Jeremiah Johnson

Jeremiah Johnson

Running Time: 118 minutes

Summary: An American soldier goes west to escape the Mexican War and becomes a mountain man. He is taken in by an old trapper who teaches him how to survive. After unavoidably violating an Indian burial ground, he loses his new Indian wife and their adopted child to vengeance, and a vendetta between him and the Crows ruins his idyllic life as a fur trapper.

Review: I am going to try to avoid my inital reaction of wanting to give this movie a 10 out of 10 just cause Robert Redford is in it and try to be a little bit more objective.

This movie is based on "Crow Killer" the biographical novel about "Liver Eatin" Johnson. "Liver Eatin", so called because of his penchant to kill Crow Indians and eat thier livers, was a man who abandoned his life to live in the wilderness. Something about the fact that it is autobigraphical makes the movie appear to me more, and makes the montages much more forgivable.

First of all, I hate montages. I think that anything that you are trying to say with a montage can be said much better non-montaged. This movie is HEAVY on the montages.

Robert Redford is great in this movie. He is flawed and prejudiced, compassionate and caring. Face it, he`s Robert Redford. The man delivers the same high quality of performance that we have come to know and expect from him years and years later.

This movie is a clear demonstration of how movies have changed in the worst possible ways between 1972 and now. I tried to imagine what this movie would be like if they remade it now. I imagine Brad Pitt, with that disgusting beard thing he has now, gorgeous cinematography, maybe Will Smith`s kid playing the adopted boy Caleb. A cameo from Anthony Hopkins as Hatchet Jack. Done on a $50 million dollar budget. It`s just the sort of nightmare that keeps me up at night.

Best Line: Del Gue ``Well, keep your nose in the wind, and your eyes along the skyline.``

7.5 nests out of 10