Posted on 12/31/2005 7:16:50 PM PST by Pokey78
Jim-Bob Zimmerschied is not a happy cowboy. "They've gone and killed John Wayne with this movie," he says angrily, beer in hand. "I've been doing this job all my life and I ain't never met no gay cowboy. It wouldn't be right."
The target of Mr Zimmerschied's outburst is Brokeback Mountain, the Hollywood Western-with-a-twist that opens in London this week and is already being tipped for Oscar success.
The "gay cowboy flick", as it has been dubbed in America, is directed by Ang Lee and stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two young ranch hands who begin a long-term love affair in 1963 against the stunning backdrop of Wyoming's mountains and prairies.
American critics have enthused about the film, which has topped box office takings per cinema since its limited release in large cities last month.
But the subject matter has earned condemnation from the religious Right - and caused considerable distress in rural Wyoming, bastion of the cowboy culture of unadulterated machismo.
In Sheridan, in the heart of Marlboro Country, where ranchers and cowboys still walk the streets, the Western flavour remains authentic.
Buffalo Bill used to hold auditions for his Wild West Show on the porch of the Sheridan Inn and Custer's Last Stand was fought at the nearby Little Bighorn.
On Sheridan's Main Street, the Mint Bar is a rough and ready institution with a large neon sign of a cowboy riding a bucking bull outside and the heads of stuffed moose, elk and buffalo lining the wooden walls within.
It was here that the writer Annie Proulx had the inspiration for the short story on which the film is based. It was "generated by years and years of subliminal observation," she said in a recent interview. "But the incident that actually made me start writing it was one night when I was the Mint Bar. There was a ranch hand I used to see. This guy was back leaning against the wall by the pool tables. The bar was packed with good-looking women, and he wasn't looking at them - he was watching the guys. He was about 60, and he watched them with a kind of subdued hunger that made me wonder if he was country gay." The film has yet to play in Sheridan and the cinema manager says only that he "might" screen it. If he does, the audience is likely to be limited.
Flushed by Bud Lite, Mr Zimmerschied, a squat walrus-moustachioed man in a hat and check shirt, was in full flow. "John Wayne and Will Rogers, they made real cowboy movies. They portrayed us like we are. There ain't no queer in cowboy and I don't care for anyone suggesting there is."
When he was distracted by one of the two bar-room brawls - both apparently unrelated to the Brokeback Mountain issue - an even drunker young man stepped up to the plate. "If you gave me the choice between watching that movie and being hung by the neck, I'd tie the noose myself," he slurred.
But away from the bellicose posturing, a more subtle view emerged. Dave Miller, 48, a rancher in regulation black cowboy hat, leather waistcoat, blue jeans and boots, said: "It's not the sort of movie that I'd go to see, but this is America and people can watch whatever they want." Nonetheless, he repeated the common refrain that he had never encountered a gay cowboy. "Well, not that I knew," he added. "I just don't think our way of life is conducive to them." And like many others, his concern was that the film would give the wrong impression of life in the West.
Samantha Foster, who moved to Sheridan from cosmopolitan Seattle after marrying a local, was one of the few who said she would go to see the film. "I think it's an age thing and a sex thing," she said. "The older generation don't accept this sort of thing and it makes a lot of men uneasy.
Her husband, Jeremy, seemed less sure. "I wouldn't want to be seen going to see that film. I don't want people to get the wrong impression. I might watch it on DVD, I guess," he said.
One woman quietly disclosed that one of the area's biggest ranchers had a lesbian daughter. "It's just that nobody talks about it," she whispered.
While the patrons in the Mint Bar may be convinced that they have never met a homosexual cowboy, the popularity of the gay rodeo circuit in America is proof that they exist. "I was born gay and I was born a cowboy," said Mike Yocum, a rodeo enthusiast from Oklahoma.
"I grew up in a saddle. It's horsesh*t to say there's no such thing as a gay cowboy, but it's a very touchy subject."
Few want to go public in Wyoming. An exception is Derek Glover, 33, a rancher's son who lives in the small town of Lusk. "Folks round here just don't believe that cowboys can be gay," he said. "I wish people could be a little more open-minded, but I don't see that happening for a long time. It makes me mad that they don't approve of me, but what can I do? I'm just one person. This is smalltown America. I don't think this movie's going to make any difference."
Just north of Sheridan, Padlock Ranch is one of the 10 biggest cattle farms in America and stretches out beneath the snow-capped Bighorn mountain range.
Lee Hagel, 47, who was herding cattle there last week, had his own objections to the film. "They aren't even cowboys - they're sheep herders," he said witheringly. "You can't just put a hat on someone and say they're a cowboy."
And for pragmatic reasons, he is also troubled by plans to market Wyoming to gay holidaymakers. "We got a big influx of tourists after the Urban Cowboy film came out and all that happened was prices for boots and hats doubled as they were buying them all up. Let's hope that doesn't happen again."
Meanwhile, one Mint Bar regular offered a suggestion for another film about same-sex romance on the range. "A movie about two women would be different," he said. "I wouldn't mind that at all."
Around here, trolling for a date consists of a bale of hay in the back of your pickup on sat night.
In Utah, the sheep are all zipper spooked.
Brokeback mountain cowboys have to clean the wool out of their zippers.
Can you make a u turn. Naaaa, but I can make her blink her eyes.
2 brokeback cowboys walking down the road, see a sheep with its head cought in a fence. One unzips and has his way. The other says, "now its my turn", and sticks his head in the fence.
LOL
susie
I have been waiting for Baxter Black or Waddie Mitchell to come out with something on the 'Gay Caballeros" theme but have not yet heard anything new.
Next it'll be a movie about two queer Navy Seals.
That says it all, with all the concomitant implications of spending long, lonely nights with sheep.
I suppose this is better than a movie about beastiality sheep hearders. Just think how many oscars a movie like that would have brought in.
I met a gay cowboy once but he wasn't from Texas or Oklahoma or Montana or Wyoming or even Colorado. He wasn't from Alberta or the pampas of Argentina, no I think he was from California, or perhaps Jersey. Never could tell the difference.
What would hurt more, a guy leaving his wife and kids for gay sex or sheep sex?
That is an excellent picture.. thanks for posting..
That's a weird way to word it. Is country gay different from city gay? Did I miss something again?
"I was born gay and I was born a cowboy," said Mike Yocum, a rodeo enthusiast from Oklahoma."
Horse sh!t.
You like rodeo because you grew up around it, and you suffer from same-sex attraction disorder because you were molested or seduced in your pre-adult years, probably by an adult.
Get treatment.
Thanks for posting that...that's the Duke I remember.......
Out here in WA State, we recently had that case of a man dieing from having sex with a horse. As a result of the investigation, we learned that the farm was running an animal sex club for gay men from all over the country. So, apparently, gay sex and animal sex, go together.
Has anyone actually seen this movie? It seems to be famous for being famous, but I know not a soul who has watched the thing.
Anything goes in the gay community. When sticking gerbils up your butt is a common practice, you really have to evaluate the lifestyle.
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