Don’t know what to watch? Are you overwhelmed by how many movies there are nowadays? Gordon Briggs’ Reel Talk is here for you. Every month, this column will highlight three films from movie history that are worth your time.
The end of June is also the end of Pride season. This year Athens was home to many Pride-themed events. One such event I had the pleasure of attending was a Pride-themed party film series at the Athena titled “Rainbow Connections.” As hundreds of local residents attended the series, I reflected on just how far LGBTQ+ representation has come and how far there is still to go.
In helping to program such series, it’s difficult to find one genre that sports a variety of stories that feature gay characters. Still, I want to highlight three movies that qualify as Westerns that each revolve around a gay romance.
“Brokeback Mountain” (2005)
After decades of suggestive subtext and censorship, the 2000s finally gave mainstream audiences a gay Western about two cowboys in love. For my money, this tale of a secret affair between two down low cowboys remains an effective film about denying yourself the one thing that would make you happy. Not only are the two central performances effective — especially from Heath Ledger — director Ang Lee is a master at making movies about characters who deeply feel emotions they don’t know how to express. Specifically, I like how the film contrasts the internalized homophobia of “the closet” with the openness and beauty of the western landscape. The film culminates in a moving final shot as Ledger grips his lover’s jacket while standing at a window looking out onto the vast prairie, murmuring, “Jack, I swear.” ★★★★
“Desert Hearts” (1985)
Why didn’t anybody tell me this movie was this good? It’s more than 30 years old, but its depiction of a gay love story set on a Nevada ranch was way ahead of its time. Set in 1959, we meet Vivian, a recently divorced college professor from the city who travels west only to fall head over heels for Cay, a free-spirited artist who awakens something inside her. Landscape? Breathtaking.
Cinematography? Beautiful. Director Donna Deitch uses the visual language of the Western to craft a uniquely queer story. However, what left its mark is the nuanced relationship between Vivian and Cay. Rather than being another “sad gay movie” we usually get, there’s a tenderness and eroticism to this relationship that is done in a way that feels genuinely romantic and not simply there to titillate male viewers. There are plenty of memorable moments, but my favorite is Vivian and Cay’s first kiss in the rain, a scene where the two women say everything to each other without speaking a word. ★★★½
“Strange Way of Life” (2023)
This is another strong entry in the land of the gay Western. Here, Ethan Hawke plays a lawman whose manhunt for a fugitive goes awry when his ex-lover (Pedro Pascal) comes to town to warm his cockles. What follows is a strange tale about memory, masculinity, and melodramatic violence. The movie only runs 31 minutes long, but in that time, director Pedro Almodóvar packs the movie with visual panache and emotional sincerity. Specifically, one man fights for the law, while the other fights for love. Of course, most of the credit should go to Hawke and Pascal. The actors are quite good, as two men with separate agendas who still desperately want one another. ★★★½
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