Jeremiah Johnson (1972) Review

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(More customer reviews)This movie is one of several fascinating historical threads that I have been following since I first saw it as a 12-year old and loved it. First, it is based on the actual life of a mountain man named John Johnston, later changed to Johnson, and known in the West from the mid-1840s as Liver-Eating Johnson (see the book "Crow Killer" published 1958, R.W. Thorp & R. Bunker). I did not know this until recently and assumed it was all fiction. He was a huge man for his time, 6'2" and 240 pounds in his early 20's, had fists the size of baked hams and was best in hand-to-hand fighting with his 16" Bowie knife. Thorp and Bunker based the book on first-person interviews with several mountain men and others who had known of him, including, surprisingly, the famous photographer of the 1870's West, W.H. Jackson (photographer for the Hayden Expedition and famous for the first photograph of Mount of the Holy Cross near Vail, Colorado), but the real detail being furnished by an old mountain man named White-Eye Anderson, who told the story to R.W.T. in 1941 when he was in his 90's. After Johnson's Flathead wife was murdered on the Musselshell in Montana by a band of young Crow braves, Johnson "took the trail" on the entire Crow nation. His calling card, for over 20 years of butchery on the Crows, was to remove the liver of every Crow he killed and eat it. The Crows called him "Dapiek Absaroka". Vardis Fischer, on whose book this movie is based, "borrowed" as well certain scenes from a book written in the 1840's called "Life in the Far West" by George Ruxton, a first-person account of life in and near the Colorado Rockies. This movie does a fine job with a subset of Johnston's life, leaving out his service in the Civil War, and his later life as a town marshal and finally, his death in an old veterans home in Los Angeles. I got the notion that Fischer's book bordered on plagiarism after reading Ruxton, and after reading Crow Killer it seems all Fischer did was change Johnson's name to Jeremiah and slap on a cover with his name on it. The movie also leaves out that Johnson spies, among the pile of bones that was his wife outside the cabin, a round object about the size of an orange - the skull of his unborn baby. He collects the bones of wife and baby and puts them in an iron pot and inters them behind carefully mortised rocks near the cabin; a shrine, his "kittle 'o bones" those closest to him called it (never in his presence) he visits over the years. Will Geer's character, near as I kin figger, is based on a friend of Johnson's named "Bear Claw" Chris Lapp, a man known to say, when presented with grizzly claws his mountain man friends collected for him to make necklaces of, "Great Jehosophat! Pocahontas and John Smith!" The Crazy Woman, one of the most sympathetic characters I have ever seen in a movie, was in real life the wife of John Morgan, a foolish homesteader on the Oregon Trail who quarreled with the wagon master and took off on his own only to be tomahawked and scalped alive by Crows, his daughter raped and scalped alive, and his two young sons killed. Mrs Morgan, having killed several of the Indians with an axe yet driven insane by the loss, lived on the Musselshell and was cared for by Johnson and his fellow mountain men for years. The movie leaves out the little detail that she and Johnson beheaded the Crow corpses and set them on stakes at each corner of the graveyard where she buried her children, the weathered skulls a powerful medicine for the Crows ever after. It was the Crow's deference to this insane white woman living in their midst that finally convinced Johnson to call off his vendetta against them, after having killed nearly 400 Crow warriors. Liver-Eating Johnson's grave (and here I borrow heavily from "Crow Killer") is in a cemetary off of Sepulveda Boulevard (interesting, that. One of Johnson's comrades was a huge black-bearded Hispanic named "Big Anton Sepulveda") in a section called San Juan Hill, row D, 2nd stone from the road reads "Jno. Johnston, Co. H, 2nd Colo. Cav.". Get the movie and enjoy it; it's a true story. Only took me 30 years to find that out.

