jeremiah johnson

Director: sydney pollack

Actor: robert redford,will geer,delle bolton,josh albee

Data Published: Sun Sep 10 1972

Genres: Adventure,Drama,Western

Key Words: native american burial ground,death of wife,native american,mountain man,survival training

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068762/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Johnson_(film)

Description: Jeremiah Johnson is a movie starring Robert Redford, Will Geer, and Delle Bolton. A mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by the Crow tribe and proves to be a match for...

Plot: Mexican War veteran Jeremiah Johnson takes up the life of a mountain man, supporting himself in the Rocky Mountains as a trapper. His first winter in mountain country is difficult, and he has a run-in with Paints-His-Shirt-Red, a chief of the Crow tribe. Some time later, he finds the frozen body of mountain man Hatchet Jack clutching a .50 caliber Hawken rifle. Jack's will gives his rifle to the man who finds his corpse. With his new rifle, Johnson inadvertently disrupts the grizzly bear hunt of the elderly and eccentric Chris Lapp, nicknamed 'Bear Claw', who mentors him on living in the high country. After a brush with Crow Indians, including Lapp's friend Paints-His-Shirt-Red, and learning the skills required to survive, Johnson sets off on his own. He comes across a cabin whose inhabitants were apparently attacked by Blackfoot warriors, leaving only a woman and her uncommunicative son alive. The woman, maddened by grief, forces Johnson to adopt her son. He and the boy, whom Johnson dubs "Caleb", come across Del Gue, a mountain man who has been robbed by the Blackfeet, who have buried him to his neck in sand and stuffed feathers up his nose. Gue persuades Johnson to help recover his stolen goods, but Johnson counsels against violence when they find the Blackfoot camp. The men sneak into the camp at night to retrieve Gue's possessions, but Gue opens fire and the mountain men then kill the Blackfeet. Gue takes several Blackfoot horses and scalps. Johnson, disgusted with the needless killing, returns to Caleb. Soon afterward, they are surprised by Christianized Flathead Indians, who take them in as guests of honor. Johnson unknowingly places the chief in his debt by giving him the stolen horses and scalps of the Blackfoot (their mortal enemies); according to Flathead custom, to maintain his honor the chief must now either kill him or give him a greater gift. The chief gives his daughter Swan to be Johnson's bride. After the wedding, Gue goes off on his own and Johnson, Caleb and Swan journey into the wilderness. Johnson finds a suitable location to build a cabin. They settle into this new home and slowly become a family. Johnson is pressed by a troop of U.S. Army Cavalry to lead a search party to save a stranded wagon train of settlers. According to later dialogue, Johnson has discussed with Mulvey that he is reluctant to help the search party because of his need to hunt Buffalo to feed his family. Ignoring Johnson's advice, they travel through a sacred Crow burial ground. While returning home by the same route, Johnson notices that the graves are now adorned with Swan's blue trinkets; he rushes back to the cabin, where he finds that his family has been killed. Johnson sets off after the warriors who killed his family and attacks them, killing all but one, a heavyset brave who sings his death song when he realizes he cannot escape. Johnson leaves him alive and the survivor spreads the tale of the mountain man's quest for revenge throughout the region, trapping Johnson in a feud with the Crow. The tribe sends its best warriors to kill Johnson, but he defeats them. His legend grows and the Crow come to respect him. He meets Gue again, and returns to the cabin of Caleb's mother, only to find that she has died and a new settler named Qualen and his family are living there. Nearby the Crow have built a monument to Johnson's bravery, periodically leaving trinkets and talismans as tribute. Johnson and Lapp meet for a final time. It is at this poignant meeting between student and teacher that Lapp realizes the heavy toll Johnson has taken upon himself while fighting an entire nation alone in a vast and lonesome frontier. Lapp's realization occurs when Johnson queries, "You wouldn't happen to know what month of the year it is?" Lapp simply replies, "No, I truly wouldn't, Pilgrim." Johnson later has a wordless encounter with Paints-His-Shirt-Red, presumed to be behind the attacks. While sitting astride their horses far apart, Johnson reaches for his rifle, but Paints-His-Shirt-Red raises his arm, open-palmed, in a gesture of peace that Johnson slowly returns. The film ends with the song lyrics, "And some folks say, 'He's up there still.' "