Jeremiah Johnson (Widescreen Edition)

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.


1% of this movie equals the TRUE story of Jeremiah Johnson!   March 15, 2000
11 out of 17 found this review helpful

If you have never read the book "Crow Killer" by Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker, then you will probably enjoy this movie. I know I sure did every time I viewed it, until I read the aforementioned book. Jeremiah Johnson was known to the Native American Indians as Dapiek Absaroka, or in english "Killer of Crows". The reason he was called this is barely touched on in this movie, nor is even a percentage of this mans ferocity towards the Crows ever shown. Jeremiah was also known as, "Liver Eating Johnson" for his culinary tastes of cutting the liver out of the Crows he killed and eating them, to show his disdain for their tribe.

In the later part of Jeremiah's life, he even became a reluctant friend to the Crow people, who felt that they must be a great race of people to have deserved such a great and powerful foe.

Jeremiah also became a town marshall in Montana for a short period of time. He died on January 21st, 1900 and is buried near Los Angeles, California.

Watch this movie and enjoy it, then find the book I mentioned above and read it, and learn the TRUE story of the greatest mountain man who ever lived.


"Where you headed?" "Same place you are, Jeremiah...hell, in the end."   September 19, 2005
cookieman108 (Inside the jar...)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

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?), Joaquin Martinez (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...



A Universe of One   July 9, 2003
Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful


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.


Hollywood Script, Hollywood Star, Hollywood Director, Rocky Mountains, Fine Film   August 27, 2005
Sonofviagra (Now, Motown, USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

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 Blackfeet. 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.