John Campbell, quoted below, is a member of Middlesex County NOW.

New Jersey residents share thoughts on "Brokeback"

By ELEANOR O'SULLIVAN, Home News Tribune Online, Mar 5, 2006

If there was one movie talked about in 2005, it was "Brokeback Mountain."

People talked about its love story, the beauty of its western setting, the intelligence of its performances and direction, and its surprising box-office clout.

Then there were the late-night TV jokes, and the spoofs of its advertising poster, but remarkably, no known boycotts or unrest at theaters showing a mainstream movie about two men in clandestine love.

Tonight, it's up for eight Academy Awards, including best picture, more awards than any other nominated movie this year.  And with "Crash" as its toughest rival, it's a favorite to win.

New Jersey residents had different reactions to the film.  When asked if he liked the movie, John Campbell of Edison, who has been with his partner, Richard Harrison, for 19 years, said "that would be an understatement."

"We happened to be in Dallas, Texas, for Christmas.  We went down and saw it.  I had of course never seen the relationship of two men treated as a legitimate, affectional relationship.  I thought it was true to life from beginning to end."

The film expressed the struggle they went through as they attempted to deal with their feelings in a society that would not accept who they were, Campbell added.

"It dealt truly with their emotion and with the sad situation that it put both families through," he said.

Beth Crimmins, vice president of marketing and business development for Clearview Cinemas in Chatham, said "We were overjoyed with the success of "Brokeback Mountain' in our Red Bank theater."

Ed Johnson, an openly gay Asbury Park councilman who saw the movie twice, praised it for its "fantastic story and beautiful scenery," and because "it showed that gay people come in all shapes and sizes; they're even cowboys," Johnson said.

"Brokeback Mountain" opened at the Red Bank Arts Theatre on Dec. 16 on two screens simultaneously — the first time that happened at the Red Bank theater since 1997, when it played Highlands' native Kevin Smith's "Chasing Amy," about a lesbian resisting the advances of a straight man.  "Brokeback" played on two screens for four weeks, Crimmins said.  Its run finally ended, after more than two months, when the theater closed Feb. 26 for five days of renovations.

"It's the second highest grossing film for Red Bank in the past five years, behind "My Big Fat Greek Wedding,' " Crimmins said.

But Robert Legere, who operates Robert Legere Home in Asbury Park with his business and personal partner, Steve Troy, was among the less-than-wildly impressed with "Brokeback Mountain," a story beginning in 1963 about the long love affair between two cowboys.  The movie stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, both nominated for acting Oscars.

"We didn't get it.  What's the big deal?  We went with a group of eight people, two of them were overwhelmed by it, the rest of us didn't get it.

"I didn't see any big love story:  I saw two guys cheating on their wives.  Give me a break.  Cheating on your wife is cheating on your wife," Legere said.

Legere said he moved from his small hometown in Connecticut to Manhattan in 1983 to find an accepting place to live.  The lovers of "Brokeback Mountain," adapted from a short story by Annie Proulx, feel trapped by the West's culture and the time's bigotry; one is murdered for his homosexuality.

In December, Joe D'Andrea, publisher of the Web site gayasburypark.com, which receives about 500 visits a day, said, "What I object to most in the films or TV that purport to be a groundbreaking story about gays is that there always has to be a tragic ending.  If the reason that the story is great is that one of the characters die, then Hollywood really hasn't grown up," D'Andrea said.  

Legere was of a similar mind.

"Look, if it's that tragic, pack your bags and leave.  I can say that because I'm gay.  I lived it.  If you moved to San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta or any of the other big cities then, you could kind of become invisible.  You cannot be invisible in the country because everybody knows your business," Legere said.

Johnson, the councilman, said he found Asbury Park "a very special place, a very accepting and diverse community.  When we first came to Asbury Park, we were surprised at how open and free it was."

Donna Harrison, co-chairwoman of AP Action, a political action committee of gay and lesbian residents of Asbury Park, saw "Brokeback Mountain" with her partner, Kathy Ragauckas, just last week.

"It's a very sad love story," Harrison said.  "I guess they lacked the courage to live out their dreams and to follow their hearts.  But that was a function of the time and the place they were in.  Kathy and I are an interracial couple, and not so long ago, even heterosexual interracial couples were not allowed to be together.  So there are parallels.

"Black and white heterosexual couples would have faced some of the concerns these men were facing but with a different twist.  At the end of the day, they are the same issues:  being controlled by cultural biases, laws and artificial constraints on love.  How much sense does that make?" Harrison said.

"Brokeback Mountain" obviously spoke to a wide spectrum of audiences:  With a very modest production budget of $14 million, the movie opened Dec. 9, 2005, at five urban theaters, moved up to 683 theaters nationwide on Jan. 13, and has grossed more than $72 million domestically and $44.5 million overseas.  Its per screen average — a critical measuring stick of success — was more than $109,000 in opening week, and more than $8,000 when it went wide; both figures are much higher than average.

Its box-office success in this area pushed back prestigious, Oscar-nominated films such as "Mrs. Henderson Presents," which opened in late February in Manasquan, and last Friday in Red Bank, two months after its original intended opening.

Harrison's partner, Ragauckas, said she "liked the fact that it deals with basic universal emotions:  loss, love, longing.  You easily could interchange genders in "Brokeback' because it's a basic tragic love story.  I give it thumbs up," Ragauckas said.

Johnson saw its success as a sign of its quality as a movie, and as a sign of significant cultural shift.

"The movie proved that even with its subject matter, it should be judged on a level playing field with other movies.  It became known as a good movie, not a good movie with a gay theme," Johnson said.

"And this translates to us as people:  It's not about getting any special or preferential treatment.  It's about getting equal treatment," Johnson said.

(Emphasis Added)