The story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys and their lives over the years.

Jack Twist: I wish I knew how to quit you.
Ennis Del Mar: I'm gonna tell you this one time, Jack fuckin' Twist, an' I ain't foolin'. What I don't know - all them things that I don't know - could get you killed if I come to know them. I ain't jokin'.
Jack Twist: Yeah well try this one, and I'll say it just once!
Ennis Del Mar: Go ahead!
Jack Twist: Tell you what, we coulda had a good life together! Fuckin' real good life! Had us a place of our own. But you didn't want it, Ennis! So what we got now is Brokeback Mountain! Everything's built on that! That's all we got, boy, fuckin' all. So I hope you know that, even if you don't never know the rest! You count the damn few times we have been together in nearly twenty years and you measure the short fucking leash you keep me on - and then you ask me about Mexico and tell me you'll kill me for needing somethin' I don't hardly never get. You have no idea how bad it gets! I'm not you... I can't make it on a coupla high-altitude fucks once or twice a year! You are too much for me Ennis, you sonofawhoreson bitch! I wish I knew how to quit you.
Ennis Del Mar: [crying] Well, why don't you? Why don't you just let me be? It's because of you Jack, that I'm like this! I'm nothin'... I'm nowhere... Get the fuck off me! I can't stand being like this no more, Jack.
[last lines]
Ennis Del Mar: Jack, I swear...
Jack Twist: Tell you what... the truth is... sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it.
Ennis Del Mar: [with his arms around Jack] C'mon now, you're sleepin' on your feet like a horse. My mama used to say that to me when I was little. And sing to me...
[humming]
Ennis Del Mar: We can get together... once in a while, way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, but...
Jack Twist: Once in a while? Every four fuckin' years?
Ennis Del Mar: If you can't fix it, Jack, you gotta stand it.
Jack Twist: For how long?
Ennis Del Mar: For as long as we can ride it. There ain't no reins on this one.
Jack Twist: Friend, that's more words than you've spoke in the past two weeks.
Ennis Del Mar: Hell, that's the most I've spoke in a year.
[repeated line]
Ennis Del Mar: Jack fuckin' Twist.
Jack Twist: [looking over at Ennis in the firelight; he has laid back and is looking up at the stars, smiling] Anything interesting up there in heaven?
Ennis Del Mar: [for the first time in a long time, content] I was just sending up a prayer of thanks.
Jack Twist: For what?
Ennis Del Mar: [with a wink and a smile] For you forgettin' to bring that harmonica. I'm enjoyin' the peace and quiet.
Alma Beers Del Mar: You know, your friend could come inside, have a cup of coffee...
Ennis Del Mar: He's from Texas.
Alma Beers Del Mar: Texans don't drink coffee?
Jack Twist: Brokeback got us good, don't it?
Jack Twist: There ain't never enough time, never enough...
Lureen Newsome: He always said he wanted his ashes scattered on Brokeback Mountain, but I wasn't sure where that was. I thought Brokeback Mountain might be around where he grew up. Knowing Jack, it was probably some pretend place, where bluebirds sing and there's a whiskey spring...
Jack Twist: Ya know it could be like this, just like this always.
Ennis Del Mar: This is a one-shot thing we got goin' on here.
Jack Twist: It's nobody's business but ours.
Ennis Del Mar: You know I ain't queer.
Jack Twist: Me neither.
Jack Twist: No more beans.
Jack Twist: Swear I didn't know we were gonna get into this again.
Jack Twist: Hell, yes I did; red-lined it all the way, couldn't get here fast enough.
Alma Beers Del Mar: Don't try and fool me no more, Ennis; I know what it means! Jack Twist. Jack Nasty! You didn't go up there to fish!
Ennis Del Mar: You ever get the feelin'... I don't know, er... when you're in town and someone looks at you all suspicious, like he knows? And then you go out on the pavement and everyone looks like they know too?
Jack Twist: [Casually] Well... maybe you oughta get out of there, you know? Find yourself someplace different. Maybe Texas.
Ennis Del Mar: [Sarcastically] Texas? Sure, maybe you can convince Alma to let you and Lureen to adopt the girls. And we can just live together herding sheep. And it'll rain money from LD Newsome and whiskey'll flow in the streams - Jack, that's real smart.
Jack Twist: Go to hell, Ennis. If you wanna live your miserable fuckin' life, then go right ahead.
Ennis Del Mar: Fine.
Jack Twist: I was just thinkin' out loud.
Ennis Del Mar: Yep, you're a real thinker there. Goddamn. Jack fuckin' Twist; got it all figured out, ain't ya?
Jack Twist: My momma, she believes in the Pentecost.
Ennis Del Mar: What exactly is the Pentecost? I mean, my folks, they was Methodists.
Jack Twist: The Pentecost... I don't... I don't know what the Pentecost is. I guess it means the world ends and guys like you and me march off to hell.
Ennis Del Mar: Speak for yourself. You may be a sinner, but I ain't yet had the opportunity.
Ennis Del Mar: Tent don't look right.
Jack Twist: [pauses from playing the harmonica] Well, it ain't goin' nowhere. Let it be.
