Hollywood Rocked: 'Gay Cowboy' Movie Becomes an Oscar Frontrunner

Drudge Report ^ | November 6, 2005

[RWR8189]

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN NOV 06, 2005 19:28:02 ET XXXXX

HOLLYWOOD ROCKED: 'GAY COWBOY' MOVIE BECOMES AN OSCAR FRONTRUNNER

Arriving with nudity and explicit gay sex scenes between two cowboys, UNIVERSAL/FOCUS FILMS's BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN has quietly become an award season frontrunner, interviews with Academy members reveal.

"It could very well be the last film standing at this year's Oscars," a top Hollywood producer not associated with the film explained from Hollywood.

"There was not a dry eye in the house at the screening at Telluride [Film Festival in Colorado]," says the producer, who asked not to be named out of respect for the cast and crew of the producer's own Oscar contender. "Watch it come out of the gate at the Golden Globes with super controversy."

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS critic Jack Mathews predicts the gay cowboy movie, which takes place in Wyoming, may be "too much for red-state audiences, but it gives the liberal-leaning Academy a great chance to stick its thumb in conservatives' eyes."

Director Ang Lee's movie staring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger won the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival earlier this fall.

But will a movie even Madonna calls "shocking" sit with the heartland?

Playwright and lifelong Wyomingite tells the STAR-TRIBUNE of Casper this week that she has never encountered a gay cowboy, and doesn't think it's right for Hollywood to portray Wyoming as a state with gay cowboys.

Her message to the writers of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: “Don't try and take what we had, which was wonderful -- the cowboys that settled the state and made it what it was -- don't ruin that image... There's nothing better than plain old cowboys and the plain old history without embellishing it to suit everyone."

Meanwhile, Michell Howard of the state's Travel and Tourism Division says her agency is already hearing a buzz that people in other countries are expressing interest in visiting Wyoming because of the film.

“It's gotten rave reviews from the international community,” she said. “I don't know if they're more tolerant or something, but they're viewing it as a great Western movie.”

Developing...

[razorback-bert]

Lance Dwight Alworth (born August 3, 1940 in Houston, Texas) is a former American football running back and wide receiver. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

At the University of Arkansas, the six-foot (1.83 m), 180-pound (82 kg) Alworth was a running back who led all colleges in punt return yardage in 1960 and 1961.


I never met him personally and never met anyone who knew him to ever say a bad word about him.

[Cinnamon Girl]

#1. I think this will be a monster hit like "De-lovely", "Troy" "Far From Heaven" or any number of homosexual blockbusters.

#2. Someone please explain the pudding comments.

[MoochPooch]

" . . . it was portrayed as ugly, evil, sick and the 'cowboy' was disgusted with himself."


I also remember MIDNIGHT COWBOY (& enjoyed it, actually).

The movies in the 60s & 70s became more open in their portrayal of sexuality. However, they differed from current films in that they had a moral voice. MIDNIGHT COWBOY showed the decline & degradation of the character played by Jon Voight. Homosexuality, which he had to resort to in order to survive, was still considered a perversion back then.

Nowadays, homosexuality is sanctioned. The films today are amoral, if not left-wing. I can't think of any I want to see.

[Clemenza]

There is something about Gay Cowboys that seems naturally funny, especially if they are eating pudding.

[Clemenza]

Anything has to be better than those lame Hobbit movies.

[Clemenza]

Reminds me of a George Carlin routine where he replaced the word "kill" with the word "f-ck" in various movies:

"We're going to take you out back and f-ck you Sheriff! We're going to f-ck you nice and slow!"

[Awgie]

I am sure you and I (and possibly some of our hand picked friends) could write a screenplay more compelling and interesting than 90% of the lame nonsense that comes out of Hollywierd. My problem is that I find all that "pretend stuff" so boring, because as my tag line says...truth is always stranger (and more interesting) than fiction.

[steveyp]

Gee. I thought the box office wasn't doing that great this past summer.

I wonder why...

[NickatNite2003]

...Anyone remember 'Bonfire of the Vanities'?

>B-)

[SpookBrat]

Same here. Lonesome Dove is one of my favorites and I don't even like westerns. I was so surprised when I actually loved reading that book. :) I'm gravely disappointed.

[Guenevere]

Well said.
..that's what I remember about Midnight Cowboy...

It was raw and brutal....but, in my opinion, not gratuitous ....

..It had a moral point/idea which was pursued..

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks for the update. I don't get off the farm much and into the movie theater, LOL! ;)

[Zechariah_8_13]

I'm for one trying to ignore all the hype over this film. I know that Hollyweird would love it if we all got really incensed. So I won't. Let them keep throwing their money away.

Instead I'm looking forward to the only decent movie to come out since The Lord of the Rings:

www.Narnia.com

[WhiteGuy]

Funny..........................

270 + posts to a thread about guy cowboys...............


Classic

[GraniteStateConservative]

Her message to the writers of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: “Don't try and take what we had, which was wonderful -- the cowboys that settled the state and made it what it was -- don't ruin that image... There's nothing better than plain old cowboys and the plain old history without embellishing it to suit everyone."

I thought this film takes place like in the 60s or something. How much settling has gone on in Wyoming since then? I'd have thought Wyoming was sort of "settled" by then. Same with the history part. These aren't actual cowboys. They are people in Wyoming with access to all sorts of modern era niceties.

[GraniteStateConservative]

I'm sure there were cowboys who took advantage of a lonely night on the prairie and did some things they didn't want to talk about later.

I guess it happened on ships at sea all the time, too. They even had a "peg boy" to be at the ready for some good lovin'. Obviously in prison, too.

[AD from SpringBay]

You Philistines may not understand - it is about zee art of zee queer and zee plight of zee faggot that matters in life. That is the deal and, again I say, it is zee art (that and the glorification of sodomy).

I wonder what tha tee vee sponsors of the Oscars will do when the ratings go even further in the toilet? Perhaps Hollywood has forgotten who used to go to the movies?

[Guenevere]

glad to oblige :)

[Hildy]

They just have a need to dirty everything that is beautiful...they think that way, their lifestyle is normal. It's sad, when you think about it.