I loved All Is Lost and adore Robert Redford. When I realized that I somehow managed to love Redford and movies about people surviving extreme conditions, yet did not hear about Jeremiah Johnson until rather late in life, I realized it was time to rectify the situation as soon as possible. Everyone seems to agree that it is a classic, and Jeremiah Johnson is one of Redford’s favorite movies.
Call me a Philistine, but I don’t get what all the fuss is about. I will accept your condemnation. If the opening did not already laud him as an amazing man and a legend in the narration (or was it a song?), perhaps I would have been less annoyed. OR if his status as a mixture of myth, legend and fact were in an opening title, I would have lowered my expectations of the titular character and expected that Jeremiah Johnson was the story of him becoming a legend instead of being incredibly inept and mostly having a sitcom feel of comical misunderstandings with huge implications that work out, happenstance and wacky, affable characters. For a guy who wants to be alone in the wilderness, he keeps lucking into survival internships, friendships and relationships.
To be fair, the film begins with the implication that Jeremiah Johnson is running away from something terrible, specifically war, and there is always a sense of foreboding that things can go mortally wrong instantly. Jeremiah Johnson avoids conflict even when it appears culturally appropriate for the period to do so. Indeed there is an abrupt tonal shift towards the end of Jeremiah Johnson. Perhaps Jeremiah Johnson was tapping into the zeitgeist of disillusionment over the Vietnam War. Then Jeremiah Johnson becomes the impossible white man and reveals that Jeremiah Johnson is an alias. Jeremiah Johnson is actually John Wick Sr. who loses his crap over way more than a puppy. Jeremiah Johnson earns the vengeance twist in comparison to The Revenant. The end.
Apparently the real life Jeremiah Johnson was less likable-hint: he could eat liver with fava beans and a nice chianti. Yikes! Jeremiah Johnson is a dated, sanitized though probably daring for its time survivalist tale. Jeremiah Johnson did nothing for me and the abrupt tonal shifts took me out of the story, but everyone loves it so don’t listen to me. If you love Robert Redford and tales of survival in the wilderness, give it a chance, but don’t say that I didn’t warn you. I would be curious how Native Americans felt about Jeremiah Johnson when it hit theaters.