Ennis Del Mar: That harmonica don't sound quite right either.
Jack Twist: That's 'cause it got kinda flattened when that mare threw me.
Ennis Del Mar: Oh yeah? Thought you said that mare couldn't throw you.
Jack Twist: Well... she got lucky.
Ennis Del Mar: Yeah? Well, if I'd got lucky that harmonica would have broken in two.
[Jack laughs]
Joe Aguirre: You boys sure found a way to make the time pass up there. Twist, you guys wasn't gettin' paid to leave the dogs babysittin' the sheep while you stem the rose.
Jack Twist: As for our marriage, we can do it over the phone.
Cassie Cartwright: [on the verge of tears] I don't get you, Ennis del Mar.
Ennis del Mar: I'm sorry.
[he pauses]
Ennis del Mar: Was probably no fun anyway, was I?
Cassie Cartwright: [crying] Ennis, girls don't fall in love with fun!
Alma Del Mar Jr. - Age 19: [Surveying her father's meager living conditions] Daddy, you need more furniture.
Ennis Del Mar: Yeah, well... if you got nothin', you don't need nothin'.
[L.D. Newsome goes to turn the television back on]
Jack Twist: You sit down, you ol' son of a bitch!
[L.D. stops in his tracks]
Jack Twist: This is my house! This is my child! And you are my guest! Now sit the hell down before I knock your ignorant ass into next week!
Jack Twist: Why is it always so friggin' cold? We oughta go south where it's warm, you know, we oughta go to Mexico!
Ennis Del Mar: Mexico? Hell Jack, you know me, about all the travelin' I ever done is round a coffee pot lookin' for the handle.
John Twist: Jack used to say, "Ennis Del Mar," he used to say; "I'm gonna bring him up here one of these days, and we'll lick this damn ranch into shape. Had some half-baked notion the two of you was gonna move up here. Build a cabin, help run the place.
[pause, spits in coffee cup]
John Twist: Then this spring, he got another fella gonna come up here with him. Build a place, help run the ranch. Some ranch neighbor o' his down in Texas. Was gonna split up with his wife and come back here. But like most of Jack's ideas... never did come to pass.
Ennis Del Mar: Supposed to guard the sheep, not eat 'em.
Jack Twist: You gonna do this again next summer?
Ennis Del Mar: Well, maybe not. Like I said, Alma and me's gettin' married in November, so... I'll try and get something on a ranch, I guess. And you?
Jack Twist: I might go up to my Daddy's place and give him a hand through the Winter. But, I might be back... if the army don't get me.
Ennis Del Mar: [casually] Well... I guess I'll see you around, huh?
[long pause]
Jack Twist: Right.
Lureen Newsome: [to Jack] New model comin' in this week, remember? You're the best combine salesman we got.
[pause]
Lureen Newsome: You're the *only* combine salesman, in fact...
Basque: Thought you didn't eat soup.
Ennis Del Mar: Yeah, well I'm sick of beans.
Basque: Too early in summer to be sick of beans.
Ennis Del Mar: Bottom line is... we're around each other an'... this thing, it grabs hold of us again... at the wrong place... at the wrong time... and we're dead.
Jack Twist: You know what, friend? This is a goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation. You used to come down so easy, now it's like seein' the Pope.
Ennis Del Mar: Jack, I gotta work. I mean in them earlier days I just quit the job. You forget what it's like being broke all the time. You ever hear of child support? I'll tell you this, I can't quit this one, and I can't get the time off. It's hard enough getting this one. The trade off is August. You got a better idea?
Jack Twist: I did once.
Ennis Del Mar: You did once. You ever been to Mexico, Jack Twist? Because I heard what they got in Mexico for boys like you.
Jack Twist: Hell yeah, I've been to Mexico, is that a fuckin' problem?
Jack Twist: You know friend, this is a god damn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation.
[two drunken bikers sit down near Ennis, Alma, and their daughters at the fireworks show]
Biker #1: Whoooeee! Look at this crowd. Bound to be a lot of pussy on the hoof in a crowd like this.
Biker #2: All swelled up with patriotic feeling and ready to be humped like a frog.
Biker #1: So where you figure the most pussy's at - Las Vegas or California?
Biker #2: Hell, I don't know. But if you make it between Wyoming and Montana, I'd pick Wyoming in a minute.
Ennis Del Mar: Hey, you might wanna keep it down. I got two little girls here.
Biker #1: Fuck you! Asshole.
[to his friend]
Biker #1: Probably quit givin' it to his wife after his kids was born. You know what that's like?
Alma Beers Del Mar: Ennis, let's move. Let's just move, okay?
Ennis Del Mar: [to bikers] Now, I don't want no trouble from you. You need to shut your slop-bucket mouths, you hear me?
Biker #2: You oughta listen to your old lady, then.
Ennis Del Mar: Is that right?
Biker #1: Yeah. Move somewhere else.
[Ennis gets up and kicks the first biker hard in the face, then turns angrily on the second one]
Ennis Del Mar: How about it? You wanna lose about half your fuckin' teeth? Huh?
Biker #2: [backing off and leaving] Not tonight, bud. I'd sure rather not.
