Jeremiah Johnson

There are many films which personify the era of the Mountain Man. This is perhaps one of the best. The reason why it is at the top of the list, is due in part to director Sydney Pollack's selection of natural wonders, majestic scenery and simplistic storyline. The movie tells the story of Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) a veteran of the Mexican American war who decides to journey into the High Alpine Rockies to become a Mountain Man. Based very loosely on the novel by Vardis Fisher, the hero seeks the life of a trapper which offers Solace, wild adventure, aboriginal encounters and a chance for legendary exploits. During the first years of his experience, Johnson is befriended and threatened by both Native Americans and crazed mountain veterans who teach him and endanger him as well. Among the best is 'Bear Claw, Chris Lapp' (Will Geer), 'Paints His Shirt Red' (Joaquin Martinez) and Del Gue (Stefan Gierasch). (Delle Bolton) plays Swan and Josh Albee) is Caleb who become part of an instant family. The film is quite picturesque in its beautiful seasonal settings and entertaining to anyone seeking a chapter in the bygone era of a vanished breed. ****

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.

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.

A film which is glibly categorized as a `western' but goes somewhat deeper than that. The Pollack/Redford combination works well, and the photography of those magnificent mountains of Utah is spectacular. With all that beautiful scenery in Montana, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, I am surprised that the US government never does very much for saving it and cleaning up all that contamination ……..

Thirty years on and after several viewings, I find this story grows on you, like the aging of fine wine in oak casks, such that another recent viewing gave me as much – if not more – pleasure. Precisely because it is not the standard `western' formula. One gets a little tired of John Wayne getting saddle-sore, killing indians and wooing women; at times watching `Jeremiah Johnson' I cannot help comparing a little with `Dances with Wolves' (qv), not because of any story similarity but more from certain situations being played out.

Robert Redford has given us numerous films in which his characterization is pretty good in general, but in this film I rather fancy he was inspired, even to the point of throwing off that silly category so beloved of those suffering Hollywooditis. Most notable in `The Sting' (qv), `All the President's Men', `Out of Africa', and `A River Runs Through it', without forgetting his excellent directing of `Ordinary People', one of the best true-life dramas I have seen.

`Jeremiah Johnson' is now one of the classics of the genre and even of cinema as a whole: always worth another viewing.

Jeremiah Johnson is directed by Sydney Pollack and is inspired by two books, Raymond Thorp and Robert Bunker's Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson and Vardis Fisher's Mountain Man. Script was written by John Millius and Edward Anhalt and cinematography is by Duke Callaghan. It stars Robert Redford, Will Geer, Stefan Gierasch, Delle Bolton and Josh Albee.

Hardened after the war with Mexico, and fed up with everyday life, American Jeremiah Johnson (Redford) leaves civilisation behind to live life as a mountain man. He intends to be self-sufficient as a trapper, but he finds that mother nature can be tough, and out here in the mountain wilderness he is not alone. There are others here, and Jeremiah must face many challenges if he is to truly survive.

Filmed entirely on location in the vast wilderness beauty of Utah, Jeremiah Johnson is light on plot but all the better for it. Film basically constitutes Redford's mountain man learning to survive up in them thar mountains, and, earning the right to do so. A number of issues will arise to test his metal, giving him a number of hardships and adventures to define his transformation from average Joe to a fully fledged mythical man of the Earth. Redford is wonderfully at ease in the title role, and very quickly he gets the audience on side to share in his journey. But ultimately it's the landscapes that you take away from this movie. Not only gorgeous, but also the critical character that frames Johnson during his isolation and battle for survival. 8/10