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...

[Phsstpok]

Think I'll watch The Crusades instead.

Do not WATCH the Crusades.

Participate in them. Defend human civilization from the satanic hordes trying to kill us.

Much better than any TV show.

[Fudd Fan]

Mr.FF made me sit thru De-Lovely, and I agree with you, it was just too wierd. The premise alone drove me nuts. Mr.FF works in tv and the show he worked on at the time had (I think) Ashley Judd as a guest, she was hawking it when it was just released-- so he thought the movie would be good. The only saving grace was the great music; beyond that, eeuuww!

[markedmannerf]

Geez this is crazy the movie isnt even out. I saw the preview for this movie when I went to the movies a week ago and it made me sick. Im sure many feel the same. This movie will be a bomb!

[rs79bm]

Given all the crap that comes out of Hollyweird this is not surprising.

[U S Army EOD]

I am beginning to be concerned about "Bambi" and his name. Anybody out there ever seen a male named "Bambi"?

[GrandmaC]

I get tired of them constantly throwing this stuff in our face! It is disgusting. Remember the Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah were anilated because of this. I haven't watched the awards in years and it will continue.

[radiohead]

I saw a preview of this movie with a friend. I'd never heard of it, but she had read a lot of press in which the gay aspect was played up quite a bit. However, when you see the preview, it seems pretty clear that these guys aren't gay, but got carried while riding the range one night. These are not 'gay cowboys,' tho the gay press may want to make them so.

Personally, I can't tell you how unnerved I got watching the preview. I know lots of gay people, it isn't that, it's the image of the American cowboy being used this way. I felt like I had been slapped. 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'm sure there are gay cowboys. I'd just rather not see it in a movie. Must we destroy all of our cultural icons?

[BlessedBeGod]

What a shame! Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995) was a wonderful movie. Too bad he drank Hollywood's Kool-Aid. I'll never be able to watch that movie the same way again.

[relictele]

According to Hollyweird, when bad movies made for the masses tank, it's the studio's fault.

When bad movies made for the Hollyweird set tank, it's the audience's fault.

[U S Army EOD]

"Show me a cowboy who rides side saddle and I will show you a gay ranchero".

[Cicero]

it gives the liberal-leaning Academy a great chance to stick its thumb in conservatives' eyes

The Oscars, the Pulitzers, the Booker Prizes, the Nobel Peace and Literature Prizes: they've all become nothing but opportunities for the reigning liberals to stick their thumbs in conservatives' eyes.

But not one of these prizes means a thing any more, as a result.

[SteveMcKing]

Good point. He takes advantage of the slow news cycle that way, filling a market need that is mostly empty except for football.

[Socratic]

'GAY COWBOY' MOVIE BECOMES AN OSCAR FRONTRUNNER

Yeah, but what about the horse?

[Bernard Marx]

but it gives the liberal-leaning Academy a great chance to stick its thumb in conservatives' eyes."

Exactly. It's just part of the Left's continuing project of deconstructing the idea and values of traditional America. I was born and raised among cowboys. My Dad was a cowboy. The only gay cowboys I ever encountered were of the drugstore variety (an old but ever-appropriate term).

[RichInOC]

Yippie-ki-oh-K-Y...

[HitmanLV]

This movie will do great out of the gate in NYC, LA, San Francisco, and maybe a few other urban areas before falling quickly after its first 7 days, but it won't play in Peoria and die a quick death.

[visualops]

That's the guy Swofford in the movie Jarhead..

I noticed the name. So is this guy in explicit gay sex scenes in one movie and a Marine in another? Geez

[MattinNJ]

Wasn't there a South Park episode where the kids went to a Sundance Film Festival and all the movies were about gay cowboys.Make a movie about real cowboys, Pro-tail gunner Joe, and a real story about the heroics at Fallujah (not the crap that Harrison Ford is going to do) and they will make a ton. Good thing they don't listen to us. Let Hollywood throw good money after bad. Less to donate to the leftist scum.

[XEHRpa]

> Allowing liberals to be themselves is our greatest weapon against them.

Yeah, I hear left knees jerking all over Hollyweird.

[Theresawithanh]

I think it will be interesting to see the viewership of the Oscars this year, it's been declining. I personally haven't watched the Oscars since the '70s.

Any movie I want to see, and there are precious few, I wait until they either come on TV or I rent them. I won't be seeing this one.