Jeremiah Johnson

Jeremiah Johnson is a starkly simple story well told. It is the journey of a man who seeks to re-make himself. Johnson becomes disillusioned, like Thoreau and even Ulysses S. Grant, by the Mexican War and deserts to become a mountain man. There he finds the Rockies starkly beautiful and completely without mercy for him or anyone else. Will Geer plays the older trapper who teaches the 'Pilgrim,' a very solid performance by Redford, how to survive. The film's treatments of Whites and Native Americans is profoundly even handed, and Milious's fingerprints are noteworthy in the robust and calculated course of the narrative.

Jeremiah Johnson is unlike most films of its kind, which is a subgenre of the adventure film that follows a lone mountain man disillusioned by society who escapes to the frontier in order to become one with nature and reinvigorate himself. Strange how women never do this. Anyways, Robert Redford is surprisingly effective as the quiet, tough and determined title character who remains focused on his ultimate goal of remaining aloof and alone from all connections to anyone.

Unfortunately, he is bamboozled into a most peculiar family situation involving a mute son of a crazy pioneer woman and the daughter of a French-speaking Native American chief. In the end, what director Sydney Pollack is all about is showcasing how nature can indeed salve some of our pain and make us feel more comfortable with our situations. Nevertheless, true relationships with people cannot be substituted. Beautiful photography, strong performances and a most intriguing storyline all help create a very interesting film that is worth multiple views and considerable think time.

Jeremiah Johnson is the third of a troika of films about the mountain man experience, Clark Gable's Across The Wide Missouri and Charlton Heston's The Mountain Men being the other two. One of these days there will be a good biographical film of Kit Carson, the greatest of the lot.

Robert Redford in the title role gets in on the last years of the mountain man experience. These guys trapped for the fur pelts living months and sometimes running into years before they came down to sell their goods. They lived alone among the Indians, hostile or not, and being that repeating rifles had not yet been invented the Indians had numerical and firepower advantage over them. They had to be one hardy breed of men as Redford and the others show.

Initially Redford lucks out winning the respect of the Indians when he avenges a crazy woman's massacre of her family. The Indians hold the insane in respect even though Redford kills several Indians doing it. They even give him an Indian bride in Delle Bolton.

His luck runs out when he reluctantly guides a party of soldiers through an Indian burial ground. After that they don't let up in trying to kill him and his loved ones.

Being the noted conservationist that he is I'm sure Robert Redford loved shooting in the national parks which are preserved as they were in the time of Kit Carson, Jim Bridger and the rest. Some beautiful cinematography is another hallmark of Jeremiah Johnson.

One of Robert Redford's best and most interesting characters he's brought to the big screen, this Jeremiah Johnson.

This one of a kind movie seems to be a love or 'not sure' experience - my audience thought it excellent. It's at times slightly off the wall but mostly on the money for depicting the vast challenges facing a war damaged city dweller (deserter), who's attempting to survive hiding away from 'civilization' in some of the worlds harshest country. Being based on two works (by different writers) it depicts a true-life legendary mountain dwelling character with a stark background - telling of a surprisingly gripping battle to survive - not just the challenging landscapes and animals, but some deadly Crow natives whose home this land was.

Its curious screenplay is the result of two vastly different writing styles (as were the original books) Semi-classicalist, Edward Anhalt (known for Becket '63) and young-gun of the time John Milius (collaborative writer on Apocalypse Now '79) J. J. is visually stunning all the way with striking Alberta location cinematography by Duke Callaghan. The accompanying music score is a result of the unique collaboration of Tim McIntire (also vocals) and actor/composer John Rubinstein (son of Arthur) capturing the drama, warmth, and humanity.

This is superior movie making that almost creates its own genre. It's different in a good way so, if you don't warm to this curious story the first time round, go back for another visit - the Christian Indian Tribe is another curious aside. WB has treated this to an excellent quality DVD release.

I have always considered this one of my favorite "rainy Saturday

afternoon" movies. The scenery is wonderful, Redford does one of his

best performances, the characters are colorful, and it is a wonderful

story of the pioneer spirit. Then, a few years ago, a good friend told me he had the book about the

real "Liver Eatin' Johnson", about whom this movie was made. He lent

me the book to read - and I highly recommend it for anyone interested

in a first- and second-hand story of the old west. The real story of Johnson is greatly removed from the movie, though

there are many parts in common as well. Most notably absent is the

fact that Johnson would remove and partially eat the liver (raw) of the

Crow braves he would kill. This was done by Johnson to scare the Crow,

who believed their soul would wander the earth forever if the body was

not buried intact. Johnson was also known to have eaten meat from the

leg of a Blackfoot indian, whose tribe had captured him to sell to the

Crow. This incident, however, appears to have been more for survival,

as Johnson had to travel for several days through snow on foot after

escaping the Blackfoot. Johnson was a well traveled man, friend to more than the movie

suggests, and finally died of old age in Los Angeles in 1899. His

actual age is subject to dispute, but he was at least 75 yeard old.

During his long life, he met up with many recognizable characters from

the old west. I leave the names for you to discover in your reading -

it is well worth the time!