Jeremiah Johnson

It’s nice to see a film from Seventies Hollywood that actually holds up to that era’s reputation as a golden age of sorts. I had fond memories of this, and when I saw it mentioned in recent obituaries for director Sidney Pollack, I moved it up in my Netflix queue and renewed my appreciation for it. Coming on the heels of Arthur Penn’s Little Big Man and Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller, it certainly represents a high point for the revisionist Western. And coming at the same time as The Candidate, it certainly testifies to Robert Redford’s range and star power, while also presaging his continuing identification with that Rocky Mountain landscape. He plays an ex-soldier looking to escape “civilization” sometime around 1840 by becoming a hunter and trapper in the high mountains. The landscapes are spectacular, and the story has a Thoreauvian appeal -- fronting only the essentials of life -- as well as the usual Indian fighting and loving, which is presented with unusual respect for the Other. While mostly a solitary figure in an immense and unforgiving landscape, Redford has formative encounters with other mountain men, as well as brushes with various Indian tribes and the cavalry. It’s odd for a film under two hours to have an “Overture” and “Intermission,” which suggests this film was meant to be even more epic except for budget constraints. At least Pollack and Redford insisted on shooting not in the studio but on location, which more than makes up for any scrimping they had to do. (1972, dvd, r.) *8-*