Ang Lee's 'Brokeback Mountain' wins Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival

Ang Lee's tale of love between two cowboys set in the conservative West of the 1960s took the Venice Film Festival's top award Saturday.

"Brokeback Mountain," starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, bested 19 other candidates, including favorite "Good Night, and Good Luck," George Clooney's black-and-white movie set in the McCarthy era of the early 1950s.

However, one of the stars of that film, David Strathairn, captured the top acting award for men. Strathairn played American broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, who systematically scrutinized the methods of McCarthy's quest to "out" communists and their sympathizers.

The top acting award for a woman's role went to Italian actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno for her role in the movie "La Bestia nel Cuore," (the Beast in the Heart), AP reported.