Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: When Jeremiah takes down the first group of Crows (the 5-on-1 fight) – 'kills 2 with a shotgun, one with a rifle swing to the head, pulls the guy off the horse, stabs him in the heart, gets stabbed in the back, shoots that guy, cuts the throat of the last one. Then lets the singing death guy go.'
• CR: The Swan montage – spring arrives, she teaches him to hunt, they build the house together.
• Doctor Bill: The ending – Jeremiah and Chief Paints His Shirt Red face off, Jeremiah reaches for his rifle, then the Chief raises his arm in a gesture of peace/respect. The narrator says 'and some folks say he's up there still.'
• Craig: The bear chasing Redford/Bear Claw into the cabin – impressive practical stunt with a real bear.

• CR: Disillusionment with war – the Vietnam parallel of a disillusioned soldier leaving civilization.
• Bill: The 2.5-minute overture to start the movie (just music and a still image) and the intermission with only 30 minutes left.
• Doctor Bill: Same – the overture and intermission, reminiscent of old epics like Ben-Hur.

• CR: The 'nod of approval' meme (Redford nodding with his beard – became an omnipresent social media GIF). Also: the John Milius dialogue.
• Doctor Bill: The voiceover narration and the music – 'normally anti-narrator, but it works perfectly here.'
• Bill: Redford's facial hair performance (5 o'clock shadow, full beard, shaved, regrown – tracks the passage of time). The Crows building a memorial/statue for Jeremiah out of respect while still trying to kill him. The narrator's voice.

• Bill: Giving your daughter away as repayment for a gift; not casting a Native American for Swan.
• CR: The opening song that lays out the entire plot of the movie – 'spoiler song.'

• CR: Del Gue's head sticking out of the sand as Caleb and Jeremiah come over the ridge.
• Craig: The bear chasing Bear Claw into the cabin – a long dolly shot with a real bear.

Bill: The ending – 'and some folks say he's up there still' with the guitar kicking in.

• Bill: Jeremiah's decision to go through the Crow burial ground – 'I just don't believe he'd do it after living in Crow land peacefully for years.'
• Doctor Bill: How Jeremiah survives all his injuries (axe in back, spear in stomach, near eye loss) with no medical attention.
• CR: Could have used 5 minutes in town before Jeremiah heads to the mountains (was in the original Milius script).

Bill: Del Gue (runner-up: the crazy mourning woman).

• CR: Redford should have made 2-3 more survival/nature movies – 'an untapped micro genre between this and All Is Lost.'
• Bill: Not enough kills – counted 13 Crow kills on screen, wanted 28-30. Did a detailed kill breakdown with classifications.
• Bill's unanswerable question treated as a take: Jeremiah might be dead for the last 20 minutes – gets an axe in the back and then everything is too perfect. 'He's like 'Top Gun' Maverick, dead the whole time.'

• Originally intended for Lee Marvin; then Clint Eastwood with Sam Peckinpah directing (fell apart – Eastwood did Dirty Harry instead).
• Steve McQueen also mentioned as a possibility.
• By decade: 1982 Harrison Ford, 1992 Daniel Day-Lewis, 2002 Russell Crowe, 2012 Brad Pitt, 2022 no consensus (Austin Butler, Ryan Gosling discussed; Glenn Powell 'too happy').

The drunk crazy mourning woman; Del Gue; Hatchet Jack (posthumously via his letter).

Hatchet Jack gets the Dion Waiters award even though he was dead – his letter ('being of sound mind and broke legs') is an all-time scene-stealer.

• Tribes considered 'crazy' people untouchable/sacred – Del Gue would talk to himself for protection.
• The real Liver-Eating Johnson allegedly ate Crow livers. 'The filmmakers decided not to pursue that angle.'
• Redford was a pallbearer when the real Johnson's body was moved in 1974.
• Internet theory: the movie is structured as an ascent and descent, passing the same landmarks in reverse.

• Mountains in movies: Yes, possibly the apex.
• Crow burial grounds: '100%.'
• Will Geer: Yes (this + starting on The Waltons the same year).
• Sydney Pollack: Probably Tootsie overall.

CR and Bill: Spielberg (though Silence-era Scorsese could handle the isolation).

CR and Doctor Bill: Del Gue. Bill argues Bear Claw is also possible.

• Doctor Bill: The timeline of Swan's trinket appearing in the burial ground doesn't work – they'd have had to kill her and bring it back while Jeremiah was still en route.
• CR: Jeremiah wouldn't leave his family alone; also the burial ground decision needed more resistance.
• Bill: The Crows never figure out a better strategy than 1v1 combat – 'somebody's going to figure out how to beat Jeremiah. There's got to be some move.'

• Was Jeremiah a Mexican War deserter?
• Was Bear Claw gay (or a virgin)? ('I never could find no tracks on a woman's heart.').
• Is Jeremiah dead for the last 20 minutes? Bill's theory: he dies from his wounds and everything after is the legend being told.

• Doctor Bill: The 50-caliber Hawken rifle; second choice: the bear coat Swan made.
• CR: Jeremiah's red coat.

• Bill: Don't pass through a Crow burial ground.
• CR: Don't leave your family alone on the range. Also: if you're Murph, don't go on a camping trip.

• Doctor Bill: Triple feature – 'Jeremiah Johnson', Outlaw Josey Wales, The Searchers.
• CR: The Revenant – 'an interesting modern retelling of the same kind of story.'
• Bill: Castaway (changed from Last of the Mohicans).

Robert Redford – unanimously. CR notes: 'Do you think Redford's not going to win every movie in Redford Month?'

Redford.

Craig: 'Fascinating experiment. This is the most alien to anything going on today in Hollywood. The furthest thing from what would be commercially successful now. One of the most gorgeous movies I've ever seen.' Called it 'the hardest sell to someone in their 20s-30s today.'