Guess What Film Turns 20, This Year???????????????????

                                I remember finishing "Brokeback Mountain," as part of Annie Proulx's short story anthology, "Close Range: Wyoming Stories."  I was at the end, on the subway going into Manhattan to work, and the tears just poured down my face.  Something that print material does not do to me often.

                                  When the film opened in New York, I did what I eventually found many to do--took the day off so I could see the first New York Screening.  As soon as a dawn lit Texas skyline and a truck roaring smoke behind along a seemingly endless road, I knew the film was in good hands.

                                   The performances of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, particularly Jake stayed in my mind.  As well as Roberta Maxwll as Ennis' understanding mother, and Peter Mcrobbie as his homophobic father.  All the cast was great--Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, even David Harbour as the alleged murderer.

                                      I have never forgotten the scene where Ennis' father, when he was a child, takes him to this deserted house.  He explains that two cowboys were living here, in a way men should not be living, and for this they were killed.  Which made Ennis somewhat closeted, and for me recalled that no matter how far I think we may have come, there is still danger at large for the gay community.

                                       Several years later the "Cold Case" series, which I have mentioned on here, aired one of their best episodes, "Forever Blue," about two gay policemen in love.  It was so similar it could have been called "Brokeback Precinct!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                      I would hope there would be an anniversary screening of "Brokeback Mountain" this year, but I am not sure I could bear sitting through the film again, as it is so painful.

                                        If only there were some ways to honor this film twenty years later.

                                        It was intentionally overlooked at the Oscars that year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!