Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #17: Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

Jeremiah Johnson is, quite simply, a movie about Jeremiah Johnson, one of the most legendary mountain men of the old American West. Going west to tough it out in the gold and fur trades, he somehow got into a blood feud with the Crow. He earned the nickname “liver-eating Johnson,” based on the rumor that he would cut out the liver of each Crow warrior he killed. The movie doesn’t include the liver part, so don’t worry about any violence in that respect.

Jeremiah Johnson is based on two books, the non-fiction Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson and Vardis Fisher’s historical novel Mountain Man, with a few inventions of its own. The real Jeremiah Johnson’s life is sketchy in areas, with gaps often filled by possibly legendary inventions and embellished facts. The movie definitely adjusts his beginnings. He’s simply portrayed as a Mexican War veteran, when in real life he actually deserted and changed part of his name. The movie likely does this to make him start out as a more innocent and out-of-his-depth man.

It helps that he’s played by none other than Robert Redford. Known for his clean-shaven good looks, Redford grows out facial hair as he overcomes his initial incompetence to become a good mountain man. He does cut it off about halfway through the movie, when he settles in to having a family at his mountain cabin. Then he grows it out again when his personal war with the Crow begins. The beard is tied into how civilized he is. When he’s starting out or with family, it’s off, but when he goes full mountain man it grows.

Funnily enough, the presence of a beard factors into an internet meme. Since most people born in the past 30 or so years are unlikely to have seen Jeremiah Johnson and know Redford as a clean-shaven guy, they mistook a particular gif as Zach Galifianakis. The heavy coat he wears in the gif makes him look heavier set like Galifianakis too. The actual context of the gif is Johnson nodding approvingly at his wife and adopted son.

Jeremiah Johnson with his new family (still taken from https://nothingiswrittenfilm.blogspot.com/2009/06/jeremiah-johnson.html)

Said characters are speculated and fictional respectively. One of the more believed tales is that Jeremiah Johnson acquired a Flathead Indian wife. It was common for mountain men to take Indian wives to forge relations, sometimes engaging in polygamy. The movie has the Flatheads giving Johnson the chief’s daughter Swan for a wife when he unthinkingly gives him a ridiculously high-value gift. Like the Indian wife given to an unwitting husband in The Searchers, Swan initially annoys Johnson, but turns out to be a really competent spouse and even helps him learn a few survival skills. Caleb is a fictional character somewhat derived from the novel Mountain Men, a boy who becomes completely silent after his family is slaughtered by Blackfoot Indians (his mother is alive, but insane). They make the middle of the movie a rather pleasant heartwarming stretch, but of course it can’t last.

Paints His Shirt Red (Joaquin Martinez) is the Crow
chief who likely urges warriors to kill Jeremiah Johnson

Surprisingly, the famed war with the Crow is only in the latter half of the movie. The film heavily implies that Johnson brings wrath upon his family when he guides US soldiers through a sacred burial ground to rescue a lost wagon train. The actual fights are well done, with some quick editing helping out with the larger fights (one of them occurring earlier when wolves attack Johnson and his horse).

While Johnson wins all his fights, they take a toll on his mental state, and that’s the main theme of this movie. The wonderful cinematography captures the vast scope of the Rocky Mountains and other western locales. With a sparse cast set against it, this really captures the loneliness of the main lead. There are a couple other mountain men characters, but he rarely actually encounters them so they aren’t constant social fixtures. He’s separated himself form white American society, but is also separate from Indian society, especially when he goes to war with the Crows. It really took a special mindset for one to become a mountain man back then, and the movie neither flat out condemns or praises their decision.

Bear Claw Chris Lapp (Will Geer) helps Jeremiah Johnson find his footing as a mountain man

One final thing to address is the curious use of an overture and an intermission for a two-hour movie, complete with a showcase of some of the music. The score was actually composed and performed by two young actors who happened to have musical talents, Tim McIntire and John Rubinstein. Their music, which includes a song about Jeremiah Johnson, gives the movie a folksy feel. Absent are traditional heavy orchestral beats for grand vistas and action scenes, underscoring Johnson’s near-isolation in the wilderness.

Jeremiah Johnson is not heavily dramatic. Some might even find it boring. I think it’s good. It’s got an interesting laid-back nature about it for the first half, sans a couple outbursts of violence, and it looks nice. The portrayal of American Indians is also a plus, showing how dangerous the various peoples could be to outsiders without vilifying them as a whole. Conversely, there's no praise of critical posturing about the settlers themselves. I'd say if you ever just want to sit down with a movie without a big barrage of noise and events, this should do the trick.

Rating: 8/10