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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 source; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >> >|
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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
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: In Film Australia | comment Comment
05/04/06
In Film Australia
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

The hubbub seems more politically driven in the wake of the gay marriage debate. And an Oscar win will be pandering to that.

Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
12/30/05
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

Some movies take their time laying the story out and settling over the audience. Brokeback Mountain is one of those films.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
11/29/05
Rebecca Murray
Rebecca Murray
About.com

Brokeback Mountain is an epic love story about gay cowboys and that, in itself, is something. Otherwise, the film is not one to get particularly excited over.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
12/09/05
Marcy Dermansky
Marcy Dermansky
About.com

An introspective film, but not, thankfully, an inert film.

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
12/10/05
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

An unconventional love story that doesn't match its hype.

Full Review Source: Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) | comment Comment
01/13/06
John Wirt
John Wirt
Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

The most beautiful thing about this film %u2013 which is full of beautiful things %u2013 is that it's a love story through and through. Humanity, not sexuality, is the heart of this tale.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
12/19/05
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

Overall, the movie is a solid, entrancing love story, but all the Oscar buzz is nowhere near justified. It's an above-average film overpraised for its social significance.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
01/12/06
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

There's no contest. Brokeback Mountain is the most poignant movie love story of the year.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
12/20/05
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

...about the sometimes tragic connections that might be made between two people who, because of circumstances or convention, have no right or opportunity to pursue intimacy with each other.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
01/13/06
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Brokeback Mountain is a love story, but that's not all it is. In some ways, the movie is as much about the way we were as the way they are.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
12/15/05
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Despite my distress at the tedious pace, the performances are sharp and compelling

Full Review Source: Atlantic City Weekly | comment Comment
01/13/06
Lori Hoffman
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly

Enough with the 'gay cowboy' label. The term is more or less accurate, I suppose, but the phrase has a way of diminishing this amazing movie’s focus and reach.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
12/18/05
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

The approach is dry as the Wyoming landscape, and while it occasionally threatens to pull the film out of shape, it's still the right one for these men.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
03/08/06
Keith Phipps
Keith Phipps
AV Club

The pain and involvement for audiences experiencing forbidden love on screen rests entirely in the degree with which they can believe in that love in the first place

Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | comment Comment
01/04/06
Jordan Hiller
Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com

Begins in a picturesque nowhere of tall mountains and big skies, where the only stone wall here is the real thing, with nothing political muddying the mortar.

Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment Comment
01/06/06
Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

Brokeback Mountain is a truly epic romance story from a director at the peak of his powers.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
12/20/05
Stella Papamichael
Stella Papamichael
BBC
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; Australian critics are listed first)
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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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