Jeremiah Johnson is a Western movie from 1972 that stars Robert Redford and Will Geer as “Bear Claw” Chris Lapp. It was directed by Sydney Pollack.
Part of the movie is based on the life of the legendary mountain man John Jeremiah Johnson, as told in Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson by Raymond Thorp and Robert Bunker and Mountain Man by Vardis Fisher.
Was there a real person named Jeremiah Johnson?
The movie gave him the name Jeremiah Johnson, but his real name was John Johnston. He took that name after he was kicked out of the Navy for hitting an officer during the Mexican-American War.
Johnson went to the mountains to find peace and quiet after he got out of the Navy. The story goes that his first stop was a cabin near the Little Snake River in northern Colorado.
He became friends with an older mountain man named Old John Hatcher, who taught him how to hunt, trap, and stay alive.
After learning how to stay alive in the wilderness, he went off on his own. During his travels, he got married to a member of the Flathead tribe and started to set up his new life.
If Johnson had been a mountain man, we wouldn’t be telling his stories. The story goes that while he was out hunting, the local Crow tribe killed and scalped his pregnant wife. So, he went after the Crow to get back at him.
Is the story in the Jeremiah Johnson movie true?
“Jeremiah Johnson” is based on the true story of John Johnston, who was also called Crow-Killer and Liver-Eater Johnston.
Jeremiah (Robert Redford) hates civilization so much that he decides to live as a mountain man in the Rocky Mountains. But the main problem is that he doesn’t know how to stay alive in the harsh conditions of the mountains.
He meets Chris Lapp, a mountain man played by Will Geer, who saves him from starvation and teaches him how to live in the dangerous winters and rough mountain conditions.
“Jeremiah Johnson” faces many trials, troubles, and challenges in his new life as a tough individualist. He learns how to skin a dangerous grizzly bear and trade with Indians.
Even though he asked the soldiers to leave, “Jeremiah Johnson” seems to have found peace with this new family in the wilderness. That is, until he helps some soldiers break into a Crow cemetery. The Crow Indians attack Johnson in return.
Johnson is so angry that he says he will kill every Crow Indian he sees in the area. This gives him the nickname “Crow Killer.”
This classic western, which was filmed entirely on location in Utah, has beautiful scenery that shows both the beauty and danger of the mountains.
Still alive is actor Robert Redford. Where is he now?
The news that Robert Redford had died was a lie. He is still alive and well. Since the 1970s, he has been a regular in Hollywood. He is known for acting and for starting the Sundance Film Festival.
In recent years, however, the actor hasn’t been in as many movies, and there has been a lot of talk about whether or not he is officially retiring. Robert said he was done working in 2018, but then he showed up in another movie.
After The Old Man and the Gun came out a year ago, he made a surprise appearance in the Marvel movie Avengers: Endgame, which came out in 2019.
Robert moved away from Sundance, too. In 2019, he said he would no longer be involved in the same way with the Sundance Film Festival.