How sad is this?

Best movie ever!

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Disillusioned by the horrors of war, a US soldier attempts to live alone in the mountains in this unusual western starring Robert Redford. The film is based on the true story of an 1840s fur trapper, however, the basic narrative has more in common with the 'dropping out of society' movies of circa 1970 with Redford rejecting the rules of the society that has raised him, only to have to contend with other (Amerindian) rules. Perhaps most pointedly though, Redford finds himself eventually saddled with all the accoutrements of society that he has tried to avoid, inadvertently making friends, given a surrogate son (after the boy's family is killed) and an Amerindian bride for a wife. One of the film's best aspects is how Redford gradually progresses from being resentful of the son and wife to actually caring deeply enough about them to take action at a pivotal point. Intelligent as all this might sound, 'Jeremiah Johnson' is certainly not a film for all tastes. It is very deliberately, almost lethargically paced and Redford's journeys are accompanied by a series of superfluous sentimental songs. The film also never really probes into Redford's past and all the reasons that culminated in his drop out of society. It is, however, his journey (rather than his motivation) that drives the film. He might look and sound the same by the end of the film, but he is indelibly changed. No matter how one dissects it, it is hard to deny that the film has a potent message to offer about the difficulty of actually avoiding society and the company of others altogether. The scenery is great too.

This turned out to be nothing like I expected, and I don't mean that in a good or bad way in that respect. I liked the idea that the character of Jeremiah Johnson represented. He was a man who wanted to be different and leave the world of "normal" people and step out into the unknown. Living a simple life and surviving off the land, which is something that I admire and would like to emulate. But does this make a good story? In this case I did not think that it did. About half way through, near the intermission, the plot just seemed to disappear and the movie dragged on with nearly another hour of nothingness. Before this it was slightly interesting and engaging but the latter half just lost all entertainment value. The film-making was fine except for a few poorly written lines and that awful ballad singer who would randomly crop up and narrate with a stupid juvenile little tune. It was descent in the beginning but ultimately the dry involving storyline brought the film down to its knees. A mediocre watch.

New Jersey-born John Garrison, a.k.a., John Johns(t)on (c.1824–1900) joined the Union Army in St. Louis, Missouri in 1864 and served with Company H, 2nd Colorado Cavalry. Honorably discharged in 1865, Johnson migrated further west and became a notoriously tough and ruthless trapper, Indian fighter, and lawman. In the 1880s he served as Deputy Sheriff in Coulson, Montana and later became Town Marshall in Red Lodge, Montana. He died of old age at a veteran's home in Los Angeles. Such are the rather prosaic facts of the real John Johnson. Then there is the myth. An associate of Wild Bill Hickock named Joseph (John) "White Eye" Anderson (1853–1946) seems to be the main source for the fantastic legends that accrued around Johnson in the second half of the 20th century. In 1941 Anderson regaled western writer Raymond W. Thorp with tall tales of "Crow Killer" or "Liver Eating Johnson," so named because Johnson allegedly slew between 300 and 400 (!) Crow warriors and ate their livers, raw, to avenge the murder of his pregnant wife in 1847 by a Crow hunting party—20 years before John Johnson moved West. Seventeen years after meeting Anderson, Raymond Thorp joined Robert Manson Bunker in writing 'Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson' (Indiana UP, 1958), a highly speculative "biography" that turned Anderson's wild fabrications into uncorroborated "fact." Noted western author Vardis Fisher further burnished the Johnson legend with his novel, 'Mountain Man' (Morrow, 1965). Building myth upon myths, screenwriter John Milius ('The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean') used Crow Killer and Mountain Man as his sources for Jeremiah Johnson, a movie that more realistically chooses to portray Johnson (Robert Redford) as a ascetic, romantic loner, not the vengeful, brutal monster recounted by White Eye Anderson. (Rather than waging a vendetta on the Crow, Redford's Johnson is constantly attacked by them.) Further enhancing Jeremiah Johnson's nobility and the film's lyricism are breathtaking vistas of the rugged Utah Rockies shot by Duke Callaghan (promoted to DP after serving as one of Sydney Pollack's cameramen on his previous film, 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'). If that were not enough, a lush musical score by John Rubenstein and Tim McIntire completes the picture. Yet, when the movie premiered at the 26th Cannes Film Festival on May 4, 1972, Robert Redford somewhat disingenuously told 'New York Times' interviewer Cynthia Grenier: "I wanted this film to be an antidote to the general feeling in the States today that getting away from civilization is such a terrific thing and is so romantic. I wanted to show the kids what it is really like going it on your own in the wilderness..." 'Jeremiah Johnson' might well have been the gritty western that Redford imagined it to be if producer Joe Wizan had gone with Clint Eastwood as Johnson and Sam Peckinpah as director, as was originally planned. The estimable (and once-blacklisted) Will Geer (best known as Grandpa on "The Waltons") plays Johnson's wilderness survival mentor, Bear Claw Chris Lapp. VHS (1997)and DVD (1997).

Mexican war veteran Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) is tired of the world and seeks to be a mountain man trapper. He struggles to survive until he runs into the frozen body of Hatchet Jack clutching his .50 caliber gun. It proves to be a much needed gun. Then he meets another mountain man Bear Claw (Will Geer) who takes him under his wing. He encounters Crow chief Paints-His-Shirt-Red and eventually befriends him. He runs across homesteader (Allyn Ann McLerie) and her mute son just after a Blackfeet raid. She pushes him to adopt her son whom Johnson calls Caleb. The duo go off and run across Del Gue (Stefan Gierasch) who the Blackfeet had buried up to his neck. Gue and Jeremiah find a Blackfeet camp ending up killing the Blackfeet. Jeremiah is disgusted with Gue taking scalps. The group meets Flathead indians who are in awe of Jeremiah. They assume he killed their enemy Blackfeet to avenge the crazy white woman of big medicine when they see the scalps. When he gives them the scalps and the Blackfoot ponies, the chief needs to give an even greater gift, his daughter Swan. Gue leaves them and Jeremiah is saddled with a son and wife neither of which he wanted. They eventually become a family with a cabin. Then the US Cavalry convinces Jeremiah to search for a wagon train. They go through a sacred Crow burial ground despite Jeremiah's objection. The Crow slaughters Caleb and Swan which sets off a long running quest for revenge.Coming at a time of disenchantment, the public was ready to run away and rediscover America. At first glance, Robert Redford seems too refined for a mountain man role. However even Jeremiah didn't start out as a mountain man. Redford can slowly transition into a more rugged character. Sadly in the end, he fails to get to the truly insane mountain man character. He just doesn't have that in him.The movie moves a little too slowly at times. Director Sydney Pollack could have tighten up the pacing a bit. There's a more melodic feel coming from this movie. It's not really the same as a Clint Eastwood and Sam Peckinpah western. I would expect that version would be more brutal. That may be a good idea for a remake.