Jeremiah Johnson
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Movie Reviews of Jeremiah Johnson
Movie Review: Mid-Lifer's Dream Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Do balding, overweight, middle-aged desk jockeys dream of chunking it all, moving to the mountains and hiding away from society for the rest of their days? Yes, they do, and so Robert Redford, in concert with Sidney Pollack in 1972, provided a vehicle for our escape - though Redford's character hardly qualified for typical mid-lifer status.The appeal of this movie was strong enough for me to buy it after seeing it once on the big screen in my college days, watching it whenever it was on television, and renting it a few times in a video store. My VHS copy wore thin, so I could justify the purchase of a DVD player by getting the DVD version of Jeremiah Johnson. This rates as one of my all-time favorite movies.
The movie is based on two books: Mountain Man and Crow Killer. That it's a guy movie is obvious: a man, fleeing society (the war between the United States and Mexico; he wears the remnants of military garb) heads toward what was then merely a Territory - the Rockies of Colorado in the 1830s, during the height of the "mountain man era." After purchasing his necessaries - heavy clothes, a horse, a mule, trapping equipment and a "genuine Hawkin (gun) - you can't go no better," he heads into the mountains and disappears.
And then he meets the harsh realities and stark loneliness of living as a mountain man. He almost dies of starvation and exposure, but is saved by Will Greer, playing the part of a grizzled, grizzly-hunting old mountain veteran who teaches Johnson the tricks of survival in the wilderness.
You catch glimpses - but no real explanation - of why he left for the hills. "It just ought not to have been the way it was," he tells Bearclaw when asked why he came. The movie then teaches that "the mountains have their own ways." Johnson learns to survive, takes an Indian woman as his wife and adopts an abandoned boy as his son, only to have them all violently taken away from him. The remainder of the movie tells the story of how Jeremiah Johnson became a legend in the mountains, wreaking mad vengeance on the Crow Indians that killed his family. The violent confrontations between Johnson and the Crow warriors in this film make it a "not for kids" movie in spite of the PG rating.
Filmed in southern Utah, the spectacular wide-screen photography aptly portrays the wondrous beauty - and the stark hostility, for the unprepared - of the Rockies. I understand that Pollack mortgaged his home to help finance the film - Warner Brothers refused to budget more money for the on-location shooting, saying they would not pay more than it would cost were it to be filmed at the studio. The movie enjoyed great success, bringing in over [money]. And I would not categorize this film as a "western," per se - it is definitely its own story - not about cowboys and gunslingers, but about a man losing his life, finding it, and losing it again in the haunting backdrop of the mountain wilderness.
"Some say he's up there still." Every time I feel the world closing in on me and the demands of living become overwhelming, I toss this tape in the VCR. The call to leave your burdens, conquer nature, to be your own person and answer to no one is always "up there" for us mid-lifers, I suppose, and it was communicated best in Jeremiah Johnson.
Movie Review: A Universe of One
Summary: 5 Stars
No one can ever accuse Robert Redford of not taking on unorthodox roles, as indicated in this film as well as in others such as The Candidate (1972), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Sneakers (1992), and The Last Castle (2001). After serving in the U.S. Army, Jeremiah Johnson decides to become a mountain man in Colorado rather than accept what he saw as the limitations and constraints of civilization (such as it was) in the 1850s. Presumably he was trained in the use of weapons but hardly prepared for the dangers which await him. Throughout human history, food, shelter, and clothing have been essentials in life. Their importance is even greater to a mountain man who must obtain all three from natural resources. He ate whatever he could catch, trap or shoot. His temporary home could be a mud hut, a cave, a lean-to, or a sturdy tree branch high enough above the ground. He wore whatever he could devise from the hides of animals killed. (Hence the great value of bear, buffalo, and deer which provided both food and hides.) It is important to keep in mind that, for all intents and purposes, most mountain men were hermits. They were hunters, not farmers. During the severest of winter weather, they tended to hibernate like bears. They were almost always alone. For most of them, everything they needed and wanted could be found in the mountains.
This is the life which Johnson fully embraced after an extended apprenticeship under the supervision of Bear Claws (played by Will Geer). Johnson is determined to live in peace. He adopts an orphan. He agrees to marry the daughter of a Flathead chief to avoid a confrontation with him. He is (in effect) compelled to serve as a guide to some U.S. cavalry on their mission to rescue settlers, at one point taking the most direct route through a Crow burial ground. In retaliation, the Crow respond by killing Johnson's family. Over time, after frequent encounters, he reluctantly but inevitably gains an almost mythic reputation as an Indian killer.
The natural beauty of Johnson's world (identified as Colorado but filmed in Utah) has been brilliantly captured by cinematographers Andrew Callaghan and Duke Callaghan under Sydney Pollack's equally brilliant direction. That beauty is juxtaposed gracefully with constant perils and various acts of violence. Although Geer provides a commanding presence as Johnson's mentor, another interesting mountain man is portrayed by Khigh Dhieg whose zest for life contrasts effectively with the taciturn Johnson who rescues him at one point. (Dhieg later played the role of Dr. Yen Lo in The Manchurian Candidate.) Others who have reviewed this film have suggested parallels with Dances with Wolves, suggesting that both films glorify "natural man" while condemning the corrupting values of civilization's westward migration. That is debatable. My one objection, more a quibble than a complaint, is to the voice-over singing which seems to me to be the only inauthentic element. In all other respects, I think this is an outstanding cinematic achievement.
Movie Review: They don't make them like this anymore, pilgrim
Summary: 5 Stars
How has this one slipped under my radar so far?
