Flawed Classic

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2008)

This is a top-quality motion picture, beautifully filmed, astutely edited, largely well-acted, with an outstanding music score.
However, the film is inexplicably crippled by the way the character Ennis Del Mar is played by Heath Ledger. Thought one of the two lead characters  and having the most screen time - - he mumbles his way through the film and is frequently barely understandable. This becomes a significant distraction. It disengages viewers trying to follow the drama.
His persona is equally distracting. I have known several terribly shy people but never one so acutely introverted they come off as clinically depressed. So the viewer is distracted again wondering what's wrong with this guy. It's not just his sexual adventures.
Finally, the screenplay gave me little insight into homosexuality in the 60s and 70s. All I came away with is that these two guys are confused, frustrated and fearful about the deadly consequences of leading an openly gay lifestyle.
The Jack Twist character hits it off so well with women I don't know if the two cowboys are bisexual, homosexual, or experimenting heterosexuals, or *whatever.*
Sensitive as the film is, it doesn't help in building gay social acceptance. Also, I can't remember a film about a heterosexual love affair where the where the cheaters get so much sympathy while they deceive and hurt others.