Jeremiah Johnson (1972), directed by Sydney Pollack.
quote
"You've come far, Pilgrim."
"Feels like far."
This has always had a post-Vietnam, post-hippy "back to the land" or "back to wilderness" feel to it. Westerns were a good vehicle for that sentiment; you could see it in the clothes and hair styles. A chance for a new beginning away from corrupting civilization. It's part of a formula that our solitary hero inadvertently acquires a son and a wife, but more unusual that he loses them again. I never decided whether he was a veteran or a deserter.
From the very first viewing I have had the eeriest sense that, starting with Johnson's return trip through the burial ground when he senses that his family is in danger, he begins a journey out of this reality and into another world. With his vengeance quest he enters the realm of legend, specifically the legends of the Crow, who are honored to have such a formidable enemy. Displaying the monument the Indians have made for him, the settler says "Some say on account of this you're dead. Others say on account of this you never will be." In the final scene when he meets Paints-His-Shirt-Red: do they find peace in Paradise, or is this a mountain valhalla were they will fight eternally?
I knew a guy back then who worshiped all things Indian and this was his sacred movie. Not just because of the real Indians, but it was a chance to believe that a white guy like himself could live like them.
Notes:
Robert Redford is just too handsome, but that's not his fault. His hair obeys 70s fashion sense, which might also be historical.
Delle Bolton ("Swan") was not an Indian. This was her only film role.
You see Matt Clark (Qualen, the settler) in a lot of films from that period. I have a shot of him in the review of Pocket Money (1972). He and Allyn Ann McLerie (the Crazy Woman) were both in Monte Walsh (1970).
Frozen "Hatchet Jack" (played by Redford's stunt double) shifts a bit between shots. I don't know if he's just breathing or if it is intentional, adding a pleading or yearning expression. Originally they thought to make this a foreshadowing of Johnson's fate, that he would end the same way.
The commentary track has much on the difficulty of the production. When filming in snow there is only one take.
The director says the message he takes from the film is that no matter how hard you try to drop out, there is no escape from obligations to people and things. He doesn't mind if viewers find different lessons.
The fight scenes were inspired by the ritualized violence of Japanese samurai films.
The language becomes less formal and stylized toward the end. Contractions appear.
Filmed in Utah.
The Blu-ray has an overture and an intermission, unusual in a film less than two hours long. These were made for a single 70mm print that saw very few showings. Pollack says he had delusions of grandeur in those days.
Available on Blu-ray with a pseudo-commentary track with Pollack, Redford and writer John Milius. Only the director is watching the film; the others contribute just recorded snippets.