by Annie Proulx
Goddamn horse spooked, the mules took
off. Scattered food everywhere.
(MORE)
ENNIS (CONT’D)
(beat)
Beans ’bout all we got left.
JACK hands a canteen to ENNIS, who slaps it away.
ENNIS (CONT’D)
Whiskey.
JACK picks up the whiskey bottle and hands it to ENNIS. ENNIS grabs the bottle, takes a swig.
JACK removes the bandanna from around his neck, wads it up, takes the whiskey from ENNIS, and pours some into the bandanna. Raises the bandanna to ENNIS’S forehead.
A beat.
JACK hesitates…awkward…hands the bandanna to ENNIS.
ENNIS takes the bandanna and slowly dabs it at the cut on his own temple. Winces.
JACK winces, too.
JACK
Well, we got to do somethin’ ’bout this food situation. Maybe I’ll shoot one of the sheep.
ENNIS
What if Aguirre finds out? We’re supposed to guard the sheep, not eat ’em.
JACK
What’s the matter with you? There’s a thousand of ’em.
ENNIS
I’11 stick with beans.
JACK
Well, I won’t.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: MEADOW: DAY: 1963:
WE HEAR a rifle shot: ENNIS lowers the 30/30.
WE SEE a two-point buck, dead on the ground.
JACK, smiling, whooping, stands behind him looking in the direction ENNIS just fired.
JACK
Ooooeee!
ENNIS
Was gettin’ tired of your dumb ass missir’ .
JACK
Let’s get a move on. Don’t want the Game and Fish catch us with no deer.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: DUSK: 1963:
JACK and ENNIS sit around the campfire, and eat the venison in silence.
All WE HEAR is their chewing and chomping, and the crackling of the fire.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: LATE AFTERNOON: 1963:
JACK comes loping in on his bay mare.
Dismounts. Heads for the fire.
JACK
(morose)
I’m commutin’ four hours a day. Come in for breakfast, go back to the sheep, evenin’ get ’em bedded down, come in for supper, go back to the sheep, spend half the night checkin’ for damn coyotes.
(gets a second beer, opens it)
Aguirre got no right to make me do this.
ENNIS is at the fire, dishing up supper.
ENNIS
(hands Jack a plate)
You wanna switch? I wouldn’t mind sleepin’ out there.
JACK
(takes it)
Ain’t the point. Point is, we both ought to be in this camp. And that goddamn pup tent smells like cat piss or worse.
ENNIS
(again)
Wouldn’t mind bein’ out there.
JACK
(looks at him)
Happy to switch, but give you warnin’, I can’t cook worth a damn.
(MORE)
JACK (CONT’D)
(pause)
Am pretty good with a can opener, though.
ENNIS
(eating)
Can’t be no worse than me, then.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: ENNIS’S CAMP: LATE EVENING: 1963:
ENNIS packs a few biscuits and a jar of coffee onto his horse.
Mounts his horse.
JACK
Won’t get much sleep, I’ll tell you that.
ENNIS, silent, rides off across the ground.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: ENNIS’S CAMP: EVENING: 1963:
JACK peels potatoes for dinner.
ENNIS has only his jeans and boots on, no shirt, before a large basin of hot water, shaves.
ENNIS
Shot a coyote, big son of a bitch, balls on him size a apples. Looked like he could eat a camel.
(sloshes his face)
You want some of this hot water?
JACK
(grins, shakes his head)
It’s all yours.
ENNIS pulls off his boots, then his socks.
Pulls off his jeans—no underwear.
Slops the washcloth under his arms, between his legs.
JACK fixes dinner, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
Impassive.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: ENNIS’S CAMP: LATE EVENING: 1963:
ENNIS sits, supper finished, his back against a log, boot soles to the fire, two empty bean cans with spoons in them nearby, a few leftover fried potatoes.
JACK has just taken a piss, is buttoning his jeans.
ENNIS smokes. Takes a deep swig from a whiskey bottle
JACK walks up, flicks his rodeo belt buckle with his fingers. Sits down across from ENNIS.
A creek gurgles nearby.
ENNIS
Don’t rodeo much myself. What’s the point of ridin’ some piece of stock for eight seconds?
JACK
Money’s a good point.
JACK finally fixes his buckle, again sits down next to ENNIS and grabs the whiskey bottle. JACK takes a swig.
ENNIS (laughs for the first time since they’ve met)
True enough, if you don’t get stomped winnin’ it.
JACK
My ol’ man was a bullrider, pretty well knowed in his day, though he kept his secrets to himself. Never taught me a thing. Never once come to see me ride.
JACK reaches over for a bean can. Begins to scrape the last beans out of the bottom.
JACK (CONT’D)
(eats)
Your brother and sister do right by you?
Throws the empty can on the fire.
ENNIS
Did the best they could after my folks was gone, considerin’ they didn’t leave us nothin’ but $24 in a coffee can.
A beat.
ENNIS’S tongue loosens suddenly.
ENNIS (CONT’D)
Got me a year a high school before the transmission went on the pickup. My sis left, married a roughneck, moved to Casper. Me and my brother got work on a ranch up near Worland until I was nineteen. He got married last month. No room for me. That’s how come me to end up here.
