“They’re not going to go see the gay cowboys in Montana. I’m sorry. They’re not going to do it.”
— Bill O’Reilly, Dec. 20, 2005
Au contraire, Monsieur Loofah: “Brokeback Mountain” is doing a brisk business in Montana, according to columnist Joe Nickell in the Helena Independent Record:
Here in Missoula, the film has been a smash hit since it opened at the 1,100-seat Wilma Theatre on Jan. 6. “It’s been super every night since we started showing it,” said Bill Emerson, who manages the 85-year-old theater.
Data collected by Focus Features, which produced the film, show that “Brokeback” grossed more than $33,000 at the Wilma during its first four weekends alone.
And…
“Brokeback” isn’t just doing well in this, traditionally the most liberal part of the state… It was the No. 1 draw during opening weekends in Helena and Whitefish…
And guess where the film enjoyed its best opening weekend in Montana? Hint: It wasn’t liberal Missoula.
Try Billings.
In its opening three-day weekend, “Brokeback Mountain” grossed … 15 percent better than the film did during its opening weekend at the Wilma…
So…
“O’Reilly apparently forgot that stereotypes and off-the-cuff prognostications, no matter how confidently voiced, have an uncanny way of falling apart under the cold light of reality.”
Last month, O’Reilly also admitted to Matt Lauer that he was scared to see the film, which has been nominated for eight Academy Awards:
“I’m afraid of cowboys. I’m from Long Island. I’m afraid of all cowboys. And gay cowboys? I mean, I don’t — I don’t get the whole shepherd-cowboy-pup tent connection. I’m not getting all of that stuff.”
Sadly, O’Reilly probably really believes that he understands the psyche of the average guy “out there” in the Red states, and that like him, Joe Sixpack’s heterosexuality is so tenuous and fragile that it might be destroyed by exposure to guy on guy action — even the 30 seconds of it in “Brokeback Mountain.”
That is scary. In my 50 years I’ve seen hundreds of hours of guy-on-gal tussling in Hollywood movies and it hasn’t moved me even a quarter notch off my perfect Kinsey 6.
The point is, O’Reilly’s “man of the people” persona is a hollow shell. He is as pampered and pompadoured as any TV star — and just as clueless about the real world in his first-class bubble as the average Republican senator or presidential advisor.
Could it be, that the very manly O’Reilly is really in the closet?
General rule of thumb: those who espouse homophobic views are generally homosexual.
Your photo of Bill O’Reilly bears an uncanny resemblance to “Beavis” as in Beavis and Butthead. Of course, most would agree that Beavis is definitely better looking than Bill, but they do share that penchant for frenzied outbursts. For Beavis, the triggering factor tends to be caffeine; for Bill, it’s probably a genetic condition.
O’reilly is to obvious to be dangerous. MSNBC commentatros like Tucker or Matthews are fare more effective in spreading ultra right messages.
Funny that sometimes O’reilly reports on important events which none of the other more liberal (whatever that means in the U.S.) stations do.
By applying the right mind it easily filters opinion and nonsene from facts.
I read and watch all kind of press/news regardless which source it is comming from. National and world wide.
Could it be that O’Reilly is getting an under-the -table fee from the producers of the movies he smears? As soon as he says anything negative about any movie, that movie seems to do quite well. As soon as O’Reilly disavows anything I tend to feel the opposite is true. i don’t go to many movies, but now I’ll certainly get to Brokeback Mountain.
Now, here’s a surprise: O’Reilly is wrong about something.
The book title labeling him “a big fat idiot” is more than a joke. He’s consistently wrong when he’s not wrongheaded, and he’s not very literate or cogent either. He thinks he’s an astute cultural commentator when he’s nothing more than a blowhard with an audience.
