MovieChat Forums > Jeremiah Johnson (1972) Discussion > Where this movie lost my interest

Where this movie lost my interest

posted 17 years ago by Death_to_Pan_and_Scan
9 replies | jump to latest

It didn't take too long for me to change the channel on this one. Jeremiah Johnson gets the bald guy out of the ground and they catch up with the Indians that done baldy wrong, etc. Baldy manages to screw up Jeremiah's plan by shooting at the sleeping Indians and upsetting Redford for almost getting him killed. Baldy gathers scalps and horses, supplies, etcetera from dead Indians. Jeremiah somehow decides it would be a good idea to keep riding with this half-cocked trigger-happy guy and his collection of scalps and stolen horses in case they run into more Indians who may either wish them harm or be thrilled about the Indians they done killed. *CLICK* hmmm, what else is on now?...
After that point I didn't really care about the main character or what happened to him and therefore didn't care to finish watching the overrated movie.

Not many in their right mind would think it was smart to continue riding with the bald guy...
Welcome to another Hollywood installment of 'Bad Writing 101'. The quickest line between 3 plot points (which we will call A, B and C) is a straight line. Plot point B must happen so that plot points C and so forth can occur. Don't bother thinking about whether or not plot point B makes any logical sense whatsoever just keep writing and hope nobody notices.

[–] bmodica 17 years ago

Good point, Fan. Never thought of that. But, this is a film, and some license must be taken. I thought it to be a great movie overall. I remember my father taking me to see it after he had seen it. I was an adult by then, but he wanted me to see the wilds.

Billy the Kid

[–] derekhuffman 17 years ago

Turn on a movie. Pretty co-ed with perky tits, in the house alone is being harassed on the phone. She screams and runs and is ultimately killed by the boogeyman murderer.

She has no gun and there are no guns around in the house (hippies).

*CLICK* what else is on?

Get it.?

It's a story based on a novel, based on a real man's life. Go find the book, read it, and come back and tell us why he continued riding with Baldy.

D.

"Guns don't kill people, I kill people."

[–] yakpilot 17 years ago

Obviously you know nothing about the history of the fur trapping trade. If you did, you would know that trappers rarely rode alone. The hazzards were enormous and mutual support was almost essential to survive. Beyond that, if you knew anything about the real Johnson, you would know he was a fairly harsh individual in his own right. This is not at all bad writing. This is the best. Go back to your Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullaock and leae the Mountain Men flicks to us men.

[–] klmmicro 17 years ago

Interesting take. I had not thought of it in quite that way.

My take was that he wanted the company, even if "Baldy" had committed a stupid. Power to the numbers, even if it is only two. The happenings because of his riding with Baldy certainly do carry through the rest of the film.

[–] Death_to_Pan_and_Scan 17 years ago

Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock? The same Tom Hanks that was in the overrated movies Castaway and Forrest Gump? I remember when Zemeckis used to direct better films than those. Sandra Bullock who was in the mediocre film Lake House (remake of S.Korean film Il Mare) and lots of bad to mediocre films including the disappointing 'Forces of Nature' where a character makes a sudden 180 at the end of the film without having given the audience any reasons to understand that choice? I actually enjoyed The Net despite how utterly ridiculous it was, including Hollywood movies' concept of computers which clashes with everything anyone who has ever used one for more than a few months knows.

Now if you had instead told me to go back to Sho Kosugi's cheesy 80s ninja flicks -- which are both laughably bad AND thoroughly entertaining -- then you might have been onto something.

We have some lovely parting gifts for you, thank you for playing.

Screenwriting Pop Quiz:

1) A thief has decided to do 'one last big job' which will net them ebnough money to retire from the life of crime. What happens next?
a) everything goes smoothly and they live happily ever after
b) everything goes wrong and the character probably dies in the process

2) A crew planning a heist has (for whatever reason) taken a new member into their group for their current job. What happens next?
a) everything goes just like it always does
b) the new guy is mentally unstable or excessively violent and kills a hostage or law enforcement officer or even more likely turns on the leader of the gang pulling the heist, possibly shooting him.

3) A cop is one day/one week from retirement. Describe his remaining time on the force:
a) everything goes smoothly and without incident, then he buys a bar in a tropical location and lives out his life confortably
b) a major crime goes down on his last day/week and he is the one who has to solve it, because as we all know in America it's always one or two policemen who work on and solve each major crime, not a team of dozens of investigators like in Kurosawa's 'High and Low' (Tengoku to Jigoku, based on an Ed McBain novel).

-----
Your favorite tv show sucks like David Caruso's acting. If your favorite tv show is a reality show, then it sucks even worse.

[–] pullgees 16 years ago

Well there's hardly any story in this anyway just a collection of incidents. After an hour all I could think of is how is this going to end.

[–] tree_hugger 16 years ago

Yeah, that's all fair and good "Death to Pan and Scan." Now, what would your choice have been. You're in the wilderness, not the city. You can't just get company whenever you want it. If Jeremiah had stopped riding with Baldy, he probably wouldn't have seen another person who spoke english for a long, long time.

"I have the heart of a child-it sits in a jar on my desk." -Stephen King

[–] guitarnoise65 16 years ago

Johnson was willing to accept Del Gue's flaws. The pros of having a white man with some useful knowledge and skills outweighed the cons of that man being practically a homicidal lunatic. This is the mountains. You take what you get. Can't cheat the mountains, pilgrim.

~~"Lucas, you and I were just friends."~~

[–] superbadger 16 years ago

Umm, well, if somebody left me buried like that. I doubt they were giving some kind of spa treatment. So, I would assume they were trying to kill me (in gruesome fashion no less). I'd kind of want some vengeance, myself, in the same predicament. And as far as stealing the horses and supplies. Well, in the middle of the wilderness you need all the horses and supplies you can get and they obviously wouldnt have any further use for them and all, being dead.