Jeremiah Johnson

UPC: 012569732476

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Violence, Adult Language]

Summary: Years before Kevin Costner danced with wolves, Robert Redford headed to the mountains to escape civilization in Sydney Pollack's wilderness western. Around 1850, ex-soldier Johnson (Redford) decides that he would rather live alone as a mountain man in Colorado than deal with society's constraints. After a series of setbacks, he meets grizzled mountain veteran Bear Claws (Will Geer), who teaches him how to survive. Jeremiah strives to live as peaceably as possible in the rugged environment, trading with the native Crow tribe, adopting a boy (Josh Albee) after his family is massacred, and even marrying the daughter (Delle Bolton) of a Flathead chief in order to avoid confrontation. He settles into a mountain home with his family, but the U.S. cavalry, complete with a puritanical Reverend, interrupt the idyll to compel Jeremiah to lead them over the mountains and through a Crow burial ground to rescue white settlers. After the Crow kill his family in retaliation, Jeremiah's frenzied moment of payback precipitates a long-running vendetta, turning him into a legendary Indian killer at the expense of his original ideals, on the way to a final moment of grace. Spectacularly shot on location in Utah, the film captures both the appeal and the challenge of the landscape that Jeremiah chooses over civilization. With an unglamorous performance by Redford and a story that questioned white colonialism while mythologizing the man of nature, Jeremiah Johnson appealed to its 1972 audience and became one of the biggest hits of the year. Wavering between heroicizing Jeremiah for surviving and damning him for killing, Jeremiah Johnson took its place among the Vietnam-era cycle of critical westerns, like Arthur Penn's Little Big Man (1970) and Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), that condemned civilization for corrupting the wilderness and preventing individuals from going pacifistically native. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

Category: Western

Features: Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
Featurette: "The Saga of Jeremiah Johnson"
Interactive menus
Production notes
Scene access
Theatrical trailer
Languages: English, Fran?ais, Espa?ol

Jeremiah Johnson

Format: DVD

Release Date: 10/29/1997

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 116 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1--STANDARD
0. Scene Index
1. Overture. [3:04]
2. His story. [4:50]
3. Unforgiving winter. [2:34]
4. Hatchet Jack. [2:37]
5. Bear Claw. [2:21]
6. To skin a grizzly. [2:28]
7. Survival tips. [4:01]
8. Paints shirt red. [5:28]
9. Graves to dig. [3:21]
10. Scarred souls. [4:44]
11. Del Gue's dilemma. [4:19]
12. Ambush in the dark. [1:58]
13. Reluctant groom. [7:41]
14. All you need know. [5:02]
15. Couple/family/home. [10:11]
16. Wolves attack. [4:04]
17. At work and play. [2:43]
18. A plea for help. [3:14]
19. Crow burial ground. [2:54]
20. Entr'Acte. [1:28]
21. Across sacred land. [4:08]
22. Tragedy at home. [4:32]
23. Bloody revenge. [9:41]
24. Del Gue was right. [5:34]
25. Ambush in light. [2:13]
26. A monument. [3:52]
27. Bear Claw blessing. [4:16]
28. Distant friends. [1:37]
29. Cast list. [:46]
Side #2--WIDESCREEN
0. Scene Index
1. Overture. [3:04]
2. His story. [4:50]
3. Unforgiving winter. [2:34]
4. Hatchet Jack. [2:37]
5. Bear Claw. [2:21]
6. To skin a grizzly. [2:28]
7. Survival tips. [4:01]
8. Paints shirt red. [5:28]
9. Graves to dig. [3:21]
10. Scarred souls. [4:44]
11. Del Gue's dilemma. [4:19]
12. Ambush in the dark. [1:58]
13. Reluctant groom. [7:41]
14. All you need know. [5:02]
15. Couple/family/home. [10:11]
16. Wolves attack. [4:04]
17. At work and play. [2:43]
18. A plea for help. [3:14]
19. Crow burial ground. [2:54]
20. Entr'Acte. [1:28]
21. Across sacred land. [4:08]
22. Tragedy at home. [4:32]
23. Bloody revenge. [9:41]
24. Del Gue was right. [5:34]
25. Ambush in light. [2:13]
26. A monument. [3:52]
27. Bear Claw blessing. [4:16]
28. Distant friends. [1:37]
29. Cast list. [:46]

Brendon Hanley

Three years and four failures after Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jeremiah Johnson was the hit that Robert Redford needed. It had a man-against-society edge that would be a hallmark of many Redford pictures, including Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here, Three Days of the Condor, and The Electric Horseman. In the context of early-1970s American culture, the film's environmental, anti-establishment, Henry David Thoreau-inspired message obviously struck a chord with audiences. Redford and director Sydney Pollack had worked together once before, on the woeful Tennessee Williams adaptation This Property is Condemned, but Johnson and the majority of their further collaborations would become successes (The Way We Were, Out of Africa). Pollack mortgaged his home to complete the film, which ran over-budget due to the extensive location shooting in Utah's Zion National Park. The mountain areas are wonderfully shot by cinematographer Duke Callaghan. ~ Brendon Hanley, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jack Colvin  Actor 
Harry Morgan  Actor 
Paul Benedict  Actor 
Richard Angarola  Actor 
Matt Clark  Actor 
Tim McIntire  Composer (Music Score) 
Edward Anhalt  Screenwriter 
John Milius  Screenwriter 
Sydney Pollack  Director 
John Rubinstein  Composer (Music Score) 
Joe Wizan  Producer 
Mike Moder  Producer 
Robert Redford  Actor 
Will Geer  Actor 
Stefan Gierasch  Actor 
Allyn Ann McLerie  Actor 
Delle Bolton  Actor 
Josh Albee  Actor 
Charles Tyner  Actor 
Joaquin Martinez  Actor 

Country: USA