Rupert Murdoch’s Bucket Boy only says what his Pimp (Murcoch) tells him to say. Facts or truth has NOTHING to do with what the Bucket Boy says at any one time. This is a boy with no moral compass. His ONLY compass is his Pimp’s pocketbook (and perhaps other parts of his Pimp’s anatomy).
It would be sad, if Bucket Boy’s arrogance didn’t bar any sympathy or empathy for him.
The “big fat idiot” book was about Rush Limbaugh, not O’Reilly. It was written by humorist Al Franken.
I think what most people, particularly straight, white, christian men, are afraid of about BBM is that if they watch it, they will be forced to recognize its legitimacy, and then all of their bias and conviction that there’s something “wrong” with it will then have to be re-examined. That’s why Billyboy’s afraid to watch it. He’s no closet case. It’s not about the fear of slipping up the Kinsey Scale, it’s fear of having to recognize that they have been wrong all their lives about homosexuality.
Tim
The first gay cowboy movie was Howard Hughes “Outlaw.” Most cowboy movies are gay cowboy movies, because they are peopled with… dadadad…. ACTORS!!!! One of the greatest movies of all time, Peckinpah’s “Wild Bunch,” starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine, is about a deep love affair between the characters Holden and Borgnine depict. They don’t kiss, and they whore together, but they love each other. That is, fundamentally, what Brokeback Mountain is about too. The media reactions–and it’s not just O’Reilly–have been incredibly stupid. But then, the same media seems to believe Bush is a competent President, and that Jeff Gannon was a news man.
Tim is right. In mocking O’Reilly in the post, I neglected to mention his real agenda. He is projecting disdain for gay people to his fans in order to keep their fear of “the other” at a simmer. This fear is useful to Republicans at the ballot box, as we have seen.
“Brokeback Mountain” is a very effective love story that any sentient human can connect with. Some of O’Reilly’s guys might be under duress from their wives and/or girlfriends to see the movie. He knows that the movie is good enough to change a few hearts, as Christians used to say, so he is encouraging his followers not to see it.
Watching “Brokeback Mountain” won’t turn anyone gay. But it might turn a few conservatives just a little more liberal on gay rights, and that is unacceptable to the status quo.
O’Reilly’s not gay. (We don’t want him.) He is flaunting his (fake) homophobia to incite the GOP base.
And guess where the only gay bar in Montana is found? Billings (so I’m told) Patrons come from as far away as Wyoming.
Wrong Again O’Reilly
Isn’t O’reilly into phone sex?
“Could it be, that the very manly O’Reilly is really in the closet?”
Probably not. Just stupid.
yeah, it seems quite obvious that the people who squeal loudest about homosexuality in the media are the ones who are the least comfortable with their own sexuality.
Perhaps Bill is afraid he’ll get aroused by watching the gay cowboy movie.
In my opinion, either you are gay or you aren’t, a movie won’t change your biological programing.
The gay bar in Missoula is an Amvets lodge by day, and by five pm the old vets have left, and the married “heterosexual” men seeking fulfillment with a man have a “down-low” rendezvous for the night, no names exchanged. Just the way it is in Montana and Wyoming and Nebraska; you get married and see guys on the side. Just the way it should be; too bad if the wives back home get hurt, Brokeback simply illustrates the common truth about sexuality and fidelity in cowboy country. I sure hope that will change, that love won’t have to hide for society’s sake. Too much deception, too much pain and hurt.
I love it every time O’Really opens his mouth. It is impossible for him to say anything intelligent or profound. The morons who give credibility to his bloviating cannot be educated, that’s why they are morons. Whenever he opens his mouth, his stupidity glaringly shows through. He doesn’t have to be refuted.
“Just the way it is in Montana and Wyoming and Nebraska; you get married and see guys on the side. Just the way it should be; too bad if the wives back home get hurt…” joel88, I think you just hit on what’s kept me from rushing to the theater. And for the record, love never has to “hide for society’s sake.” Hiding love is a choice made by individuals. Some decide to do that; others decide to be who they are.