Jeremiah Johnson is based on the real-life story of the guy. In these cases, people often demand total factual accuracy and will reject fictional aspects. I don't like this approach. For me, a movie is about imagining, dreaming, and inspiring. It doesn't need to be a true story. If I can connect with it, then I will regard it as REAL, in which case I can allow it to have an effect on me.
This movie certainly had an effect on me. It is magnificent, I think I will watch it regularly in the future - until I decide to live in the mountains myself :). It shows life in the wild is a very viable alternative and something humans are well suited to. Shame that nowadays we need to get all kinds of permits to even hunt for food. Instead you are expected to stuff yourself with factory farmed junk, living in an excessive 'shelter' made from industrial products, paying through the nose for a mortgage, tap water and gas.
I will not talk about the movie's plot, if you like to dream about freedom, life in the wilderness, organic and indigenous living, then this film is a must watch. The scenery is awesome, the pacing is perfect, the soundtrack is fantastic.
I've read comments about how Robert Redford, who is an avid Native American supporter, was willing to take on a role like this, killing lots of natives. These comments are totally deluded and are missing the point. There's nothing anti-native American about this movie, or about Jeremiah himself. He doesn't go out to kill natives, he simply kills people who hurt him or want to hurt him. Living in the wilderness, he is pretty much a native himself, but living by his own rules, rather than the rules of those tribes. In fact the very satisfying final scene completely dispels this ignorant notion.
I have 2 issues with Jeremiah's way of living.
One is the use of guns. Obviously, guns are made by the foolish empire one desires to leave behind. In my opinion they are totally needless for hunting, and can only serve as a destructive warring weapon, causing unnecessary injuries or deaths. It takes special skills to set traps and make bows and arrows, or other primitive weapons, but industry made guns do not belong in the wild. It's a great shame that post-European natives as well as white survivalists have regarded them a necessity.
My other issue is his loneliness. I don't think it's necessary for survivalists or wilderness-men to go it alone. Of course he eventually had a woman and a boy, but neither were his own choice really. In my opinion the big extended family should and could be the base of life for people that decide to go this route. I understand though that very few eligible women are interested in this lifestyle.
Obviously, these are not criticisms of the movie, but rather of the protagonists life choices. In no way does it affect my rating of the film. 11 out of 10 if possible :).
Movie Review: The film is so rich in everyting that makes a human being
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the few films of the western genre which are not mythical depictions of speculative history which was so prevalent right up to the last 30 years or so. Forget the usual films such as "Shane", most John Wayne films, the spaghetti westerns etc etc, this is a great film. There is so much to recommend it not least of which the acting of Robert Redford in the lead role as the mountain man. There is so much more : the soundtrack which is often bleak and minimalist, this is done for a reason, and then the occasional songs sung by a man seemingly lonely and in the wilderness far from any help or sanctuary. The photography is like Ansell Adams did it, just sublime, I can only remember "Legends of the Fall" doing this as well. In my view the best western I've seen with only "Dances with Wolves" better but then that is an experience rather than a film. Robert Redford plays the man attempting a new life in the mountains through trapping and hunting which he plays in a very understated fashion, his trials and tribulations are seen on his face and they are real, the violence is real; no fake fights in saloons here. His confrontation with other highly suspect characters is excellent and his building a cabin in the secluded area of the Rockies. He marries the daughter of a chief but against his better judgement leads a party of troops, who need to get to a group of stranded settlers, through a Crow burial ground. Of course the movements were witnessed by the Crow and his wife is murdered, on his return which he hurries along because of an internal feeling for what has happened, he undergoes tragic suffering and the terrible desire for revenge. He tracks the responsible warriors, about 5 or 6 of them, and massacres the lot. This is when his life really becomes hard, the Crow send a warrior to hunt him down, each time a single man. Through desperation and a need for survival he defeats each man in turn, not without being severely wounded. In one incredible scene he meets an old friend who taught him the ways of a trapper and as they are sitting down to eat he is surprised by a warrior hidden in leaves right next to the camp. A short battle ensues which he survives and his friend asks him something like : "you are in a lot of trouble", he answers in those now epic words : "trouble, what trouble".
The film is so rich in everyting that makes a human being that no other words than "see this movie" need be said.
Movie Review: The Solemn Life of the Mountain Man
Summary: 5 Stars
Few western genres have adequately portrayed what drove people to become pioneers or trappers and what life was really like for them. This movie stands in its own league in showing exactly what life was like for those brave trappers and early pioneers who decided to make the great move West.
Redford plays a soldier who is fed up with the false trappings of civilized life; he decides to become a mountain man and move west. The main themes in this film are solitude and nature's indifference to human mores or conventions: nature exists for itself and one's skills at survival are the only things that matter there. The cinematography captures the brutal elements of the untamed wilderness quite well and how they frustrate Johnson's efforts to call the mountains his home. The Indian actors are authentic and the film shows how various tribes such as the Crow and Flatheads lived and perceived the pioneers they came in contact with. The folk music adds to the feel of the setting and theme of solitude. There are some great lines such as, "Hatchet Jack... He was a strange one: shared a cave for two years with a panther: she never did get used to him." As for reviewers who complain that the movie is slow or absent in dialogue: that is exactly the point and they've obviously missed it. Absence of dialogue was common for men who lived in places almost completely devoid of people or people who spoke English: by showing this reality the movie captures the viewer into feeling what amounted to a very stoic and solitary life in the wilderness. Mountain men and trappers were essentially hermits who only came to civilization during the summer months to sell their pelts and goods and to resupply for the next hunting/trapping season.
Overall, this movie is an absolute masterpiece of American folklore which stands in its own league: it has no equal to compare with. If you like historically faithful movies about the real West and American folklore, this is definitely a movie to own without exception. This is a great, if not indispensible, film with which to educate children/students at home or in classrooms on America during 1800-1850s.