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Jeremiah Johnson

Year:

1972

Duration:

108 min | 116 min (long version)

Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Western

IMDB rate:

7.6

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 1972-09-10

Filming Locations: Alpine Loop, Utah, USA

Earnings

Gross: $47,742,000 (USA)SEK 1,007,197 (Sweden)

Cast

Actor

Character

Delle Bolton

Jeremiah Johnson

Allyn Ann McLerie

Robert Redford

Jeremiah Johnson

Will Geer

Bear Claw

Josh Albee

Caleb

Joaquín Martínez

Paints His Shirt Red

Stefan Gierasch

Del Gue

Richard Angarola

Chief Two-Tongues Lebeaux

Paul Benedict

Reverend Lindquist

Charles Tyner

Robidoux

Jack Colvin

Lieutenant Mulvey

Matt Clark

Qualen

Tanya Tucker

Qualen's daughter

Did you know?

Trivia

A complete Flathead Indian Village was constructed for the movie in a remote mountain area which had become famous for its ancient archaeological prehistoric dinosaur discoveries.

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The movie's technical director was an indigenous Flathead American Indian from Montana. One of their key roles was to act as the coach for actress Delle Bolton, who was playing the indigenous Native American Indian woman's role of Swan (or The Swan).

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According to the short documentary, The Saga of Jeremiah Johnson (1972), the movie shot in sections of Utah that had never been accessed before, except by Mountain Men.

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Goofs

When he runs into Del Gue late in the movie Johnson tells Del that he may head to Canada. In the 1830's? the country of Canada was not yet formed, and while there was a region with the name it was far to the east of the Crow and Flathead territories. The territory Johnson was most likely referring to would be Rupert's Land or possibly the territory of British Columbia, those would be the non US territories closest to the Crow Nation.

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When Jeremiah Johnson first finds Hatchet Jack's frozen body holding the .50 caliber Hawkens, the gun is held with the barrel tilted slightly upward. In subsequent shots, the angle of the rifle barrel changes several times to slightly different downward- or upward-tilting angles, never the same twice.

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The wedding song is actually a song the Salish people sing at funerals. The producers wanted a song during the wedding and the Salish don't have one. So the technical adviser, Johnny Arlee, gave them three songs to choose from and they liked "Coming Home", a death song.

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Quotes

Jeremiah Johnson: [Jeremiah and Caleb see a bird flying across the sky] Hawk. Goin' for the Musselshell. Take me a week's ridin', and he'll be there in... hell, he's there already.

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Del Gue: [Del and Jeremiah have run into a Flathead scouting party] He wants to know if you are the great warrior who avenges the crazy women that lives in the Wolf Tail Valley. She's big medicine and you are too, if you be that man.

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Jeremiah Johnson: Who are they?

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Faq

Did Indians kill the Crazy Woman?

The movie doesn't say what happened to the Crazy Woman, other than the settler telling Jeremiah that she's dead and buried in one of those mounds. Almost anything -- suicide, disease, starvation, the cold -- might have taken her, but it's doubtful that the Indians killed her. Del tells Jeremiah that the Flatheads consider her to be "big medicine," and Jeremiah himself assures her that the Indians would not bother her again because she is "touched". Incidentally, Crazy Woman was a real person. The Crazy Mountains of central Montana were named by the Crow Indians in "honor" of her.

What is 'Jeremiah Johnson' about?

Disillusioned Mexican War veteran Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford) decides to leave civilization and become a mountain man in the Rocky Mountains. Taught to live on the mountain by veteran mountain man Bear Claw (Will Geer), Jeremiah encounters grizzlies, hostile and friendly Indians, fights wolves, takes a squaw (Delle Bolton), adopts a son (Josh Albee), and becomes a legend.

Is "Jeremiah Johnson" based on a book?

Two books, actually. The character, Jeremiah Johnson, is said to have been based on a legendary mountain man, John "Liver-Eating" Johnson [c.1824-1900], as presented in the 1958 biography Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson by Raymond Thorp and Robert Bunker. Vardis Fisher's Mountain Man (1965) was also adapted for the movie by screenwriters John Milius and Edward Anhalt.

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