Valerie Planche
Ang Lee's adaptation of E. Annie Proulx's story Brokeback Mountain stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as young cowboys named Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar. Each of them is hired to corral sheep on the title location and they soon bond very closely. Their platonic relationship explodes into a physical one, but eventually the two are separated when their job comes to an end. Although the two follow different life paths -- one becoming a father of two and the other marrying into a successful business -- they have a reunion years later. Each is affected profoundly by the rekindling of their old feelings for each other. Those feelings lead each to consider what continuing their hidden relationship would cost them. The screenplay was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, (more)
- 2001
Presented in three half-hour "acts" by the MTV cable network on January 10, 2001, the fact-based Anatomy of a Hate Crime was the opening volley of MTV's year-long campaign "Fight For Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Discrimination." In recalling the horrendous torture-murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard near Laramie, WY in 1998, the film focuses as much on the twisted logic and motivations of Matthew's killers Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney as it does on the victim and the crime. Cy Carter stars as the unfortunate Shepard, with Ian Somerhelder and Brendan Fletcher, respectively, cast as Henderson and McKinney. Filmed in Alberta, Anatomy of a Hate Crime was originally bookended by a marathon recital of recent examples of sexual and racial persecution, delivered by an impressive list of unseen celebrities. Curiously, the Shepard Foundation, formed after Matthew's murder, would not endorse the MTV film, preferring instead to put their clout behind the 2002 NBC TV movie The Matthew Shepard Story. (See also separate website entry for The Laramie Project.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cy Carter, Ian Somerhalder, (more)
- 1997
Small-town housewife Sarah Jenks (Melissa Gilbert) would hardly qualify as the most popular woman in her community: She constantly speaks her mind, contemptuously disdains those who aren't vegetarians like herself, and (horrors!) does not attend church on Sunday. However, no one would ever claim that Sarah was not a loving and devoted mother to her children--at least not until the day that a spiteful woman named Sandy Barlow (Joely Fisher) levies accusations that Sarah is guilty of child abuse. Never bothering to question Sandy's ulterior motives (the audience knows that she has sexual designs on Sarah's husband), the authorities take her charges seriously, and before long Sarah's children have been ripped away from her and placed into foster care. Inspired by actual events, this nailbiting made-for-TV movie exposes the dangers of taking people and events at face value, accepting baseless lies as Gospel and adhering to a rigid "rules are rules" mentality. Seduction in a Small Town made itsABC debut on February 9, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
