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Movies / On DVD / Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain

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Brokeback Mountain (2005)

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Reviews Counted:41

Fresh:37

Rotten:4

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 - 13 (sorted by date; 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

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
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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
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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
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[A] powerful and moving film, a smart study of relationships that could but can’t and never will be.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Damon Wise
Damon Wise
Empire Magazine
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A sweeping, solemn, self-serious chronicle of their relationship over several decades.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
12/20/05
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
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The filmmakers have focused so intently and with such feeling on Jack and Ennis that the movie is as observant as work by Bergman.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
12/15/05
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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It's an old-style virtue for a film that's old-style in the best way: unassuming but people-oriented and aiming to endure.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
12/09/05
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today
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It's a deeply felt, emotional love story that deals with the uncharted, mysterious ways of the human heart just as so many mainstream films have before it. The two lovers here just happen to be men.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
12/08/05
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
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Annie Proulx's heartbreaking story of two cowboys who fall in love has been faithfully translated onto the screen in Ang Lees landmark film.

comment Comment
12/08/05
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Its beauty wells from its sorrow, because the love between Ennis and Jack is most credible not in the making but in the thwarting.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
12/05/05
Anthony Lane
Anthony Lane
New Yorker
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Heath Ledger, in particular, I think really has to get an Oscar nomination.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment 3 Comments
12/05/05
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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This ostensible gay Western is marked by a heightened degree of sensitivity and tact, as well as an outstanding performance from Heath Ledger.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
09/06/05
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
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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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