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Movies / On DVD / Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain

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Brokeback Mountain (2005)

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Reviews Counted:226

Fresh:195

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 date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 04 2006 03:16 AM

In Film Australia

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Sandra Hall

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 27 2006 03:15 AM

Sydney Morning Herald

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Urban Cinefile Critics

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: | comment Comment | Jan., 19 2006 11:23 PM

Urban Cinefile

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3.5/4

Garth Franklin

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: | comment Comment | Dec., 05 2005 11:06 AM

Dark Horizons

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A+

Rubin Safaya

Brokeback Mountain is ultimately about the paralysis of regret and how it fractures the lives of not just those afflicted by it, but everyone else around them.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 06 2009 07:37 PM

Cinemalogue.com

splat

Fernando F. Croce

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 30 2009 09:18 PM

CinePassion

N/R

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 29 2009 03:16 AM

Cinema Crazed

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4/5

Leslie Felperin

Arguably Ang Lee's best film, this swooning, achingly sad near-masterpiece offers a universal love story that lingers long in the mind.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 21 2008 04:37 AM

Channel 4 Film

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4/5

Brian Marder

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Nov., 20 2008 03:16 AM

Hollywood.com

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Thomas Peyser

At times feels as ancient and familiar as any well-worn piece of American legend, even if its content could set John Wayne spinning in his grave.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 10 2008 07:18 PM

Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)

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8/10

Brandon Fibbs

At its core, Brokeback Mountain is not a gay love story%u2013it is simply a love story.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 28 2008 01:20 PM

BrandonFibbs.com

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5/5

Rob Gonsalves

It has the simplicity and clarity of a fable, wedded to the gnarled and taciturn physical realism of the Western.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 11 2007 06:39 PM

eFilmCritic.com

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Kevin Lally

Annie Proulx's beautiful, delicate short story...has been transformed into a beautiful, delicate movie under the masterly direction of Ang Lee.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 22 2007 10:43 AM

Film Journal International

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4/5

Ethan Alter

Just a well-made, well-acted melodrama that is quiet and reflective instead of big and bombastic.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 30 2006 07:01 AM

NYC Film Critic

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3/4

Lisa Ann Cockrel

Though presented as a story of thwarted love -- of ache and longing and regrets -- it's ultimately a story about the relationships that shape us -- for better and for worse.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Sep., 22 2006 09:22 AM

Christianity Today

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3.5/5

Joseph Proimakis

it could have been real campy, if it weren't so well-crafted as to be Oscar material

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Sep., 10 2006 04:25 PM

Movies for the Masses

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Michael E. Grost

Film with much religious and mystical imagery.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 22 2006 03:42 PM

Classic Film and Television

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3.5/4

Jay Antani

A gallery of worthy performances, crisp direction and a quietly graceful script make Brokeback Mountain something of a landmark in Hollywood's 2005 slate of movies.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 20 2006 01:50 PM

Cinema Writer

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3.5/4

Matt Pais

A gorgeous meditation on the sorrow of finding everything you want and not knowing how to keep it.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 04 2006 02:42 PM

Metromix.com

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3.5/4

Matt Brunson

Behind its convenient (and infuriating) designation as "the gay cowboy movie," this is as universal as any love story Hollywood has produced in recent times.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 12 2006 02:04 PM

Creative Loafing

 
 
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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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