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Robert Redford has one of his best-ever roles as a 19th century mountain man in a wilderness of harsh elements and hostile Indians. Directed by The Firm's Sydney Pollack. Year: 1972 Director: Sydney Pollack Starring: Robert Redford, Will Geer, Stefan Gierasch DVD Features:FeaturetteProduction Notes

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This Property Is Condemned (1966) Review

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(More customer reviews)How could a movie fanatic go wrong with this one? Sidney Pollack directing, with Francis Ford Coppola helping out with the adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play? A great cast , with especially memorable performances from Natalie Wood, Kate Reid and Mary Badham (as younger sister, Willie Starr)? Roberts Redford and Blake and Charles Bronson thrown in for lagniappe? Sounds like great gumbo to me.
Natalie Wood is absolutely alluring in this one. She and Redford, who also teamed together in the memorable INSIDE DAISY CLOVER, did indeed appear to have a lot of screen chemistry. He is the cynical company man who appears like the Grim Reaper in a small, shabby, depression-era southern town, carrying pink slips with him, instead of a scythe. The role has a lot of resonance now, what with all the corporate downsizing currently going on. Needless to say, the townfolk don't much cotton to Mr Owen Legate, with his fancy suit and self-assured ways.
With a couple notable exceptions. Tom boyish Willie Starr is taken by him right away and the minute her big sister Alma sets eyes on him, she's putty. Wood's expression in that initial glance is part of film history.
Owen further antagonizes the townfolk because they see that Alma has taken a shine to an outsider. Alma's been something of a tramp up this point, givining it up to varying degrees to most of the men in the town. Several of them, including an old geezer with an invilid wife, have been fantazising about further adventures with Alma. And Alma's mother is upset with Owen, because she sees that he is going to take away her gravy train. Hazel Starr is one of Williams' great eccentric female characters, and perhaps his most unctuous (though Amanda Wingfield, in THE GLASS MENAGERIE, is no prize, either. Kate Reid is perfect in the role. This, to me is her most memorable performance, followed closely by her title role in AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE, which unfortunatley appears to be impossible to find. It's hard to believe she never won an Oscar or a Tony.
This was only the second feature film that Pollock directed. He of course went on to great things with such films as THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY and TOOTSIE. He and Cinematographer James Wong Howe do a great job of capturing small southern town lethargy, as well as 30's New Orleans ambience. The print, unfortunately, could definitely use a full restoration. It's faded noticeably over time. The film certainly warrants the extra work. Yet time cannot wither Natalie Wood. She's still one of the most lovely women a camera ever made love to. This film definitely belongs near the top of the list for screen adaptations of Williams' plays.
BEK

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Inspired by Tennessee Williams' play. Brought to life by Hollywood's biggest stars.He's the wrong man to love. How could it all seem so right?Robert Redford and Natalie Wood headline this sexually charged Depression-era drama. Redford (whose next film, Barefoot In The Park), would rocket him to stardom) plays Owen Legate, a railroad official come to backwater Dodson, Mississippi, with a pocketful of pink slips for the yard employees. Wood (at age 28 already a 23-year screen veteran) portrays the town flirt whose affair with Legate ignites her mother's - and the town's - revenge.Repressed desires, sultry women, sweltering weather and a handsome stranger... this is Tennessee Williams territory. And with stars Redford, Wood and co-star Charles Bronson, it's all prime property.

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The Great Gatsby (1974) Review

