Jeremiah Johnson
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Movie Reviews of Jeremiah Johnson
Movie Review: "The day that you tarry is the day that you lose ..."
Summary: 5 Stars
He was a big man, maybe even growing in physical stature with the growth of his myth; deadly with his Bowie knife and his gun alike. Formerly a fighter in the U.S.-Mexican war, he had left the lowland's ways behind in favor of a mountain man's: the lonesome hunt, the wild outdoors, and the confrontation with nature rather than his fellow men. And he came to be known as "Crow Killer" and "Liver Eating Johns(t)on" when he took war to the Crow nation after they killed his wife.
Based on Raymond Thorp/Robert Bunker's "Crow Killer" and Vardis Fisher's "Mountain Man" and scripted by John Milius and Edward Anhalt - with input from frequent Redford/Pollack cooperator David Rayfiel - Sydney Pollack's and Robert Redford's 1972 movie loosely traces the mythical hunter's legend, opening with his arrival at the fort where he buys his first horse and gun. "Ride due west as the sun sets. Turn left at the Rocky Mountains," is a trader's goodnatured answer to Johnson's naive inquiry where to find "bear, beaver and other critters worth cash money when skinned." But soon he finds that his lowland skills no longer do him any good, almost starving in the freezing mountainous winter before being taken in by old "griz" hunter Bear Claw Chris Lapp (Will Geer in a stand-out role - his and Redford's deadpan exchanges alone make this movie worth its price).
Setting out on his own again the following year Johnson fares better, even gaining the respect of a Crow warrior prosaically named Paints His Shirt Red (Joaquin Martinez), the first person he encountered in the mountains. After assisting a settler's wife who had to watch her family massacred by Indians (Allyn Ann McLerie) and reluctantly agreeing to take charge of her son (Josh Albee) - a boy grown mute by the horrors he witnessed, whom he names Caleb - he comes across white hunter Del Gue (Stefan Gierasch), buried up to his head in sand by a band of Blackfeet. Revenging that act unwittingly leaves Johnson with a wife, in exchange for bestowing the Blackfeet's ponies and guns on Flathead chief Two-Tongues-Lebeaux (Richard Angarola): the chief's daughter Swan (Delle Bolton). Although neither embraces the match enthusiastically, over time Jeremiah and Swan learn to appreciate and, eventually, love each other. But then fate strikes: Against better judgment pressured into guiding a cavalry company through Crow burial ground, Johnson finds Swan and Caleb murdered upon his return. He sets out after the Crow who invaded his home ... and plants the seeds of his myth.
"Jeremiah Johnson" was Redford's and Pollack's second of seven collaborations after 1966's "This Property is Condemned." What most obviously characterizes this movie is the breathtaking manner in which its cinematography uses Utah's mountains (doubling for the story's actual Montana setting): despite studio budgetary limits shot entirely on location, the film had Redford acting as a virtual tour guide to the magnificent Wasatch, which he had recently made his home himself.
But the movie also shows enormous restraint, particularly given its violent underlying story. There's no blood-gushing "Braveheart"-style, no dramatic score; fights are mostly one-on-one, occurring as they would in real life - silently, with only the opponents' grunts being heard - and despite his fearsome epithet we never actually see Johnson eat a dead Crow warrior's liver. (Reportedly a script change on which Redford insisted: wisely so.) Similarly, Johnson's and Swan's relationship builds on small symbolic gestures, moving from his coarse attempts to teach her English and refusal to learn her language to conversations in Salish (Flathead); and from her submissive expectation of his exercising his marital rights on their wedding night (which rather repulses him) to later-exchanged tender glances and smiles: Thus, we only learn about their marriage's belated consummation when one morning Swan points to his beard in response to his question about her reddish cheeks. - Further, there's no dramatic conclusion; no final battle: as Johnson's myth begins to grow and he withdraws deeper and deeper into the mountains, he retraces his steps and meets in reverse order the people he encountered after his arrival: Del Gue, the settler now living in Caleb's mother's cabin, Bear Claw Chris Lapp; and finally Paints His Shirt Red who, although a Crow, created a monument in Johnson's honor and sends him off with a last salute, which Johnson reciprocates; ending the movie in an immortalizing freeze-frame shot - again, a feature insisted on by Redford, doubtlessly reminiscent of "Butch and Sundance" (and repeated one way or another in several subsequent movies).
Despite its languid pace and although just under two hours long, "Jeremiah Johnson" formally takes an epic approach, complete with overture, entr'acte and narrator (uncredited, but I'm told Redford's "Brubaker"-costar Tim McIntire), whose subtle voiceovers and brief songs provide key narrative bridges. While the latter match the movie's overall style and the overture at least corresponds with Johnson's mythical stature - albeit also setting up ultimately unfulfilled expectations of a dramatic finale - adding an entr'acte may have been a bit much, particularly in the middle of the ride through the Crow burial ground (incidentally a screenplay addition designed to give the Indians a reason to punish Johnson and not make them appear as mindless killers). In my view this breaks the dramatic tension rather than enhancing it; problematic insofar as virtually all that remains thereafter is Johnson's gradual withdrawal into the mountains and fights with the Crow. But no matter. This is a terrific movie, featuring great banter with Johnson's fellow hunters as well as some wonderfully delicate scenes with Swan, showcasing some of North America's most dramatically beautiful scenery, and growing on you more and more the more often you watch it.
And some say he's up there still ...
"The way that you wander is the way that you choose. The day that you tarry is the day that you lose. Sunshine or thunder, a man will always wonder where the fair wind blows ..."
(Lyrics, Jeremiah Johnson's theme.)
