Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writers:

Vardis Fisher (novel)
Raymond W. Thorp (story) ...

Release Date:

10 September 1972 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

A man of peace driven wild!

Plot:

A mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta...

Plot Keywords:

Mountain | Trapper | Mountain Man | Rocky Mountains | Hermit

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Robert Redford	...	Jeremiah Johnson
Will Geer	...	Bear Claw
Delle Bolton	...	Swan
Josh Albee	...	Caleb
Joaquín Martínez	...	Paints His Shirt Red (as Joaquin Martinez)
Allyn Ann McLerie	...	Crazy Woman
Stefan Gierasch	...	Del Gue
Richard Angarola	...	Chief Two-Tongues Lebeaux
Paul Benedict	...	Reverend Lindquist
Charles Tyner	...	Robidoux
Jack Colvin	...	Lieutenant Mulvey
Matt Clark	...	Qualen

Also Known As:

Crow Killer (USA) (working title)
Liver Eatin' Johnson (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

108 min | 116 min (long version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints) | Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Alpine Loop, Utah, USA

Company:

Sanford Productions (III)

Trivia:

According to the book 'Crow Killer', the Crazy Woman was a real person who had settled in the Wolf Tail Valley. After her children were killed and her husband taken captive, she remained in her cabin. Liver Eatin' Johnson, Del Gue, and Anton Sepulveda were among the mountain men who 'avenged' her. One popular story was that the mountain man known as 'Hatchet Jack' was actually her husband who had gone insane after being scalped and tortured by the Blackfeet when they took him away. It was known that Hatchet Jack had been scalped at some point in his life and that he was mentally unbalanced. Johnson refers to this when he tells the Crazy Woman that he cannot find any sign of her husband, but that he might return if he escaped from the Indians.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jeremiah shoots his .50 caliber Hawkin at an elk, the recoil knocks him down, but when he is attacking the Indians that killed his family, he fires it one handed from the hip while walking and there's no recoil.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: His name was Jeremiah Johnson, and they say he wanted to be a mountain man. The story goes that he was a man of proper wit and adventurous spirit, suited to the mountains. Nobody knows whereabouts he come from and don't seem to matter much. He was a young man and ghosty stories about the tall hills didn't scare him none...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

More subtle details hidden in the pictures

Since my last posting 25Mar04 i have watched very closely for other hidden details. It seems that Mr. Pollack has very skillfully blended subliminal imagery into the photography to enhance our enjoyment without conscious perception of these adornments. Maybe that's why this movie is so appealing. Have a look yourselves and see if you agree, and maybe find more that I have so far missed.

When the Crazy Woman is singing "Gather at the River" over the graves of her dead children, look at the rock outcropping just behind her. The pattern on that rock face very much resembles an angel with outstretched wings.

When Johnson enters the Crow burial ground on his return from guiding Lt Mulvey, to the background sounds of 'birdcalls' (the same as heard just before Bearclaw and Johnson are accosted by the Crow Indians) there is a pan shot of the forest. Near the screen center and about the height from bottom to mid screen the pattern of tree branches, bush, and rocks resembles a grinning skull. Very plain to see when you are looking for it.

Both when Johnson on his return first enters the burial ground and then when he realizes the implications of what he sees, the close-ups of his face very briefly (for only a few frames) each time show a very rich blue reflected in his eyes (use the single frame feature of your VHS or disc player to see this clearly). It is the blue beadwork and blue tassels freshly added to the graves that he sees - the same ones worn by Swan on her stirrups and on her backpack when leaving the Flathead village. When he reaches his cabin, a split second shot shows that her blue-decorated backpack has been dumped on the ground.

There may be many more of these subtle details hidden in this movie. If you spot any please post them here. My old VHS player just does not show the detail a disc player can.