BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: Redux

Steve wrote a post here about this Brokeback Mountain ruckus that Larry H. Miller has caused. I think it's just shameful what has happened. I worked in that part of the film world for a long time and I know how things work. If you're selling tickets to a movie, that means by law, you've signed a contract guaranteeing a certain amount of showtimes for a certain amount of time.

The fact that his film booker would sign the contract agreeing to show Brokeback Mountain, sell tickets, and then mere hours before the show pull it. You've broken your contract with the distributor and those who've already purchased tickets. That is exactly what Kay Anderson wanted done to Michael Moore. It seems to me like a publicity stunt. And it's working. It's a national news story and all of the Kay Andersons of the community will now be galvanized in their support of this theatre and the Utah Jazz for his willingness to "stand up for family values" against the oppressive curtains of liberal tolerance.

Personally, I really want to see this movie. I've been one of Ang Lee's great defenders lately (I thought Hulk was dynamite) and I've really enjoyed his work. It's a western and I like westerns. I've been known to like gay people, so that doesn't bother me. Jake Gyllenhaal is always good and since he wowed me in Brothers Grimm I'm fairly indifferent to Heath Ledger. Also, I hear Anne Hathaway gets naked in it. These are all the reasons I need to see this movie. I don't care what it's about. If I wanted to watch movies about people like me I'd stay home.

But I wanted to chime in here to express my surprise at how people have reacted to my desire to see it. Even people I thought were film savvy were sort of weirded out by the idea. I've talked to some people who seem to think that this movie will actually turn you gay. It's bizarre. This is an arthouse picture, but because it happens to co-opt manly marlboro men into it's fold, people think it's evil. Larry Miller said "immorality is immorality, any way you look at it." So does that make it immoral for him to show Hostel? A movie with scenes of Bush-Administration style torture? Is that immoral?

Fortunately, crazed mormon sports barons aren't the only ones exhibiting this film. It's playing up at the Broadway and I see pretty much everything that goes there anyway.

More links to the story:

Jesus' General, This one is from Ireland, Here's one of my favorites, the Washington Post, The Moderate Voice