I would just like to say that the scene where Jeremiah comes home to find his woman and his boy killed by indians is possibly the saddest scene of any movie. The only movie scene I can think of that ties this scene is in Elephant Man when the people are chasing him and he says "I am not an animal! I am a human being!"
shareIt really was sad. But so much of the film was tragic and sad, which is one thing that seperates it from the mediocre.
Remember the ending when Jeremiah struggles to return the salute, and finally raises his arm with a groan that almost sounded like he felt a pain? If you could stop a moment and think about it, that was not the first time we heard someone in that film groan in just that way!
If you want an emotional impact stop reading here and watch the film again, but watch for that groan from someone else. If not, scroll down and you'll find out where it was -
A little more...
Sure you want to do it this way?
Okay then, here it is - When Jeremiah found that distraught woman who had lost her family he tried to help her. She gave him her only remaining child - and when he tried to protest by saying he didn't know what to do with a boy she cut him off with that very same groan! It stopped Jeremiah mid-sentence, it froze him cold. Imagine the pain.
This is what settlers faced and sometimes went through right here in the USA, real pain. Jeremiah had a plan to leave that kind of hurt below in the lowlands. He would live apart in the heights with soaring eagles that could reach an ocean in the time it takes to think up a few words, BUT -
Life had other ideas in mind for Jeremiah Johnson.
Follow the blue arrows, Mr. Quin.campoix.
I agree with everything that has already been said.
However, I think it might be worthwhile to remind everyone that Swan was actually Johnson's legit, legal *wife* (so far as any law existed anywhere around there then), not just a squaw or "his woman."
And that, indeed, it was actually a *Christian* marriage -- you might almost call it a *church* wedding -- that they were married in. (Not just a Justice of the Peace civil ceremony kind of deal.) Swan was a devout Christian, even if he was not, particularly. It was a real, genuine marriage, not just some casual shack-up.
Ozy
So true!
Their marriage was performed and sanctioned by her people (and by her father the Chief) and under their traditional laws and beliefs. That is all that is needed to make a marriage valid, in spite of Rev Lindquist's later comments.
Good point! I find it interesting that nobody back in those days told Indians they needed to get re-married in church. But yet for some strange reason anytime a white person married an Indian suddenly it wasn't a "real" marriage. Hudson Bay Company trapper and leader Peter Skene Ogden stood his ground and refused to "re-marry" his wife just because "civilization" eventually overtook them. Good for him!
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Marriage is only granted by the state. Religious observation was irrelevant unless a legal document, Marriage License, was obtained. Indians would not need to obtain a Christian ceremony to have their marriage recognized by the state, they need only go to a courthouse and fill out a form witnessed by the clerk. However, most native americans in the 1800's probably never bothered.
Interesting name you chose, Ozy. Are you king of kings?
--Alan
I also think the scene towards the end when he runs into Bearclaw is pretty sad. The loneliness of his life really hits home in that scene (at least to me).
shareInteresting comment. I've often reflected that when Jerimiah asked Bearclaw in that scene, "Do you know what time of the year it is?" Bearclaw decided at that moment he didn't want to stay any longer with his protege. After a bite of rabbit and a few words about farmers down below, he moves on. Sad and lonely indeed.
shareThis scene was very gripping as well.
"You've come far Pilgrim. Was it worth the trouble?"
"Hah? What trouble?"
It is in the way it is said. The look that Redford captures when he makes that reply speaks volumes two the two men. He was serious when he said it, not being sarcastic and Lapp comes to see just how far Johnson has come.
"Would you happen to know what month of the year it is?"
"Why no, I surely wouldn't."
It is in these moments that you can see them both realize that Jeremiah is definitely not the man that left Chris's cabin earlier in the movie. Johnson has hardened into a true mountain man.
Yeah he is lonely and beaten after having his wife and son murdered and constantly being attacked by indians. It drained him out. The monotomy of outdoor live having to survive withut experiencing meaningul human interactions flattended him. What a desillusion, yet what a daring individual and what a true survivor. And how lost and betrayed played he must have felt escorting that band of soldiers through the holy pass he knew he shouldn't be crossing.
The emptiness in a way is an awful anding.
Same with me. I was watching the movie alone but I said aloud "What a lonely man".
The love impulse in man frequently reveals itself in terms of conflict.
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Nah, one of the saddest movie moments was from The Patriot when his daughter screamed "I will say anything, just dont go" or something to that aspect. (I always choke up to that) I cry. I am such a puss.
shareReturning for a forced upon trip he didn't want to undertake and overule the route through Holy indian lang - you could sense the disaster coming. Then to return home and see his familiy massacred and their house destroyed - that is the turning point of the his life. Everything goes downhill from there. Away are the dreams and the ambitions and ideals and hopes and gone is that sense of co-existing minding yoyr own business peacefully, and enter the continuing chase by revengefyl native americans.
Still like the scene from the chief on the horse in the end. In the beginning he didn't care for him, now he gave him respect and even greeted and acknowelegded him: now you belong to the group of loners: you earned our respect.
In this scene, I liked the way the Indian kept patient waiting for Redford/Johnson to acknowledge and return the 'sign'. At one point, after a few seconds of waiting for a response from Johnson, he re adjusts his arm, pushes it out a bit - raises it a little higher in punctuation as if to say 'Hey, did you hear me ? I said "...." and then Johnson finally replies. Little things/details like this add to the movies character. It could have been a 'touch' left out by a lesser film maker.
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