MovieChat Forums > Jeremiah Johnson (1972) Discussion > weakest scene (spoilers)

weakest scene (spoilers)

posted 16 years ago by autopro50
20 replies | jump to latest

I liked this movie, but to me the weakest part is the montage of him fighting a series of Crow near the end. It seems out of place in the movie and just doesn't seem to fit stylistically with the rest of the film.

[–] rush42-519-302196 11 years ago

It fit's perfectly. They were attempting to show the passage of time. You have to realize this is based on a true story. Johnson was at war with the Crow tribe for about a decade before they made peace with each other. After that he actually fought alongside them .For a normal length film it's about the only way they could show time passing with numerous fights occuring during that timeframe.

[–] Wuchakk 11 years ago

The scene's not weak because it's merely a cinematic technique to illustrate THE PASSING OF TIME and JJ's ongoing fights with braves who want to defeat him and make a "name for themselves." That's the purpose of the montage.

The reason the filmmakers didn't want to actually SHOW all the fights is because it would've added another half hour to film, which would've been unnecessary since the film has plenty of one-on-one fights between JJ and various natives. This decision keeps the film lean & mean and lacking redundancy.

[–] Samus Aran 8 years ago

That and the wife's cooking being terrible seemed out-of-place to me. Why couldn't she cook well? Why was he wasting food resources and acting like a 4 year old (he's a mountain man, you don't waste food)?

[–] rj-27 8 years ago

Far from being a weak scene, that was beautifully rendered. She's making some kind of baked roots cake from something found more abundantly that her culture eats routinely, and he wants protein.

Then he tops it off with that "Great hunter. Yes? Fine figure of a man. Yes? That is all you need to know...for now".

Democracy is the pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. H.L. Mencken

[–] lantzn 7 years ago

He was used to meat especially jerky, maybe even berries and such. The cakes may have tasted horrible to his palate. He went straight for the jerky after spitting it out. Who knows what they were made of, possibly a root or vegetable unknown to him.