Plot summary for
Jeremiah Johnson (1972) More at IMDbPro »

A mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by Indians when he proves to be the match of their warriors in one-to-one combat on the early frontier. Written by Keith Loh {loh@sfu.ca}

An American soldier goes west to escape the Mexican War and becomes a mountain man. He is taken in by an old trapper who teaches him how to survive. After unavoidably violating an Indian burial ground, he loses his new Indian wife and their adopted child to vengeance, and a vendetta between him and the Crows ruins his idyllic life as a fur trapper. Gorgeous scenery and a great role for Will Geer in a thoughtful meditation on the American West. Written by Anonymous

This tale of isolation in the great rocky mountains, perhaps reflects America's mood as the Vietnam war was coming to a close as much as anything else. Johnson, seemingly war weary, yet with a sense of respect for indigenous cultures as if one informs the other. The only thing he seems to want is to share utopia with those who were there before him and perhaps leave his implied past behind. But even in the vacuum of an isolated life, Jeremiah Johnson seems doomed by threads to culture he cannot completely escape. As with "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," one can't help but feel that along with Indians and animals with which he shares the land, "A Brave New World will soon rush in and overrun them all. Written by TR

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