Jeremiah Johnson | | Cast : | Robert Redford, Will Geer | | Director : | Sydney Pollack | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | January 01, 1972 | | DVD Released Date : | September 14, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 28, 2005 | | Summary | How Many Mountain Men Look Like Redford? Please Advise!!! | Content
 | In this movie we see the usual sanitized and romanticized Hollywood view of the loner who lives way out in the woods and lives off his own resources. I thought we had gotten past that fictional and fantasy Point Of View after Danielle Boon? Instead of being a grizzled old man who is lice ridden and hasn't washed his underweaer and hair in months Mr. Redford still appears as a man only slightly weather beaten by his time in the wilderness. I give this movie 5 stars because the scenery in this movie looks pretty good. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 16, 2005 | | Summary | Tale of Rebellion Meets "Coming of Age": Modern Folk Legend | Content
| JEREMIAH JOHNSON is a film that unwinds much like an old folk song or urban legend. For much of its length, I thought I was being treated to a tragedy concerning a man who leaves everything behind to begin life anew in the mountains. But in the end, the ultimate mark of tragedy escapes our protagonist and the rest of the film plays out like a tall-tale. Instead, JEREMIAH JOHNSON offers a humanizing portrait of a man whose hunting & fighting prowess earn him regional fame and legendary status. But Robert Redford's performance is not one of an over-the-top, larger-than-life character who wrestles the elements with his bare hands. On the contrary, Redford paints a rather humble portrait of a man driven by emotion and passion, the depths of which we never quite get to glimpse during the film's two hours. He is a man whom fame is thrust upon rather than sought.
The storyline is the kind that America thrives upon: a mixture of societal rebellion and "coming of age." The metaphors are endless. It is the story of a man who just will not quit, despite all of the hardships he must overcome in his transition to the wild. In fact, this transition is important to dwell upon for a moment. Many films have painted the story of one's transition from nature to society, from crude to cultured. But JEREMIAH JOHNSON tells the opposite tale of a man who is ascending to some kind of original harmony with nature. And rather than a regression or a descent back to simplicity, it truly is a story of graduation. There are a couple of points in the film when Redford's character receives acceptance from Native American tribes. These scenes are critical to the film's success, as they suggest the acceptance of Redford by the mountain, nature, and life. And it is this acceptance that grabs the audience because we all seek this sort of acceptance in our own way.
All praise aside, the image quality on this DVD is pretty bad. I thought I was watching VHS for a moment and had to adjust to the screen (it has been a while since I have seen a video cassette). Why they didn't touch this film up is beyond me. I would have granted it four stars, but I am subtracting one for the image quality and because the film (while engaging) is a bit slow in several parts and could have been more effectively edited. If you like visually stunning films about the wild, you will love JEREMIAH JOHNSON. It is a modern folk tale: part truth, part magic. Let's just hope they decide to REALLY bring it to DVD sometime. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 10, 2005 | | Summary | Jeremiah Johnson gone wild! | Content
| This movie makes me wanna go live out in the mountains and quit my full time dock job. You know, have a nice horse and don't have to worry about gas prices, etc. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 01, 2005 | | Summary | The marrow of the world | Content
| Sometime in the mid-1800s, presumably after the onset of the US war with Mexico (1846-48) but prior to its conclusion (How goes the war with Mexico? It is over. Who won?) a young man, Jeremiah Johnson, shakes off the dust of civilization to begin a new life in the wild mountains of western America.
Sydney Pollack's 1972 JEREMIAH JOHNSON is grand entertainment, a sprawling story of man-in-nature filmed in some of the most beautiful country in America. Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) begins the adventure as a callow youth who can't fish or keep a fire going to save his life. He clatters through the wilderness and lets his smell precede him. At the rate he's going he won't be going much farther.
Enter Bear Claw, a white wizened old mountain man who's wise in the ways of the wild and a great friend and hunter of grizz'. Boisterously played by Will Geer, Bear Claw acts as mentor to young Johnson. Bear Claw is the first of many colorful characters peppered throughout JEREMIAH JOHNSON. Later Johnson will happen upon a woman whose family was massacred. The indians will not bother you on account of because you are touched, Johnson assures her. Bear Claw must have taught him a LOT in that ten-minute scene of their'n. Yet later we meet Del Gue (Stefan Gierasch), head shaved, buried up to his neck in sand, asking for a hat and desperately trying to blow an irritating feather out of his nose. Like Bear Claw before him, Del Gue is a picturesque and somewhat eccentric mentor.
JEREMIAH JOHNSON needs all the colorful mountain men and Blackfeet and Shoshone and Flatheads it can get because Redford's character is as flat as hardtack and as colorful as a toad's belly. Custom built for its star, the movie revolves around an introverted and introspective lead, something that works most of the time, although it's probably good they didn't give personality tests to prospective mountain men back then. Redford doesn't fit the type. This film would be a tough, long and dry read indeed without its wild men (and women) of the wild.
The short, contemporary featurette on the dvd tells us that JEREMIAH JOHNSON is a saga about a young man in the wilderness, "completely unaided, wholly responsible for himself." You could argue with that appealing tagline whose chief merit is that if fits on a billboard and plays to the Redford Mystique. In any event, any movie whose main character hunts and fishes and messes around in the outdoors every day has a tremendous built in edge with a certain percentage of the moving watching public. Better yet it has an obedient son (adopted from the touched woman) and a beautiful young indian bride. Best, neither speaks a word of English! The boy can't - sorry, cannot (we do not contract words in this movie), the boy cannot sass because he is mute, the woman cannot argue because you do not speak her language, and she do not speak your'n.
For the most part, then, JEREMIAH JOHNSON is bully entertainment. The location shots range from beautiful to breathtaking. The action scenes are well composed and exciting, for the most part, anyway. The wolves attack scene doesn't work - it relies too heavily on close-ups of snarling wolves clamping down on heavily padded arms and medium shots of a life sized ragdoll wolf or two being bounced against horse withers and fetlocks. Heartily recommended for anyone who enjoys a rousing adventure played against a glorious background.
|
| Rating | | | Date | February 23, 2005 | | Summary | A Classic | Content
| The first time I saw this film, it went straight from my eye to my heart. No stopping in between. |
|
Picture 01 (20)