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(More customer reviews)I get the impression that the people giving this movie poor reviews are a mix of 1) intellectual snobs (or would-be) who think it compulsory to pan any screen attempt to tackle great literature or 2) hooligans who can't appreciate a movie unless it's got blood, guts, and vulgarity (in short, like most movies made today). I loved Fitzgerald's book, and I loved this film, and here's why:
It is not only an effective, emotionally gripping rendition of the book (made plain by the very dislike so many people express for its intentionally dislikable characters), but it is a visually stunning one, capturing all the hollow gold of the glitzy era the book so devastatingly indicts, and the performances by nearly all the players are superb (with special kudos to Sam Waterston for the very personification of Nick the narrator). For all those who say the movie is lacking depth or who criticize Mia Farrow's rendering of Daisy as flighty, your very criticism reveals the film's great achievement of realizing the main point of the book. Fitzgerald's point was that the Roaring Twenties WERE shallow, represented by the "rotten crowd" of "careless people" (quoted from the book, and in Nick's commentary at the end of the movie) that very much included Daisy, as well as Tom. I don't know how any honest reading of the book could interpret Daisy as "sensible," as one critic put it, and even "vulnerable" is a stretch. Quoted from book and paraphrased in movie: "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..." Farrow's fey performance portrays her character very accurately, best summed up by the exchange between Nick and Robert Redford's Gatsby: Nick: "She has an indiscreet voice." Gatsby: "Her voice is full of--money." Moreover, Bruce Dern as Tom, though less physically imposing than implied in the book, is nevertheless the consummate, racist bully he is supposed to be, and caused me to cower instinctively whenever he spoke.
The movie faithfully conveys the story of a deeply flawed, not atypical, hero, Gatsby, living in a world he built on dreams of his own fabrication, including his lovely Daisy. He is a man of such endless hope, romance, and a kind of chivalry (much is made of his war heroism in the book, and this is emphasized in several scenes in the movie) that is not without egotism, pomp, and an "eagerness to be liked" that Redford brings so well to the role. Almost noble in his earnestness and belief in romantic love, he rises from poverty in an age (not unlike our own?) when money is confused with class and nobility. Being unable to compete in that crass, careless, selfish, shallow world (for how long can anyone, when there's always someone richer?), he and his dreams are doomed. One of many great acting moments in the film takes place when Nick advises Gatsby he "can't repeat the past." Redford looks back at him, incredulous, almost as if he'd been struck, "Can't repeat the past? Of COURSE you can!" The words ring out, ominous in a hopelessness obvious to everyone but Gatsby.
I agree with others below who praised the performances of some of the lesser characters as well, including a genuinely heartbreaking portrayal of Gatz, Gatsby's father.
Dump the critics, read the book, and buy the film.

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Adaptation of the Fitzgerald novel about a dashing enigmatic millionaire obsessed with an elusive, spoiled young woman.Genre: Feature Film-DramaRating: PG13Release Date: 8-AUG-2006Media Type: DVD

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The Horse Whisperer (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Horse Whisperer is not a typical Hollywood movie. But then, none of the films Redford has directed, are in any way typical. The first time I really took notice of his work, was after seeing "A River Runs Through It". He had managed to tell a brutal, sad story in a mystical way that held me spell-bound.
Whisperer takes that feeling one step further. It will hold you and then squeeze your heart till the tears come. This is not a sad film however. It is the story of a spiritual journey that a family makes with the aid of a talented guide, Tom Booker, (played by Redford himself). Each of them takes their own paths but make it through some trying times, emerging stronger than when they began.
The story gets going as a result of a terrible accident involving two young girls who are out riding in icy, lightly forested terrain. The lone survivor, Grace, is traumatised by the loss of her friend, her foot and, in another way, her horse Pilgrim. Not that Pilgrim was killed, despite the wishes of the local veterinarian, but it was not the same, sane horse that it had been.
The normal tensions that existed within the family are magnified by the aftermath of the accident. Grace becomes withdrawn, suffering guilt and shame which show themselves in her bitterness toward her parents, Annie and Robert. At the same time she makes a connection between herself and Pilgrim. The horse's fate seems to be a grim portent of her own future; scarred, maddened and kept in a dark and lonely place.
Annie's desperate search for a treatment for Pilgrim is therefore very understandable. She hopes to build a bridge back to the world for her daughter, by healing Pilgrim. Here enters the almost magical legend of the Horse Whisperers. A breed of men, so in tune with horses, that they are said to be able to talk with them... to look into the soul of the beast and calm its raging spirit.
Tom Booker seems to have a healthy scepticism for the legend however and makes his down to earth philosophy pretty clear from the first moment when we hear him say, " Well truth is, I help horses with people problems."
Despite Tom and Robert's reluctance, Annie drags Grace from her pit of despair, to cross the country on the slim hope of making everything right again, on a Montana ranch, with a little help from a horse whisperer. Her expectation are rudely shattered within hours of arriving. Tom doesn't act like a paid specialist. From the outset it is clear to him that young Grace needs as much healing as Pilgrim. And this is a load he seems more than capable of bearing.
By now we are well and truly hooked by the story. But the best is yet to come. Redford clearly loves the great outdoors and his feeling shouts from the big screen. Montana must be God's own country because it is breathtaking. Now add a dash of wholesome family values, good old hard work, reluctant romance and a pinch of equine shamanism and you've got something special.
The Horse Whisperer is a movie that makes you feel like dozing in the long grass, on a lazy Summer afternoon. Don't be afraid of grass stains; go see this unusual film and have a roll in the grass for me.

