Proulx has praised the faithfulness of the adaptation of her story as a feature film. Before the movie was made, she described McMurtry and Ossana's adaptation as "an exceptionally fine screenplay." Later, she praised the film as "huge and powerful," writing that she was "knocked for a loop" when she first saw it.
“ I may be the first writer in America to have a piece of writing make its way to the screen whole and entire," she said. "And, when I saw the film for the first time, I was astonished that the characters of Jack and Ennis came surging into my mind again... ”
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Nearly all of the dialogue and descriptions from the original story were included in the screenplay. Few major differences have been noted. Most of the changes involve expansion, with brief mentions of the characters' marriages in the story becoming scenes of domestic life in the film. The narrative sequence is nearly identical in story and film: both begin with Jack and Ennis meeting in 1963 and end with a scene of Ennis 20 years later. One example of adaptation of the story's dramatic arc arises from a significant memory (of the men embracing by a campfire): it appears in the film as a flashback in the same sequence as Jack recalls it in the story.