Silence.
JACK looks over at ENNIS, smiles.
ENNIS (CONT’D)
…What?
JACK
Friend, that’s more words than you’ve spoke in the past two weeks.
ENNIS smiles, for the first time.
ENNIS
Hell, it’s the most I’ve spoke in a year.
(remembers)
My dad now, he was a fine roper. Didn’t rodeo much, though. Thought rodeo cowboys was all fuck-ups.
JACK
The hell they are!
JACK gets up, does a pretend bull ride around the campfire, bucking and twisting.
JACK (CONT’D)
Yee-haw! Yee-haw! I’m spurrin’ his guts out! Wavin’ to the girls in the stands! He’s kickin” to high heaven, but he can’t dashboard me! No way! Yee-haw!
Finally throws himself, collapses in a heap among the saddles.
ENNIS
I think my dad was right.
Both laugh so hard, they almost cry.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: LATE EVENING: 1963:
ENNIS rides into the night wind, leading the mules.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: DAY: 1963:
WE SEE JACK and ENNIS, the dogs, the sheep moving higher up the mountain to new pasture. Both horseback. JACK leading the pack mules, ENNIS and the blue heelers leading the sheep.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: LATE AFTERNOON: 1963:
WE SEE them pitching a new camp, more primitive this time.
JACK and ENNIS are friendlier, more familiar with each other.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: EARLY EVENING: 1963:
The tent is a little lopsided, but finally up. ENNIS is t
rying to adjust a tent pole. JACK is sitting by the fire, playing a slightly damaged harmonica, squalling out some old rodeo tune. A whiskey bottle sits next to him.
ENNIS
Tent don’t look right.
JACK stops playing, glances over at ENNIS and the tent.
JACK
It ain’t goin’ nowhere. Let it be.
(starts up again on the harmonica)
ENNIS
(amused)
That harmonica don’t sound quite right.
JACK
That’s ’cause it got kinda flattened when that mare threw me.
ENNIS
I thought you said that mare couldn’t throw you.
JACK
She got lucky.
ENNIS
If I was lucky, that harmonica woulda broke in two.
Both laugh.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: NIGHT (SUNSET): 1963:
JACK, drunk, sings a Pentecostal hymn, “WATER WALKING JESUS,” a sad, dirgelike rendition, causing coyotes to yip in the distance.
JACK
(sings)
“I know I shall meet you on that final day, Water Walkin’ Jesus, take me away…”
ENNIS
Very good.…
JACK
(pause)
My mama, she believes in the Pentecost.
ENNIS Yeah? Exactly what is the Pentecost?
(pause)
I mean, my folks was Methodist.
JACK
Well, the Pentecost…
(realizes he has no clue)
I don’t know. I don’t know what the Pentecost is…Mama never explained it.
(pause)
I guess it’s when the world ends and fellas like you and me march off to hell.
ENNIS
Uh uh, speak for yourself. You may be a sinner, but I ain’t yet had the opportunity.
They both laugh heartily, in a great mood.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: NIGHT (LATER STILL): 1963:
The moon is full up, notched past two in the morning.
ENNIS is dizzy drunk, on all fours, struggles to stand.
ENNIS
Shit. I’m goin’ to go up to the sheep now.
JACK
You can’t hardly stand, it’s too late to go to them sheep.
ENNIS
You got a extra blanket, I’ll roll up out here and grab forty winks, ride out at first light.
JACK throws him a blanket.
ENNIS rolls up in it, lays by the fire.
JACK
(doubtful)
Freeze your ass off when that fire dies down. Better off sleepin’ in the tent.
(stands up)
JACK staggers under the canvas, pulls his boots off, falls asleep on the ground cloth.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: NIGHT (YET LATER STILL): 1963:
Coldest point of the night. Fire dead.
ENNIS, outside, shivers, teeth chatter uncontrollably.
JACK looks out.
JACK
(irritable, sleep-clogged)
Ennis!
ENNIS
What?
JACK
Quit your hammerin’ and get over here.
ENNIS, too cold to protest, stands, staggers inside the tent.
INT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: TENT: DARK, JUST BEFORE DAWN: 1963:
Both are warm inside JACK’S bedroll.
JACK is wide awake now. ENNIS, on his back, is half-asleep.
JACK, tentative, takes one of ENNIS’S big hands from outside the bedroll and guides it inside, down toward his own groin.
ENNIS, coming full awake, realizes where his hand is…jerks it away as if he’s touched fire.
ENNIS
What’re you doin’?
JACK moves towards him. Takes off his jacket, unbuckles his pants.
Then ENNIS flips JACK around. Unbuckles his belt, shoves his pants down with one hand, uses the other to haul JACK up on all fours.
JACK doesn’t resist.
ENNIS spits in the palm of his hand, puts it on himself.
They go at it in silence, except for a few sharp intakes of breath.
ENNIS shudders.
Then out, down, as both fall asleep.
INT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: TENT: FULL LIGHT: 1963:
ENNIS is awake in a red dawn. JACK is sound asleep.
