 jeremiah johnson is a 1972 western film directed by sydney pollack and starring robert redford as the title character and will geer as "bear claw" chris lapp. the film has been said to have been based in part on the life of the legendary mountain man liver-eating johnson, based on raymond thorp and robert bunker's book crow killer: the saga of liver-eating johnson and vardis fisher's mountain man. the script was written by john milius and edward anhalt; the film was shot at various locations in redford's adopted home state of utah. it was entered into the 1972 cannes film festival. ==plot== a jaded veteran of the mexican war (1846â48), jeremiah johnson (robert redford) seeks solace and refuge in the west. he aims to take up the life of a mountain man, supporting himself in the rocky mountains as a trapper. his first winter in the mountain country is a difficult one; he has a brief run-in with paints-his-shirt-red (joaquin martinez), a chief of the crow tribe, who observes a starving johnson futilely fishing by hand. initially, johnson uses a .30 caliber hawken rifle for hunting and protection, but finds it under-powered for his needs. he stumbles on the frozen body of hatchet jack (another mountain man), clutching a .50 caliber hawken in his dead hands. jack's legs were broken while fighting a bear, and knowing he was going to die, jack wrote a will giving his rifle to the first man who came across his corpse. johnson gladly takes it for his own. he then inadvertently disrupts the grizzly bear hunt of the elderly and eccentric "bear claw" chris lapp (will geer). after meeting at gunpoint ("i know who you are; you're the same dumb pilgrim i've been he
1970s_Western_(genre)_films 1970s_drama_films 1972_films American_Western_(genre)_films American_drama_films American_films English-language_films Films_about_Native_Americans Films_based_on_novels Films_directed_by_Sydney_Pollack Films_set_in_Colorado Films_set_in_the_1850s Films_shot_in_Utah Warner_Bros._films