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Jeremiah Johnson Customer Reviews (7 - 9 of 29 Reviews)

"Where you headed?" "Same place you are, Jeremiah...hell, in the end."
While watching Jeremiah Johnson (1972), I wondered as to what, within my own self, would drive me to choose such as life as Robert Redford's character did in the film, that of a mountain man. Living in near complete isolation, subsisting almost entirely off the land, enjoying the best while often surviving (sometimes not) the worst nature has to offer...the idea of escaping civilization, throwing off the shackles of conventionalism, and communing with nature can be an appealing I suppose, but it would never work for me if for but one reason...I surely do enjoy my indoor plumbing...and toilet paper...adapted from two sources (a novel called "Mountain Man" by Vardis Fisher and a story titled "Crow Killer" by Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker) by John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Conan the Barbarian) and Edward Anhalt (Panic in the Streets), the film was directed by Academy Award winning producer/actor/director Sydney Pollack (Tootsie, Out of Africa), and is the second of six films he worked on in some manner with Academy Award winner Robert Redford (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting), who also stars as the title character. Also appearing is Will Geer (Winchester '73, The President's Analyst), who's probably familiar to most as 'Grandpa' Zebulon Walton from the TV series "The Waltons", Stefan Gierasch (High Plains Drifter, Cornbread, Earl and Me), Josh Albee (Oliver Twist), Allyn Ann McLerie (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?), Joaquín Martínez (Joe Kidd), and Delle Bolton, in her one and only silver screen appearance.

Set in the mid 1800s, the story begins as we meet, through narration, a character named Jeremiah Johnson (Redford), "a man of proper wit and adventurous spirit suited to the mountains". His manner of dress indicates he was once in the army, but apparently no longer as he arrives in a frontier town, looking to outfit himself and head off into the Rocky Mountains, leaving behind all the trapping of civilized man, to which he does. Extremely hard times follow, but Johnson finds a friend (and perhaps kindred spirit) in a fellow mountain man named Bear Claw Chris Lapp (Geer), who takes him in and teaches Johnson enough to get by...the two eventually split up (a mountain man is a solitary creature), and Johnson eventually finds himself saddled with a mute boy (one of two settlers who survived an attack by some unfriendly Native Americans), and a Native American wife named Swan (Bolton), given to him as an honor by a local tribe (they thought he a great warrior for killing some of their enemies, those in a neighboring tribe). This family phase doesn't last too long as Johnson is enlisted by some gooberment types to help them locate a lost settler party, the only way to reach them by trespassing across sacred Native American lands, and thusly gains some powerful enemies who hound him on a continual basis... "some say he's dead...some say he never will be..."

Apparently the character of Jeremiah Johnson was actually based on a real person named John Johnston aka Crow Killer aka Liver Eater Johnston (his nicknames came about due to a long standing feud with a tribe known as the Crow, and his penchant for cutting their livers out and eating them...lovely). I'm not familiar with the individual, but I really enjoyed the movie, despite a sense of romanticism infused within the story here...I can't help but feel the actual man Redford's character was based on to be much different, much more `mountainy', less `Robert Redford', but regardless (Redford actually did a lot of his own stunt work, but being the hell of a guy he is, not wanting to put anyone out of work, insisted the production still paid his stunt double what he would have gotten if Redford hadn't done the dangerous stunts himself)...two things that stuck out in my mind after watching this film...one, the exquisitely beautiful backdrop of the Utah landscape throughout (some of the film was shot on Redford's expansive Utah estate...must be nice), and two, how little actual dialog there was in this nearly two hour film. Pollack and Redford present here an engaging story, full of interesting characters, framed against gorgeous backgrounds. The story, to me, was essentially broken down into three parts, the first being Johnson's indoctrination into being a mountain man (stripping away much of his `civilized' accoutrements), the second his family phase, and then thirdly going it alone again...by the end of the film I found myself asking if his trials and hardships were worth it, but then realized those weren't actually applicable questions because Redford's character didn't have a choice. Yes, he chose to leave behind his life among men and cities, but it was a decision based on an intense desire from within to live life on his own terms and survive the dangerous of the wilderness based on his own abilities. Even now I wouldn't understand his specific choice to live amongst the trees, critters and such, but I do understand the idea of actually living a life worth living, the rewards enjoyed from going your own way, doing what feels natural and right within yourself...many people never find this desire, and thus never experience the harmonious totality of completely freeing ones spirit. Does that make sense? Perhaps not, but it came through in the story for me...my favorite sequence in the film was near the beginning as Johnson became friends with the older trapper called Bear Claw, played by Geer...the two men were out hunting and Bear Claw was showing him how to use a horse as cover (hide behind it) when hunting elk. Johnson asks "Won't he see my feet?" to which Bear Claw replies "Elk don't know how many feet a horse has!" It was much funnier in the film, only because the delivery of the lines is as important as the lines themselves.

