‘TAKE TWO’ is a new series celebrating the legacy of enduring cinema, where our writers revisit these films to express what makes them special and remarkable to them today.
With the 20th anniversary of the release of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, it’s pertinent to look back on the wave of criticism that the film was met with upon its release, particularly concerning ideas of the Western among more conservative figures in the film industry. Receiving backlash from older Oscar members at the time, a similar air of homophobia continued to plague the awards sixteen years later, with THE POWER OF THE DOG, this time coming from an outside source. Both films raise a wider question about the nature of masculinity and homoeroticism within a genre traditionally associated with stoic American heroes of few words.
“Howard Hughes and John Wayne wouldn’t like it”, an 81-year-old Tony Curtis replied when asked on Fox News about Ang Li’s seminal pastoral epic. Curtis’s disdain towards BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, a film he proudly proclaimed not to have watched alongside fellow Oscars juror Ernest Borgnine, is an infamous tale in Hollywood history. The actor, beloved for a plethora of roles including SOME LIKE IT HOT, SPARTACUS and THE DEFIANT ONES, came under fire for his controversial views, with many concluding that Curtis and the elderly members’ votes against Lee’s film led directly to the Best Picture award going to CRASH. Paul Haggis’s forgettable film about violence and racial tensions in Los Angeles quickly developed a reputation as one of the most undeserving winners in Oscars history. Lee voiced his disappointment at the result, despite receiving the Best Director award, and was also dismayed that Heath Ledger didn’t win Best Actor. The surprise was apparent even in Jack Nicholson’s demeanour when he opened the envelope and unenthusiastically announced the victor.
“…Borgnine and Curtis seemed to idealise Wayne as the quintessential vision of the masculine Western cowboy. In turn, it frames Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as the antithesis of that idea.”
Borgnine also made the confusing claim that, had BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN won the coveted Oscar during Wayne’s lifetime, then the actor would’ve been “rolling over in his grave”. While Borgnine probably could have worded his vitriol more coherently, the statement shows both Borgnine and Curtis seemed to idealise Wayne as the quintessential vision of the masculine Western cowboy. In turn, it frames Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as the antithesis of that idea. With BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN approaching its 20th anniversary, Lee’s film has left a mark on popular culture as well as the Western, challenging the typical notions of masculinity while also highlighting the homoerotic themes embedded within the genre’s confines.
The Western comes in many shapes and forms. Will Wright, author of Sixguns and Society, mentions the more romantic variant with which Curtis and Borgnine were so taken: that of the “lone stranger who rides into a troubled town and cleans it up, winning the respect of the townsfolk and the love of the schoolmarm”. This would certainly fit with John Wayne’s later works, such as TRUE GRIT, where his gruff cowboy wears a laconic demeanour as a badge of honour. But there’s also light-hearted fare like THE BIG TRAIL, Wayne’s first starring role, where Wayne’s hero is more than happy to boast about his talents with a knife to all those within hearing distance, devoid of any of the (allegedly) admirable taciturn tough silences of his later roles. Whatever Wayne cowboy the older jurors are harking back to, the actor’s roles have got distinct similarities to BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN’s central sheepherders, whether it’s Jack Twist (the boisterous, hopeful symbol of the progressive East) or Ennis Del Mar (the more repressed, laconic representation of the traditional West).
“Whatever Wayne cowboy the older jurors are harking back to, the actor’s roles have got distinct similarities to BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN’s central sheepherders, whether it’s Jack Twist (the boisterous, hopeful symbol of the progressive East) or Ennis Del Mar (the more repressed, laconic representation of the traditional West).”
The film received ample mockery after the Oscars (the phrase ‘Gay Cowboy Movie’ has long since been used as a mocking jibe at Lee’s work), with one particular incident occurring when Ledger was asked to present an award at the 2007 Oscars with Jake Gyllenhaal, but refused outright when he was told he had to make fun of the romance between their characters from the film. Ledger’s respect for the production and Annie Proulx’s original short story trumped the cheap desire to lampoon a great work of art. Following Ledger’s death, Daniel Day-Lewis cited BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN as one of his favourite films, dedicating his Screen Actors’ Guild award for THERE WILL BE BLOOD to the actor and declaring BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN’s final scene to be “as moving as anything I have ever seen”. With Curtis, Borgnine and the old Oscar guard deceased, the voting body became less archaic and more open to change. In 2015, a Hollywood Reporter poll involving hundreds of academy members asking to re-vote on controversial choices showed BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN winning Best Picture.
While the academy may have become more open-minded, that didn’t shut down the Western debate in future major awards seasons. Sixteen years on from BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, Jane Campion’s 2021 homoerotic western THE POWER OF THE DOG received twelve Oscar nominations and a grand amount of financial backing from Netflix. The central figure who shared his displeasure this time around was Sam Elliot, whose most iconic role to date is probably the nameless, handlebar moustache-toting narrator of THE BIG LEBOWSKI. During a Marc Maron podcast, Elliot exclaimed, according to Vanity Fair, “Where’s the Western in this Western? I took it fuckin’ personal, pal”. Elliot’s main concern appeared to be centred around the clothing (or lack of it), noting men “runnin’ around in chaps and no shirts” and bemoaning “all these allusions to homosexuality throughout the fuckin’ movie”.
Elliot might have been surprised to learn that the book the film was based on was written by Thomas Savage, a gay man writing about his experiences in the West. He may have been yet further taken aback to learn that Savage’s 2001 republished editions of the book contained a foreword by Brokeback Mountain author Annie Proulx. One might’ve hoped he’d have a bit more context after starring in a music video with famous gay cowboy Lil Nas X only two years prior. Elliott went on to praise Jane Campion, before swiftly undermining her as “that woman from down there”. How on earth could a woman from Australia know anything about the rugged American West? On that note, how on earth could Taiwanese director Ang Lee know anything about those wild lands either?
Elliot, Borgnine and Curtis are missing the central point. The Western is a malleable, universal genre that doesn’t have to be filmed in America, or made by an American director, to channel those shared feelings of angst, laconicism and loneliness. It’s an established genre in cinema, but one that’s far more versatile than critics like Elliot are willing to admit. It’s also a genre that supposedly ‘masculine’ men can no longer take ownership of, with female directors like Campion rewriting the rulebook for a new generation. Jennifer Kent’s harrowing THE NIGHTINGALE depicts a revenge Western in Australia, while John Maclean‘s TORNADO transfers the genre to 1790s Scotland, with his eponymous heroine swapping guns for a samurai sword as she rides into the sunset. These offbeat epics tell stories that anyone can empathise with and which earn critical acclaim in doing so. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN stands as an integral, groundbreaking film in this ever-changing landscape.