'Brokeback' Goes Mainstream

Box Office Appeal Grows As Awards Pile Up; Becoming Hot Date Movie!

(CBS)  "I wouldn't have seen it without my wife taking me to see it, but after I saw it, it was a great love story. Fantastic," says one.

"The film is a love story. I thought it was a great movie," says another.

"If you ask me, it could've been a girl versus a guy. To me, it was just a love story. It didn't matter that it was two guys," added another.

Filmmakers believe the "Brokeback" craze is being fueled by the need for such a good love story on the big screen.

Says Schamus, "I don't think there's been a screen romance of this scope and scale coming out of Hollywood in years and years. It just hasn't happened. I think people are just responding first and foremost to the emotion and the honesty and intensity of the experience."

Cagle adds that the producers "were very smart. They marketed the film as a love story. You look at the poster it looks like the 'Titanic' poster.

To cement its place on Main Street, the film has become a favorite topic on the late night comedy circuit.

On "The Late Show with David Letterman," the comedian quipped that the movie "sure brings new meaning to the word 'cowpoke.' "

Also, a line from the movie is making its way into popular lexicon: "I wish I could quit you."

"Brokeback Mountain" gallops into awards season a heavy Oscar favorite, Cagle says.

In addition to the Golden Globes it grabbed, "Brokeback" recently received four Screen Actors Guild Award nominations and nine nods for BAFTAs, England's version of the Academy Awards.

But Cagle says Ledger is up against tough competition in the best actor category he's expected to become part of.