Death Song? - Jeremiah Johnson (1972) Discussion

[–] mtnman-1 19 years ago

Are you talking about the fat indian that fell to his kness and started singing? I was under the belief that he turned and walked away and layed down. Thus letting the indian live to go tell all of those others that came for Jeremiah later on.

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[–] smith93 19 years ago

Yeah, he definitley didn't kill that Indian.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Craig-9 18 years ago

I think the indians that kept coming after him were doing so because he'd violated the burial ground, not because he attacked the raiding party he thought had killed his family (just got done watching it and that's how I read it, anyway). But then, I also saw an arrow in Johnson's cabin with a red ring, suggesting it came from the indian "Paints-His-Shirt-Red" who Johnson shared a peace pipe with earlier, and then, isn't he the guy Johnson waves at at the end?

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] ozymandias312 18 years ago

Yeah, it's been a while, but I believe he spared that one. So there'd be a witness. He wanted 'em to know who did it -- and why.

Ozy

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[–] autopro50 16 years ago

He definitely left that guy alive (I just watched this movie last night). But it wasn't clear to me it was to have him tell the others about him - he seemed exhausted (he'd just fought like 5 guys), and seemed to have a grudging respect for the guy when he stops fleeing, and turns to face his fate bravely. Johnson immediately lies down. I think he has mixed feeling because he's become a violent killer, which was not the plan. I just didn't take it that he chose not to fight that guy to send a message to the others, just that he had overcome the blood lust that drove him to fight the group in the first place.

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[–] jimira1ll 18 years ago

If you want a death song, it's ironically during the wedding scene. My people,the salish, sing it at funerals.

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[–] ChimericalCanon 17 years ago

Your people the flathead sioux? Or a northern coastal tribe? Salish is is spoken by a lot of tribes, was like a trade language in some places. The notion of a "death song" though is different from tribe to tribe. I think the one the lil fat indian sang would be a crow death song and crow don't speak Salish (specifically). So... your death song is something to be sung at a wedding and the crow have their own death song they sing in battle. I think that's all proper... thats how I remember my studies in this area.

"Me no have education, me have inspiration. If I was educated I'd be a damn fool." -Bob Marley

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[–] arl3876 17 years ago

The dialect of Salish spoken in the film is Montana Salish Dialect which is spoken on the Flathead Indian reservation. There is no Flathead sioux. The Spokanes and Kalispels in eastern Washington state speak similar dialects. Coastal Salish is very different from the Salish spoken in Montana or Eastern Washington. The technical advisor was from the Flathead Indian reservation and was the one speaking to Johnson and Del Gue when they first meet the Flatheads. I have heard that drum song but don't think it is specifically a wedding sing or wake song. BTW, technical advisor is also the one drumming and he lives in my town so next time I see him a will ask him about it since he is alive and well.

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[–] Gilles_Meloche 18 years ago

I don't think it was a 'death song'...it was more like a tribute to Johnson himself...if you listen closely, it sounds like he's singing, "...yellow hair....yellow hair..."

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Amry0217 17 years ago

Just saw it tonight on AMC. It's true, he didn't kill the Indian just went off maybe 20 feet away and laid down on his side. ? Wikipedia calls him a "Holy Man", maybe that had something to do with Jerry's strange behavior.

I also thought the movie ended with that guy singing but tonight it went on for quite a while after that.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
He lifts me clear to the sky, you know he taught me to fly

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] zanzafarn1 17 years ago

I just finished watching this film for he first time, and my thought on this scene was that Jeremiah was in a blind rage going after that group and as a viewer i wanted him to slaughter those (to my thinking at that moment) "savages" even if they weren't the ones who killed Swan and Caleb. It is a well crafted scene that made me feel exactly what Jeremiah was feeling and when that when the man fell to his knees and began sing, i felt bad for rooting on the killings.I believe Jeremiah felt the same.It humanized the singing man, as well as Jeremiah.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] dkrathbun 16 years ago

It struck me that the white-faced Native American who falls to his knees and sings to Johnson (after Johnson has killed the rest of his party and is running him down to kill him as well) is clearly and obviously PRAYING TO JOHNSON to spare his life.

The fact that Johnson spares him in apparent response to prayer is the first step in Johnson's deification by the natives. This is consistent with what Johnson hears from Bear Claw later, and from the monument the natives build to Johnson: they have come to consider him a god, and this is the first time he is identified as one.

It seems so inituitively clear to me, and yet, as I said, I have no supporting proof (such as the proof that a translation of the song might provide).

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] SaudiUtah 15 years ago

My understanding of the scene is that the Brave is sending a Death Song, and Jeremiah Johnson knowing what he was singing, left him to live. Since the Brave sang the death song, he had to take his own life as a result.....thus it was an act of contempt of Jeremiah's part.

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[–] dkrathbun 15 years ago

That appears to be a valid objection to my assertion. The warrior may pray to his god or gods, yes, but never to spare his life. I concur.

Thank you.

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