I’d Love To Turn You On At The Movies #182 - Jeremiah Johnson (1972, dir. Sydney Pollack)

For as many Western films as I have absorbed over the years, there are few that truly capture the beauty and expansiveness that was the uncharted West. Many simply take place in that vaguely “Western”-looking town or settlement we’ve all seen before, with the dirt roads and the hand-painted signs; maybe a saloon is involved where men talk shit to each other and guns are pulled, all in that familiar sepia tone. Don’t get me wrong I love those films, but if you update the clothing a bit and replace the horses with cars, they could take place in the present in literally any old rural area of America. In fact, where I grew up in Dubuque, Iowa there are countless unincorporated towns within a few miles of the city either in Iowa or just across the Mississippi River in Wisconsin that are almost exactly like the average town depicted in a Western film. Maybe not as heavy with the gun violence, but you get my point. These films are Westerns simply because their creators tell us they are.

The 1972 Sydney Pollack film Jeremiah Johnson stands out in that “The West” is more than just a backdrop or locale. Filmed entirely on location in Utah at the insistence of leading man Robert Redford, the film marries the majesty and danger of the mountains with its breathtaking snowy landscapes and intense fight scenes with both man and beast. This duality is used in much the same way Woody Allen or Martin Scorsese’s films might use that of New York City. Pollack utilizes the Rocky Mountain wilderness as if it’s another character unto itself.

Redford plays the titular Johnson, a soldier in mid-1800s America who becomes fed up with the war he’s fighting and decides to leave to become a mountain man in the uncharted mountains of Colorado. While there, he quickly learns what it takes to live among the wilds. The first winter he is there, Johnson almost doesn’t survive. He is clearly a novice in both trapping food and building shelter. While fishing one day, a Crow Indian chief comes upon him and, seeing how helpless he is at catching fish, takes pity on him and leaves him be. This would not be the last that Johnson sees of the Crow. Johnson meets an eccentric mountain man named Bear Claw (Will Heer), nicknamed as such because he is a Grizzly bear hunter who keeps their claws as souvenirs. Bear Claw teaches Johnson the skills he needs to survive in the mountains, with a lesson that includes a face to face encounter with a “grizz.” Eventually, Johnson sets off on his own to put his new skills to the test. Over the next year, he adopts a son whose family has been killed by Indians, and marries a Flathead Indian woman in order to avoid conflict with her tribe. Reluctant at first to having traveling companions, Johnson comes to accept the woman and the boy, and they become a real, loving family. Later, Johnson aids a U.S. cavalry in rescuing a wagon train that’s been buried by snow. In doing so, he leads the cavalry through a Crow sacred burial ground, breaking a tribal taboo. By the time Johnson returns to his cabin, the Crow have murdered both his wife and his adopted son. This sends Johnson on a murderous vendetta, killing all the Crow tribesmen that he comes across and sparking a years-long feud between him and the Crow Indians.

There are other incidents that occur in the film, but that is mostly the gist. There is minimal plot, minimal dialogue and minimal cast. But, like I said, the real thrill of watching this film lies in the locations it was shot in. I remember the first time I saw Jeremiah Johnson, my dad rented it when I was six or seven years old. After that, when I wasn’t begging him to rent it again, I was playing “Jeremiah Johnson” by myself in the woods behind my house. At this point, I lived in a very rural part of New Hampshire and for a time, I was positive that if my parents ever made me mad again, that I was going to disappear into those woods and try to make it on my own just like my new hero. Mostly, the film just made me want to be outside, enjoying what nature had to offer. Now, even as an adult, I often think of Jeremiah Johnson when I am hiking or camping or whatever, especially now that I live near the very mountains that he tried to tame.

But beyond it being a visually stunning film, the story itself is also incredible and based loosely on factual events. It is partly based on the book Mountain Man by Vardis Fisher and partly based on Raymond Thorp and Robert Bunker’s Crow Killer, which is a book about the life of a guy named Liver-Eating Johnson. I’m going to repeat that: Liver-Eating Johnson. If you don’t immediately want to know that guy’s story after hearing his name, then you may not be human. Redford’s performance alone is a reason to see this film. His portrayal of the protagonist as he goes from naïf to expert is both powerful and realistic.

As far as Westerns go, it may not be the best you’ve ever seen. Some parts of it can certainly drag on a bit and the character of Johnson is a little bit underdeveloped, if you ask me. However, I can guarantee that Jeremiah Johnson is one of the most unique Western films you’ve ever seen, and perhaps it will encourage you to get outside and experience nature like it did me all those years ago.

-         Jonathan Eagle