> As much as box office receipts translates into appreciation, international
> audiences have so far appreciated the film about 12 million dollars more than
> US audiences have.
This is fairly close to what you would expect for an average Hollywood film. American films now tend to make slightly more money on their foreign releases than on their domestic release. Hollywood producers and studios know this and always factor into their decisions about whether to make a film how to sell it both in the U.S. and in other countries.
No. Ennis could have left Alma and I wouldn’t be calling him an asshole (not for that, anyway). But planned, repeated, habitual infidelity is another thing entirely.
And what was Alma supposed to do for support? Women in one-horse towns in the 60s had no options. They were already barely scraping by. She married her boss, but my guess is she was using him. Ennis loved her and didn’t want to make things worse for his family. Under the circumstances, infidelity was the only workable solution.
Because society didn’t make them marry these women at gun point. They CHOSE to marry these women. They used these women as an invisible cloak to hide themselves. They tricked these women into believe that they were the object of these men’s desires. They tricked them into believe that they were the only people these men needed. They gave them a family and a life all based around a lie. They wasted these ladies time and effort. These women could have been with someone who actually did love them, and who actually wanted to be with them. They didn’t care about these women. They didn’t care what they were doing to them. The only thing these men cared about we’re themselves. They are adults and should have acted like it. What ever bad thing that was happening to them I didn’t care. All I said to myself was, “they only brought this on themselves.” I didn’t care at all for these characters. I had more sympathy for the wives then I did these two.
Also, don’t be that guy who blames everything on homophobia. Don’t be like," Oh you don’t like it because it’s about gay people." That is actually counter productive and only makes it seem like everyone thinks everyone is out to get homosexuals. No one in this board cared that they were gay. That wasn’t anyone’s issue. You and Diogenes the Cynic are the only one’s who brought up their sexuality as being the reason someone doesn’t like the movie. People don’t like the movie because these are unlikable characters in a movie we’re suppose to sympathize with.
It’s probably useless to reply but on the off chance that slapstick actually cares about discussion, it’s not like at the time the movie was set homosexuality was widely understood. As I recall, not having seen the movie since 2006, they both genuinely cared for the women in their lives. How were they to know that they could never provide them with the same relationship a straight man could? As lev says, there’s tragedy all around, not just for the people hugging on the cover.
Let’s imagine a world where heterosexuality is reviled, in which Jack and Ennis are forced to live on a horse ranch together and have marital sex, but they lie to one another and sneak away periodically to have carnal relations with Lureen and Alma. Would these four be unsympathetic characters? Is compassion in such short supply these days that it has to be measured out? Personally, I feel for just about everyone, in books and films.
Don’t feel like rehashing the whole thread though.