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Academy Award(R)-winner Robert Redford (Best Director, 1980, ORDINARY PEOPLE) stars with Adademy Award(R)-nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (Best Actress, 1996, THE ENGLISH PATIENT) in this landmark epic adapated from one of the most acclaimed novels of our time! After a devastating riding accident, a young girl and her beloved horse are both left with serious physical and emotional scars. Determined to help, the girl's desperate mother (Thomas) puts her busy, big-city life on hold and travels west to seek out the "Horse Whisperer." When she meets this rugged, down-to-earth rancher (Redford), she discovers his extraordinary gift with animals also touches the lives of the people around him! Featuring Hollywood favorites Sam Neill (JURASSIC PARK) and Oscar(R)-winner Dianne Wiest (Best Supporting Actress, 1994, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY) in a superb cast -- critics and moviegoers alike were captivated by this powerful motion picture event!

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Out of Africa (1985) Review

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(More customer reviews)The transfer of OUT OF AFRICA is gorgeous on this newly released DVD. The African sun is bright and the detail is crisp -- very important since the scenery is practically a third character in this Oscar-winning "Best Picture" from 1985.
I really enjoyed "Song of Africa", the documentary created for this DVD release. Not mentioned in the DVD's technical specs, this documentary features several cut scenes not included in the film (except in a network television showing). Example: the subplot of the servant boy with the bad leg whom Karen Blixen heals. There are a few Redford-Streep scenes there, too, which ended up on the cutting room floor (a last dance among Karen Blixen's packed-up home; a made-up story on safari.)
Also, the documentary features incredibly funny and entertaining tales told by Meryl Streep. She is a great mimic -- listen to the sound effects that woman can make! At times hilarious and reflective, she shares stories about the making of the film (the story of a tethered lion she was supposed to whip is particularly funny). Conspicuously absent (just like in THE WAY WE WERE DVD) is Mr. Redford's point of view.
Also interesting is screenwriter Kurt Luedtke's tales of the script. It is fascinating to learn about the genesis of classic moments. Wait til you hear how he came up with the idea of Streep getting her hair washed by Redford. (Then listen to Streep's hilarious story of the Hippos in the river!) Also revealing is composer John Barry's interview. His scoring of Blixen's desert march is interesting -- music can really shape a scene!
OUT OF AFRICA is one of my favorite films. The widescreen version on this DVD is a great presentation! Definitely one for your collection! Thanks, Universal and Sydney Pollack for putting together a great package.

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The most acclaimed motion picture of 1985 stars Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in one of the screen’s great epic romances.Directed by Oscar winner Sydney Pollack, Out of Africa is the fascinating true story of Karen Blixen, a strong-willed woman who, with her philandering husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer), runs a coffee plantation in Kenya, circa 1914.To her astonishment, she soon discovers herself falling in love with the land, its people and a mysterious white hunter (Redford).The masterfully crafted, breathtakingly produced story of love and loss earned Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay (based on material from another medium), Cinematography, Original Score, Art Direction (Set Decoration) and Sound.

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