[Ennis is describing a childhood memory to Jack]
Ennis Del Mar: I tell ya there... there were these two old guys ranched up together, down home. Earl and Rich. And they was the joke of town, even though they were pretty tough ol' birds. Anyway they... they found Earl dead in an irrigation ditch. Took a tire iron to 'im. Spurred him up, drug him 'round by his dick 'till it pulled off.
Jack Twist: You seen this?
Ennis Del Mar: I wasn't... nine years old. My daddy, he made sure me and brother seen it. Hell for all I know, he done the job.
Jack Twist: [Lureen takes off her shirt] You are in a hurry.
Lureen Newsome: My dad's the hurry. He expects me home with the car by midnight.
Jack Twist: Do I look like I can afford a fuckin' ropin' horse?
Jack Twist: Ever notice how a woman'll powder her nose before a party starts, and the powder it again when the party's over? Why powder your nose just to go home to bed?
Randall Malone: Don't know. Even if I wanted to know, couldn't get a word in with Lashawn long enough to ask. Woman talks a blue streak.
Alma Beers Del Mar: As far behind as we are on the bills, it makes me nervous not to use any sort of precaution.
Ennis Del Mar: If you don't want no more o' my kids, I'll be happy to just leave you alone.
Alma Beers Del Mar: [pauses] I'd have 'em if you'd support 'em.
Cassie Cartwright: You don't say much but you get your point across.
Jack Twist: You'll like working for Roy Taylor. He's solid.
Randall Malone: Yeah, Roy, he's a good ol' boy. He's got a little cabin down on Lake Kemp. Got a croppie house, little boat. Says I can use it whenever I want.
[pause]
Randall Malone: We outta go down there some weekend. Drink a little whiskey, fish some, get away. You know?
Lureen Newsome: What are ya waitin' for cowboy? A matin' call?
John Twist: Tell you what. We got us a family plot. He's goin' in it.
Lureen Newsome: Do you think I'm going too fast? Maybe I should put on the brakes?
Jack Twist: Fast or slow, I like the direction you're going.
Jack Twist: I got a boy. Eight months old. Smiles a lot.
Jolly Minister: You may kiss the bride - and if you don't, I will.
Alma Jr., Age 13: Daddy, tell about when you rode broncs in the rodeo.
Ennis Del Mar: Short story honey. Only 'bout three seconds I was on that bronc. Next thing I knew, I was flyin' through the air... only I wasn't no angel like you and Jenny here; didn't have no wings. And that's the story of my saddle bronc career.
Jack Twist: Jack Twist.
Ennis Del Mar: Ennis.
Jack Twist: Your folks just stop at Ennis?
Ennis Del Mar: Del Mar.
Jack Twist: Nice to know you, Ennis del Mar.
Ennis Del Mar: What are ya doin'?
Jack Twist: Aguirre came by again. Said my uncle didn't die after all. Says bring 'em down.
Ennis Del Mar: Bring 'em down? Why? It's the middle of August.
Jack Twist: Says there's a storm moving in from the Pacific, worse than this one.
Ennis Del Mar: Well that snow barely stuck an hour. Huh? 'Sides, that son-of-a-bitch, he's cheatin' us outta a whole month's pay. That ain't right.
Jack Twist: I can spare ya a loan bud, if you're short on cash. Give it to ya when we get to Signal.
Ennis Del Mar: I don't need your money, huh, you know I ain't in the poorhouse. Shit!
Cassie Cartwright: Just finished my shift. Wanna dance?
Ennis Del Mar: I was just on my way to the...
Cassie Cartwright: [takes his arm and leads to dance floor] I'm Cassie; Cassie Cartwright.
Ennis Del Mar: Ennis.
Ennis Del Mar: Del Mar.
Ennis Del Mar: [after dance] No more dancin' for me, I hope.
Cassie Cartwright: You're off the hook; my feet hurt.
[takes off shoes]
Ennis Del Mar: Hard work is it?
Cassie Cartwright: Drunks like you, demandin' beer after beer. Smokin'. Gets tiresome.
Cassie Cartwright: So... What do you do Ennis Del Mar?
Ennis Del Mar: Earlier today I was castrating calves.
Cassie Cartwright: Ugh.
[places her bare feet in his lap]
Ennis Del Mar: What are you doing?
Cassie Cartwright: Tryin' to get a foot rub, dummy.
Ennis Del Mar: All right.
[rubs feet]
Ennis Del Mar: That good?
[first lines]
Joe Aguirre: You pair of deuces lookin' for work, I suggest you get your scrawny asses in here pronto.
Farmer #1: [noting Jack outside] Say... that the piss ant that used to ride the bulls?
Farmer #2: Used to *try*.
[Ennis enters the grocery store where Alma works]
Ennis Del Mar: Hey, Monroe. Is Alma here?
Monroe: Uh, yeah, she's in the condiments aisle.
Ennis Del Mar: The what?
Monroe: Uh - ketchup.
[points]
Ennis Del Mar: Thanks.
LaShawn Malone: He wouldn't listen to me if he knew he was goin' deaf tomorrow.
Ennis Del Mar: You know I ain't queer.
Jack Twist: Me neither.