Jeremiah Johnson (1972) – A mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by Indians when he proves to be the match of their warriors in one-to-one combat on the early frontier.
Director: Sydney Pollack (They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Out of Africa, Tootsie)
Writer: John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Conan the Barbarian, The Wind and the Lion) and Edward Anhalt (The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold)
Release Date: December 21, 1972
Domestic Box Office: $8,350,000
Top 5 Cast:
- Robert Redford as Jeremiah Johnson
- Will Geer as Bear Claw Chris Lapp
- Delle Bolton as Apsaroke Woman
- Stefan Gierasch as Del Gue
- Josh Albee as Hawk
“A man would have to be a stone to live in these mountains and not love them.”
Critical Reviews:
- Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, calling it “a beautiful, haunting film about the American West.”
- Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film “a powerful and moving experience.”
- Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote that the film was “a masterpiece of American filmmaking.”
- Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, calling it “a well-made and engrossing film.”
- Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called the film “a superbly crafted and acted film.”
Cinematic Importance: Jeremiah Johnson (1972) is a classic Western film that has been praised for its beautiful cinematography, its powerful performances, and its sensitive treatment of its subject matter. The film is a meditation on the nature of man and his relationship to the wilderness, and it has been cited as an influence by many other filmmakers, including Terrence Malick and David Lynch.
The film was a critical and commercial success upon its release, and it has since become a cult classic. It is considered one of the greatest Western films ever made, and it is a must-see for any fan of the genre.