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We get the bulk of the 2006 DVD extras ported over as
well as the 2007 reissue of the film. I’ve included those
featurettes below from a previous review: ***
"A Groundbreaking Success" is filled with the talking
heads of sociologists, film critics, cast and crew it's
nothing special although it does discuss some of the challenges
of marketing a gay love story to a mainstream heterosexual
audience. *** We get two other featurettes on the second
disc. The first "Music from the Mountain" a behind-the-podium
glance at the writing, scoring and execution of the music
score for the film. The second "Impressions from the Film"
lasts less than three minutes and consists of a photo montage
set to the film's music. These three featurettes are less
than compelling. ***
There's no commentary by Lee which is tragic and the
special features are limited to a handful of interesting
but hardly comprehensive featurettes. "Directing from the
Heart: Ang Lee" features the cast, crew and producers discussing
why Lee was, if not the logical choice for this film, the
best because of his ability to humanize characters in even
the most extreme circumstances. "From Script to Screen:
Interviews with Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana" allows
the screenwriter/producers a chance to discuss how they
came across Prooulx's short story in the New Yorker. In
fact McMurtry who doesn't read short stories any more was
forced to read the story by his collaborator Ossana. She
was staying at his place while they were collaborating and
was drew in to the story of these men at odds with their
code because of their desires and lifestyle. Even Randy
Quaid (who recently sued the producers and studio because
he took the role below his usual pay because he was told
the expectations for the film were poor and it was really
an art house film) chimes in on how the story immediately
grabbed him by his ten gallon hat and wrangled him into
the world of these two men. "Sharing the Story: The Making
of 'Brokeback Mountain'" is a standard making-of featurette
and is probably the weakest of the extras here because it's
really just a promo piece for the film. I'm very disappointed
with the quantity of the extras here although the quality
is pretty decent. ***
“Directing from the Heart: Ang Lee” features the cast,
crew and producers discussing why Lee was, if not the logical
choice for this film, the best because of his ability to
humanize characters in even the most extreme circumstances.
“From Script to Screen: Interviews with Larry McMurtry and
Diana Ossana” allows the screenwriter/producers a chance
to discuss how they came across Prooulx’s short story in
the New Yoker. In fact McMurtry who doesn’t read short stories
any more was forced to read the story by his collaborator
Ossana. She was staying at his place while they were collaborating
and was drew in to the story of these men at odds with their
code because of their desires and lifestyle. Even Randy
Quaid (who recently sued the producers and studio because
he took the role below his usual pay because he was told
the expectations for the film were poor and it was really
an art house film) chimes in on how the story immediately
grabbed him by his ten gallon hat and wrangled him into
the world of these two men. “Sharing the Story: The Making
of ‘Brokeback Mountain’” is a standard making-of featurette
and is probably the weakest of the extras here because it’s
really just a promo piece for the film. I’m very disappointed
with the quantity of the extras here althouh the quality
is pretty decent. "On Becoming a Cowboy" the cast and technical
advisor discuss the challenges of riding and performing
as if they've been doing it all their lives. ---
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