Jeremiah Johnson

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Movie
German title Jeremiah Johnson
Original title Jeremiah Johnson
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1972
length 108 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Sydney Pollack
script John Milius ,
Edward Anhalt
production Joe Wizan ,
John R. Coonan ,
Mike Moder
music John Rubinstein ,
Tim McIntire
camera Duke Callaghan
cut Thomas Stanford
occupation

Jeremiah Johnson is an American western film adaptation of the novel The Mountain Man by Vardis Fisher and the story Crow Killer by Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker. Both works are a free adaptation of the life story of John Jeremiah Johnson (1824–1900).

action

The film is set in the mountains of present-day Colorado around 1850 . Jeremiah Johnson, a former soldier, decides, for unspecified reasons, to go to the mountains to live a solitary life as a trapper . After experiencing existential limits in the first winter, he made the acquaintance of the old trapper "Bear Claw", who teaches Jeremiah to hunt and trap. A woman whose relatives were killed by Blackfoot Indians has gone mad because of what happened. She entrusts Jeremiah to her son Caleb, the only survivor next to her, who no longer speaks because of what she has experienced. Another trapper, Del Gue, was robbed by Indians and buried up to his neck in the earth. After Johnson got him out of this situation, they ride together for a while.

Due to a cultural misunderstanding and rather reluctantly, Jeremiah marries the Flathead chief's daughter Swan. For her and Caleb he builds a house in the wilderness. However, the new family's life together only lasts one winter. When Jeremiah is asked to lead a military unit through the mountains trying to bring food to snow-covered settlers in need, he reluctantly lets himself be persuaded to take the shortest route through the area where the Crows bury their dead. They take revenge for disregarding their holy places by slaying Swan and Caleb. Johnson pursues the attackers and kills all but one, whom he spares when the latter starts singing a death song in the face of his impending death. As a result, Johnson is repeatedly challenged in a ritual duel by individual crows. As he survived all these battles, he became a legend among the Indians over time. On the way to Canada he meets Paints His Shirt Red, a chief of the Crow, whom he knows from his first winter in the Rocky Mountains . When Johnson tries to reach for the rifle, Paints His Shirt Red greets him and makes the peace sign with a raised hand. After a moment's hesitation, Johnson returned the greeting.

backgrounds

  • The film is a free processing of the story of a historical original, the story of John Jeremiah Johnson (sometimes also Johnston), also known as "Liver-Eating Johnson" ("Liver-Eating Johnson"). After losing his wife to Crows, he is said to have become a merciless avenger, killing hundreds of Crows and then consuming their livers. The film was originally supposed to be titled The Saga of Liver-Eating-Johnson , later also called Crow Killer . Screenwriter John Milius wanted to emphasize the cannibalistic aspect, but could not prevail against director Pollack.
  • Jeremiah Johnson screened in competition at the 1972 Cannes International Film Festival . This made it the first western ever to be shown at the film festival.
  • Numerous special permits were required to shoot the film in nature.
  • The film budget was $ 3.5 million. Sydney Pollack had to borrow money from his house due to the expensive outdoor shots in order to finish the film. The film ultimately grossed more than $ 44 million in the United States alone.

Others

According to Herb Fagen (p. 228), in his book The Life and times of the great Western movie (Bromley, Kent: Columbus, 1983 ), Joe Hyams reports on a school class in California who learned from the great popularity of the film to research into the historical Johnson was inspired. The students found that Johnson had died before 1900 and, contrary to his stated will, was not buried in the mountains but in a veterans cemetery in Los Angeles . Johnson's remains were then exhumed and transferred to Wyoming , where he was buried in the mountains according to his wishes. Robert Redford attended the burial ceremony.

Reviews

  • The film met with extremely positive criticism, especially in the country in which it was made; it was described as a “true work of art” and “excellently photographed”. Herb Fagen, on the other hand, put forward the main point of criticism that the film was marked by unnecessary lengthiness ("much of the films unnecessary ramblings lead to an ending void of finality").
  • The film critic Reinhard Baumgart wrote about the film in the Süddeutsche Zeitung as part of the Cannes festival review: “ Rousseau's magic, between trappers, Indians, grizzlies, a paradise as a barely tolerable hell, without civilizational vulgarity, but with all the vulgarity of the wilderness , ambiguous. Pollack tells here [...] an education novel without education. "(Quoted from Hembus, p. 313)
  • Thomas Jeier (229f) contrasted the film with the western Das war Roy Bean by John Huston, which was released around the same time . While Huston was primarily out to destroy the legend, Pollack shows "respect for the legend and the majestic Rocky Mountains".

literature

  • Herb Fagen: The encyclopedia of westerns (The Facts on File film reference library) . Foreword: Tom Selleck, Introduction: Dale Robertson. Facts on File, New York 2003, ISBN 0-8160-4456-2 (English)
  • Joe Hembus : Western Lexicon . completely edited paperback edition, Heyne, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-453-00767-0 (Heyne book 7048)
  • Thomas Jeier : The western film . Heyne, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-453-86104-3 (Heyne film library; 32/102)
  • Peter Ruckriegl: Jeremiah Johnson in Film Genres - Westerns . B. Kiefer, N. Grob (Ed.), With the collaboration of M. Stiglegger. Reclam junior, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 ; Pp. 318-322

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Publication in the United States and other countries, Internet Archive ( Memento of January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: mcomet.com (English)
  2. ^ Certificate of Release to Jeremiah Johnson . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2005 (PDF; test number: 45 010 DVD).
  3. ↑ Jeremiah Johnson - DVD  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. cduniverse.com@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.cduniverse.com