Who says I wish I knew how to quit you?

[Jack Twist] Well, try this one and I'll say it just once....Tell you what, we could've had a good life together! F--kin' 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, f--kin' all. So I hope you know that, even if you don't never know the rest! You count the damn few times that we have been together in nearly twenty years and you measure the short f--kin' leash you keep me on - and then you ask me about Mexico and you tell me you'll kill me for needing somethin' that I don't hardly never get. You have no idea how bad it gets! And I'm not you - I can't make it on a coupla high-alt**ude f--ks once or twice a year! You are too much for me, Ennis, you sonofaw****son b*t*h! I wish I knew how to quit you. (Ennis responded, while crying, telling Jack that he was the source of his conflicted emotions) [Ennis Del Mar]

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 f--k off me!.. (They struggled against each other, and ended up embracing) I can't stand it any more, Jack.

As far as filmmakers go, Ang Lee isn’t one who immediately comes to mind in terms of most quotable works – especially those that have endured in the pop culture lexicon. A two-time winner of the prestigious Best Director Academy Award – for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Life Of Pi (2012) – his films are renowned for their ground-breaking technical achievements and sweeping themes that remain with viewers long after the theatrical runs. Yet ‘endlessly quotable’ isn’t necessarily an attribute that is often assigned to Lee’s work: nor should it considering the things each of his features have set out to achieve. Surprisingly, a tragic gay love story between two cowboys in rural America directed by Lee – Brokeback Mountain (2005) – has taken up more pop-cultural real estate than any of his previous fourteen films including a Marvel blockbuster like Hulk (2003).

“I wish I knew how to quit you,” says a frustrated Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal as he stares out at a breathtaking view of a lake and nearby mountains. The beauty of the scenery is juxtaposed against the torture he feels, his love for Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) reciprocated by unable to be fully lived in their current realities with the exception of stolen moments and rare weekends. Both bestowed with the titles of ‘nineties hunks’, Gyllenhaal and Ledger’s roles in Brokeback Mountain were ground-breaking for their ability to redefine their respective careers and are still considered among each of their best work. The film itself was propelled by the momentum of not just those portrayals, but largely positive reviews, against-type roles for the supporting cast including Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams and Anna Faris, topical yet also controversial themes at the time, box-office success earning nearly $200M internationally on a $14M budget, awards season buzz – it received eight Academy Award nominations and won three – and the added paparazzi heat score of Ledger and Williams’ relationship.

We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx.

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...

[Jack comes to embrace him] 

Ennis Del Mar : Get the fuck off me!

Jack Twist : [Embraces Ennis as he sinks to the ground]  Come here! It's alright, it's alright. Damn you Ennis!

Ennis Del Mar : i just can't stand this anymore, Jack.

Brokeback Mountain. Photo: Focus Features

For the tenth anniversary of Brokeback Mountain’s release, Out has an oral history of the film. As expected, it’s full of loving remembrances of the late Heath Ledger, who, besides being one of the best actors of his generation, comes off like an absolute mensch. In his co-star Jake Gyllenhaal’s memory, Ledger hated the way the movie was turned into a meme — “the gay cowboy movie” — which he felt diminished its resonance. “He was extraordinarily serious about the political issues surrounding the movie when it came out,” Gyllenhaal says. “A lot of times people would want to have fun and joke about it, and he was vehement about being serious, to the point where he didn’t really want to hear about anything that was being made fun of.”

As the cast and crew recall, the intense emotions on set were aided by Ang Lee’s decision to house them all together in a remote campground. Gyllenhaal calls it an “old-school way” of making everyone a family: “It’s why we are all still close — not just bonded by the success of the film, but bonded by the experience. It was an intimate project in that way. We’d wake up and make breakfast for each other, and hang out. Heath and Michelle fell in love. It was a really special, special time.”

It wasn’t just obvious to the actors. Screenwriter Diana Ossana can pinpoint the exact moment Ledger and Williams fell in love, in a scene where their characters go sledding together. “Michelle fell off the sled, and at the bottom of the hill she was crying,” she remembers. “She’d twisted her knee, and we had to call someone to take her to the hospital. Heath was not about to let her go alone, and as he was getting into the vehicle with her he was smoothing her hair back. I remember him looking at her, and she looking up at him with these wide eyes. She was almost startled by the attention he was giving her, but you could see it every day from thereon. For him it was truly love at first sight.”

Other on-set accidents were more embarrassing. During her audition, a crucial piece of advice from her parents — “If you’re ever asked if you can do anything, say yes. You can learn anything in two weeks if you’re motivated enough” — had led Anne Hathaway to lie about knowing how to ride a horse. She took riding lessons before production started and, in her own words, became “really, really, really good.” But during one rehearsal, she was given a horse that only responded to verbal commands: “I went to a rehearsal in front of 300 extras, all of whom work in rodeos, and the horse wouldn’t do a damn thing I wanted it to. And at the end it threw me — in front of everyone.” And this time, she didn’t even get an Oscar for her trouble!

Sources

Heath Ledger Hated Brokeback Mountain Memes

This famous line is spoken by Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain (directed by Ang Lee, 2005).

Jack and Ennis are not your typical lovebirds. They're both cowboys, and they live in the repressive world of the midcentury American West. The odds of their happiness are pretty dang low.

They both realize it would be easier if they didn't have the feelings for each other that they do, which is why Jack—after verbally laying into Ennis—turns his back and mutters, "I wish I knew how to quit you."

Well, those can be some hard words to hear. Which is why the Joker—er, Ennis—starts tearing up.

Where you've heard it

Because of the initial source, the line is often used as a rallying cry by the LGBT community. But think of how applicable it can be to anyone's life. We all have our secret obsessions, or things we feel passionately about that...we maybe wish we didn't. And, of course, there's an obvious parallel for anyone who's trying to quit smoking or drinking or continuing any similar sort of nasty habit.

But often it won't be used in reference to anything nearly so dark. It could just be about a person who's addicted to a particular city, or someone who cannot. stop. playing. Candy. Crush.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

When a quote has no words over four letters, it's always a promising sign that its pretentious factor will be on the low side. Also, Brokeback Mountain is seriously one of the most romantic movies ever.