Jeremiah Johnson
Without a doubt the greatest western/pioneer movie ever created is Jeremiah Johnson. This movie shows hardships that American frontiersmen encountered as they traveled west into new land. Jeremiah Johnson, portrayed by Robert Redford, is a man that has been soured by society and civilization and decides to make his life as a mountain man. He sets off into the mountains with only a rifle, horse and mule, and the clothes on his back in an attempt to survive the harsh wilderness that very few live in. Jeremiah Johnson “gets back to nature” in a way no film has ever before or done since. The movie begins in the mid 1800’s with a clean-cut, young soldier, Jeremiah Johnson, leaving military service after the Mexican American War. As he sets out into the Rocky Mountains he encounters struggles that would kill most men. His attempts to feed himself by hunting and trapping fail him and he nearly starves to death. When he tries to c . . .
It never flinched to show how tough life really was for the early settlers. There dialect and sayings make it very believable. Hardly a word is said of the world Johnson leaves behind, his new life is the wilderness, filled with wild weather, wild animals, and wild people. ” Everyone is dressed in some kind of animal hide whether it be buffalo, grizzly bear, or whitetail deer. This movie gave me a greater feeling on Indians customs and beliefs. The chief could find no gift more worthier than giving Johnson his own daughter in marriage. Surprisingly, too, not withstanding its required violence as all western movies have, this movie is gentle and sensitive. Seeing the abundance of free roaming animals and eagles soaring through the air adds to naturalness of the film. While he is trying to light a fire to keep himself warm and dry off his clothes a huge snowstorm suddenly appears and dumps snow all over his fire. Bear Claw takes Jeremiah Johnson out in the wilderness with him over the next couple weeks and teaches him the basics on how to survive in the unforgiving mountains. Luckily he comes upon an old trapper named Bear Claw (Will Greer) that takes him to his cabin and gives him food and shelter. He met up with a tribe of good Indians that had heard what he had done. In spite of the film’s noble ambitions, it never preaches, never takes the moral high ground, never condemns man or glorifies nature. Jeremiah offered them his scalps of the Indians but he did not know that it was an Indians right to give back a better gift to the giver or it would be consider an insult.
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