Warner Brothers provides the fullscreen (Pan & Scan) and widescreen (2.35:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, picture formats on this DVD, both of which look excellent, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround audio comes through very clear and strong. There are some special features including cast and crew bios/filmographies, video liner notes for the film, a theatrical trailer, a featurette titled `The Saga of Jeremiah Johnson", and some Reel Reccomendations, which are pretty silly, as they're supposed to be recommendations made towards one liking this film, but are really just Warner Brothers touting whatever DVD releases they had at the time...I mean really, how in the world do they link this film with Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)? I did, as others, thought it was unnecessary that studio include the intermission segment on this DVD release, but if they hadn't, someone would have complained about its exclusion, especially if it was present in the original theatrical release...I guess, if anything, it offered me the chance to get up and take a leak without actually having to push the pause button on the DVD player remote...

Cookieman108

By the way, if'n some old mountain man ever asks you if you know how to skin griz while following him into his cabin, just say no, you surely don't...


Mitic Jeremia Jhonson
I found this DVD in Amazon.com. I am very happy it recall me my youthness with my friend Dario. We saw this film a lot of time .
. . . .March, may be April . . .

Hollywood Script, Hollywood Star, Hollywood Director, Rocky Mountains, Fine Film
A greatly sanitized depiction of a legendary mountain man, Jeremiah Johnson is a reverently-made film so steeped in myth that it will probably be cherished by generations of escapist movie-lovers, both young and old, long after Robert Redford and Sydney Pollack themselves pass into the mists of Hollywood legend.

From the very first scene as ex-soldier Johnson steps off the raft, one immediately senses the back-to-nature vibe so prevalent in the midst of Nixonian America--and it never lets up. Here is a man who eschews American civilization for a one-way trip to where only eagles, grizzlies, and their kin can call home--not to mention the Crow, Flatheads, and Cheyenne. No explanation is given because none was needed. Jeremiah Johnson embodied the psyche and yearning of nearly every war-weary American at that time.

Every shot in the film is lovingly and painstakingly imbued with the spirit of the Rockies, even in those scenes presaging imminent battles with nature and natives. The natural backdrop and sublimely understated musical scoring invite and allow the objective viewer to become intimate with Johnson along with his travails, encounters, and fates. I can't recall another Hollywood film of this ilk that so casts its protagonist with such a contrived stoic acquiescence to his dangerous and isolated existence. When the constantly set-upon Johnson is beseeched by a concerned fellow mountain man to head back down to a town, Johnson replies: "I've seen a town." So have we, and we'd rather be along with Johnson. Compare and contrast this with the slightly antedated Richard Harris vehicles A Man Called Horse and Man in the Wilderness. There are parts in this film, however, where Johnson's impassiveness is powerfully interrupted, including one of the most affecting and cinematically effective primal screams in the history of moviedom.

Jeremiah Johnson is in my collection because I'm compelled to revisit it often. There's really nothing "not" to like about it; its story, characters, direction, and awesomely beautiful setting make for a timeless viewing experience. If anything can be said to be a slight weakness it would have to be Redford's often laboringly stilted speech acting. Methinks, however, that complaint would be like badgering the kid who owns the football. ;-) In response to the previous reviewer who complained about the image quality, I can say unequivocally that the image and sound quality of this DVD is infinitely better than that of my old VHS fullscreen version. No complaints here on that score whatsoever. (By the way, this is a dual-sided disc with both widescreen and fullscreen versions.) However, I also agree with another reviewer that the presence of an intermission and entr'acte is entirely superfluous; this film is only about two hours in length--and it's one of the most entertaining two-hour western adventures available for all ages.

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