Also recommended:
Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson (Midland Book)
Mountain Man: A Novel of Male and Female in the Early American West
The Redrock Chronicles: Saving Wild Utah (Center Books on Space, Place, and Time)
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here
Audubon: Grizzly & Man
A River Runs Through It (Deluxe Edition)
These Rare Lands
Movie Review: A man wanting to make his own destiny
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie as a child but really appreciated is all the more now. It seems to resemble the feelings of many returning from the Viet Nam war. 1972 to be exact. This is thy story of a man who was a Civil War soldier who obviously was disturbed by the violence and politics of the Civil War. He had simply had enough so he brought all of his belongings with him to Colorado. In actuality the entire film was created in Utah. I have to say, the cinematography was awesome. He slowly learns the ways of a real mountain man by trial and error and from a couple of friends he made along the way. He simply wanted to live peacefully in the mountains alone. There were Flathead and Crowe Indians to deal with as well. He was in their territory. He actually made friends with the chief at one point who gave him his daughter as a wife. Prior to that he picked up a 10 year old boy who survived his family being massacred by a Flathead Indian tribe. Jeremiah found a man buried with his head only coming from the ground. He was placed there by the same Indians that massacred the boys family. Jeremiah and the boy released him and later helped he get back his pelts and horses. It was very hard to stay out of trouble with the Indians back than.
Later, Jeremiah built a cabin to settle with his wife and now son. They were very happy together. Government troops came by the house asking him to guide them through the Rockies to save several parties of settlers that were freezing there. He reluctantly accepted. He tried to take the government troops around the Crowe burial grounds. This simply cannot happen. It is against all protocol. The government commander insisted on passing through the graveyards. The Crowe saw this and brutally attacked the troops and Jeremiah. Jeremiah escaped only to find his home was now burnt down and his wife and son were gone forever. For years afterwards he would be attacked by Crowe warriors one at a time. A killed dozens of them. At the end of the movie, the the chief came to him and gave him the sign of peace. He became a legend with them and the locals.
This movie had almost no love scenes or any foul language yet it was excellent. Just watching the beautiful scenery was amazing. I recommended this move for a family or someone who sees the world differently, like myself.
Movie Review: great adventure, beautiful scenery, and deep cultural issues
Summary: 5 Stars
You can watch this film on many levels, to be peeled back on multiple viewings. ALong with several other great films of the early 1970s (e.g. Little Big Man, Man Called Horse), the Indian is portrayed not as an indeciferable savage but as a human being with a radically different belief system that had its own notions of honor, love, and the sacred. The twist that this film takes is that a white man decides he wants to live in the mountains, away from civilization, in a raw and dangerous environment full of the unknown and unknowable. The film is his journey into that world, from neophyte to master. THere is nothing like it in any cinema experience I know.
JJ just sets off into the mountains, entering a horrendous struggle. First, he must survive in the cold, by hunting and trapping. He finds a mentor - the wonderful Bear Claw - and moves on, with few words yet new knowledge. Then, by cultural missteps, he blunders his way into a marriage with an Indian Squaw, whom he takes along with a mute boy he has adopted. THey build a family, only to end in tragedy, setting off a train of deadly trials for JJ. Eventually, he becomes part of his environment, acknowledged as almost a god by the Crow tribe. Every step of his transformation is believable and vivid.
What I so love about the film are the many subtleties, which can be savored in repeated viewings. For example, there is a scene where JJ allows a Indian to live after having dispatched 4 other braves in 20 seconds. For a long time, I wondered why he did this, until I concluded that he wanted to show mercy, yet allow the man to spread the word of his violent strength, a warning and challenge. There are many such details, such as the marks on the arrows, identifying the murderer of his family. Truly wonderful subtlety.
While I am sure this is an idealized version of an ugly story, it is nonetheless tremendously stimulating. My daughter had many questions and we discussed the film in minute detail!
Warmly recommended.
Movie Review: A good story that is well acted
Summary: 5 Stars
Jeremiah Johnson traveled to the mountain country in the west after the Civil War wanting to become a mountain man, but had no idea how to do it, in this excellent film. He rode off to the mountains alone and had many difficulties. He had to learn the basics of how to live in the cold, kill animals, fish, deal with Indians, and protect his horse and mule. He meets a tracker and stays with him long enough to learn the basics, then rides off alone to many adventures.
He runs across a woman whose family had been killed by Indians, leaving her only a son who does not talk. She was driven mad by her experience. She insists that Jeremiah abandon her but take her son. He finds a man who was buried in the earth with only his head above ground. He is in a fight with Indians and this man scalps the Indians he killed. He enters an Indian encampment and is given the chief's daughter as a wife. He builds a log cabin for himself, his wife, and the boy.
The US Army arrives asking for help. A wagon train of settlers is stranded some distance away and the army needs Jeremiah to lead them to the site. They come to an Indian burial ground. Jeremiah does not want to enter because the Indians consider the area holy. The army insists. When he returns, Jeremiah discovers that the Indians killed his wife and the boy for his violation of their sacred ground. Jeremiah takes revenge, killing many Indian braves. The Indians, in turn, seek revenge against him. And Jeremiah Johnson becomes a legend.
Movie Review: I love this film
Summary: 5 Stars
Maybe I am just at the age and stage in life where I can think of nothing more fantastic than to head off into the wilderness in 'survivor' mode. This is simply a stunning film. Beautifully shot, acted, scripted and directed. One of the great films of the era. One of Redford's greatest performances. I loved every second of this film. It is nice to watch great artists at work who do not treat the audience like morons and who just allow the 'world' of the film to swallow one up. Perhaps because of the increasingly frenetic world in which we live we have lost perspective and the ability to create the magic of great films like this. Sick of the city life and the daily grind? - grab your favourite box of chocolates, a nice drop, and sit back and revel in a truly magnificent cinematic experience. One to treasure.