from Brokeback and part ways. Remaining in Wyoming, Ennis weds his sweetheart Alma (Michelle Williams), with whom he will have two daughters as he ekes out a living. Jack, in Texas, catches the eye of a rodeo queen Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway). Their courtship and marriage result in a son, as well as jobs in her father's business. Four years pass. One day, Alma brings Ennis a postcard from Jack, who is en route to visit Wyoming. Ennis waits expectantly for his friend, and when Jack at last arrives, in just one moment it is clear that the passage of time has only strengthened the men's attachment. In the years that follow, Ennis and Jack struggle to keep their secret bond alive. They meet up several times annually. Even when they are apart, they face the eternal questions of fidelity, commitment and trust. Ultimately, the one constant in their lives is a force of nature – love. -- © Focus Features [More]

Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway

Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid, Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris, Valerie Planche

Director: Ang Lee

Director: Ang Lee
Screenwriter: Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana
Producer: Diana Ossana, James Schamus
Composer: Gustavo Santaolalla
Studio: Focus Features

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Reviews for Brokeback Mountain

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: In Film Australia | comment Comment
05/04/06
In Film Australia
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ang Lee's beautiful epic is both a classic American western and a sweeping old fashioned romance that will tug the heartstrings of all but the coldest of people

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
12/05/05
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Lee and his collaborators have tapped into Proulx's story and gathered it up without missing a single sad, delicate nuance.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
01/27/06
Sandra Hall
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A haunting and complex story that explores the strength and fragility of love, Ang Lee's visually magnificent film is as affecting as it is beautiful.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
01/19/06
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

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Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
12/17/05
Boston Phoenix
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N/R

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Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
12/17/05
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

[T]he movie plays like any soap opera about a love that cannot be--the weeper mechanism is entirely familiar from hetero movies.... Brokeback Mountain isn't a gay western, it's a gay Back Street.

Full Review Source: Blogcritics.org | comment Comment
01/09/06
Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Blogcritics.org

I was never moved or even overly excited by what I finally witnessed on the screen, though I have no quarrel with the superlatives heaped upon the film by most of my colleagues.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
12/14/05
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

Because 'Brokeback Mountain' has made such a profound impact on so many viewers, I almost feel guilty that I can't rave about it.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment 1 Comment
01/27/06
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Breaks new ground, but not hearts

Full Review Source: Spectrum (St. George, Utah) | comment 1 Comment
01/24/06
Bruce Bennett
Bruce Bennett
Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

It's a hackneyed, underdeveloped melodrama disguised as serious art house fare.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/04/06
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

Ang Lee's formalism is so extreme that it's often laughable, and the sex is depicted as a holy union: Gay love has never been so sacred.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
12/08/05
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

So much for down and dirty.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
11/24/05
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

Lee can't tell the difference between criticizing oppression and turning out an oppressed work

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/30/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Lush scenery encircles two laconic characters in this static movie.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment 1 Comment
12/29/05
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Beautifully photographed and well acted, but also slow moving and episodic

Full Review Source: jackiekcooper.com | comment 3 Comments
02/08/06
Jackie K. Cooper
Jackie K. Cooper
jackiekcooper.com

The first quarter of Brokeback Mountain plays like a silent movie version of Waiting of Godot, but starring two Marlboro Men instead of Vladimir and Estragon . . .

Full Review Source: SA Movie & DVD Magazine | comment 2 Comments
02/09/06
James O'Ehley
James O'Ehley
SA Movie & DVD Magazine

The movie is too tame and too clumsy to be worth much outside its "groundbreaking" status.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment 1 Comment
12/08/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Essentially, [this] is the same as most stories of lust and infidelity -- two people who 'can't control' their desires end up hurting others, lying, and denying responsibility for their actions.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment 1 Comment
12/30/05
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer
 
 
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Latest News for Brokeback Mountain

November 13, 2009: James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
James Schamus might be a workaholic. If it's not enough that he's the head of Focus Features -- the independent imprint of Universal -- he's also an established producer and... More...

November 12, 2009: Five Favourite Films with Ang Lee
The rule that no two Ang Lee movies are ever the same is confidently kept intact with the release of his latest, Taking Woodstock, a comedy about the true story behind the... More...

January 29, 2008: No Country for Old Men Takes Top Honors at SAG Awards
Blessed with a waiver by its striking brethren in the Writers Guild, the Screen Actors Guild was able to turn Sunday's SAG Awards ceremony into one of the only "real" awards... More...

January 22, 2008: Heath Ledger: 1979-2008
Heath Ledger, star of films including Brokeback Mountain, 10 Things I Hate About You, and the forthcoming The Dark Knight, was found dead this afternoon. He was 28. More...

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