JEREMIAH JOHNSON

US, 1972, 105 minutes, Colour.
Robert Redford, Will Geer, Stefan Gierasch, Allyn Ann Mc Lerie, Josh Albee.
Directed by Sidney Pollack.

Jeremiah Johnson fits into the pattern of films of the early 70's which attempt fresh looks at the West and on the West as an environment against which men pit themselves for survival. Howard Hawks did something of this in The Big Sky (1952). Richard Sarafian made a Richard Harris epic, Man in the Wilderness (1971). 1972 gave us this film from Sidney Pollack (This Property 1s Condemned, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?)

It is narrated in ballad form, a popular way of telling a thematic story about a heroic individual. There are several very moving moments and the film gives a strange impression of a man alien from yet at home in the mountains of the West.

Robert Redford plays the title role in a low-keyed style which is successful for this kind of film.

An action ballad, 1t would probably appeal more to male audiences.

1. Did Jeremiah Johnson impress as a man? Why? Was he sympathetic? Was he worth the ballad composed about him?

2. The structure of the film was ballad-like. How successful was this here? Would the film have been the same had it been a straight narrative Western?

3. How did the song, the legendary tone given to Johnson, the balancing of the people he encountered and re-encountered at the end, the epic quality given to his encounters with the Indians at the end communicate the significance of Johnson?

4. What did Johnson stand for? Why did he leave civilisation? Were his reasons valid? What value was there in his being a loner?

5. What part did nature and the environment play in Johnson's life? What influence did they have? How did he cope? How did the visual presentation of the scenery enhance this?

6. What kind of man was Bear Clay? Why had he survived in the mountains? How did he relate to Johnson? What did he teach him?

7. Reactions to the Indian massacre and the crazed mother with her mute son? How moving was this sequence? How important were these events in Johnson's life?

8. How did Johnson relate to the boy?

9. Why did Johnson befriend the trapper Del One? What kind of a man was he?

10. What picture of the Indians did the early part of the film give - the massacre and then the encounter with the Christian Indians? Why did Johnson not want to mourn?

11. How did he relate to his wife, Swan? How important was it for the film that neither spoke English? How well did the film show them relating? e.g. the building of the house, the game of ball? What changes did this all effect in Johnson? for the better? Did he become more human?

12. What obligations did Johnson have to help the soldiers in their attempts to save lives? Why did he become involved?

13. What did the trespassing through the Crow burial ground mean for Johnson and the soldiers? to the Crow Indians? How well and suspense fully was this episode filmed?

14. Reactions to Suan and Caleb being slaughtered and the house destroyed? Did the Crow have any right to do this? What effect did it have on Johnson? How greatly did it change him?

15. What kind of Johnson re-encountered Del One and Bear Foot? Had he been a success or failure?

16. The Crows trailing of Johnson and his destroying them? What happened to Johnson the man as he turned into Johnson the legend? (How did the style of filming in the last 15 minutes transform Johnson from man to legend?)

17. In what way was this film a Western?

18. What did the film have to offer on human values, nature, relationships, survival?