ENNIS has a top-grade headache, crawls out from under the bedroll, his pants around his knees.
Pulls up his pants. Goes outside the tent.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: DAY: MORNING (LATER): 1963:
ENNIS has just mounted his horse.
JACK, fastening buttons, comes out of the tent just in time.
JACK
See you for supper.
ENNIS nods.
Leaves.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: LATE AFTERNOON: 1963:
ENNIS sits atop his buckskin and rides along a ridge. Something eats at his mind.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: MEADOW: DAY: 1963:
ENNIS is up with the flock now, rides his horse, the blue heelers running and yipping at the sheep. The flock is grazing.
One dog begins to bark incessantly. ENNIS rides over to see what the ruckus is about and discovers a shredded sheep, clearly the victim of a coyote pack.
A look of shame washes across ENNIS’S face.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: DAY: 1963:
Later in day, overcast. Though it’s summer, there is a biting little wind.
JACK, wearing only his boots, is doing laundry. Shivers.
Squats by the stream, carefully wrings out ENNIS’S only other shirt, a denim button-up western-style shirt.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: LATE AFTERNOON: 1963:
JACK reclines on the ground. Looks off in the distance at the grazing sheep.
ENNIS walks up. Stands. Looks off, too.
ENNIS
It’s a one-shot thing we got goin’ here.
JACK
Nobody’s business but ours.
ENNIS
You know I ain’t queer.
JACK
Me neither.
BOTH look off in silence.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: TENT: NIGHT: 1963:
The setting sun leaves the sky ablaze in orange and purple.
ENNIS sits by the fire, alone. Hears coyotes in the distance.
JACK is inside the tent.
ENNIS, pensive, glances over towards the tent. Decides.
Gets up.
Goes to the tent.
INT. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: TENT: NIGHT: CONTINUED
JACK sits atop the bedroll, naked, his shirt draped over his lap. He looks up as Ennis enters.
ENNIS cautiously steps in. JACK raises his hand to him. ENNIS takes it. JACK pulls him in.
JACK, gentle, reassuring, takes ENNIS’S face in his hands.
JACK
It’s all right…It’s all right.
JACK kisses him.
They lie back. Embrace. Kiss.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: DAY: BINOCULAR POV: 1963:
WE SEE the main camp on Brokeback through a pair of binoculars.
Pan the camp.
Horses, dogs, then not quite in focus.
Focus sharpens: TWO MEN pulling off their clothes, out in the middle of nowhere, they play, running, joking.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: DAY: CONTINUOUS: 1963:
WE SEE the binoculars belong to JOE AGUIRRE. He is horseback.
Looks at his watch.
Raises the binoculars—looks again—lowers them.
It is clear—from the expression on his face—that he doesn’t like what he sees. Doesn’t like it at all.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: AFTERNOON: 1963:
JACK is chopping firewood.
AGUIRRE comes riding up.
Fixes JACK with a bold stare.
JOE AGUIRRE
Twist, your Uncle Harold’s in the hospital with pneumonia. Docs don’t expect he’ll make it.
(pause)
Your ma sent me to tell you. So here I am.
JACK
Bad news. Ain’t much I can do about it up here, I guess.
JOE AGUIRRE
(hard look)
Ain’t much you can do down there neither. Not unless you can cure pneumonia.
Glares at JACK. Raises binoculars, looks in the direction of the meadow, towards ENNIS.
WE SEE: ENNIS, horseback, being an exemplary sheepman, a sickly lamb across his saddle, trailed by the blue heelers.
AGUIRRE lowers the binoculars and shoots another stern look at JACK.
Turns, rides off.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: CAMP: LATE EVENING: 1963:
The wind is picking up.
ENNIS and JACK are gathering dishes, blankets, trying to grab their gear before it blows away.
The sides of the tent begin to buck and pitch.
Then hailstones begin to pepper down.
JACK
Aw, hell!
They both scramble inside the tent, pull the flap, but the wind whips it back open. The tent is popping so hard now it seems as if it might blow away.
ENNIS
(looking out)
Them sheep’11 drift if I don’t get back there tonight.
JACK
(above the wind)
You’ll get pitched off your mount in a storm like this, wish you hadn’t tried it. Close it up!
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: DAY: 1963:
A grim, grey morning.
ENNIS and JACK, both mounted, the blue heelers at attention. Glum, looking at a huge mass of milling sheep.
Twenty yards away, TWO CHILEAN SHEEPHERDERS are looking just as glum at the huge mixed herd, gesturing wildly.
ENNIS
What’re we supposed to do now?
JACK
Get on in there…untangle them Chilean sheep from ours, I guess.
EXT: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING: DAY: 1963:
ENNIS, horseback, and JACK, on foot, the blue heelers and the TWO CHILEANS work in a confusion of sheep and dust, trying to separate the two herds that have mixed.
JACK
(holds a sheep, tries to look at its paint brand, which is faint at best)
Damn, half the goddamn paint brands are wore off.
ENNIS
(trying to edge a pitiful little group of sheep out of the main herd)