10 Westerns You Need To Watch After Playing Red Dead Redemption 2

7. Jeremiah Johnson

Good The Bad And The Red Dead
Warner Bros.

If you're at all familiar with Jeremiah Johnson, you probably know it from one of the most recognisable reaction gifs out there rather than the film itself.

Jeremiah Johnson Gif
Warner Bros.

But look past that admittedly hilarious clip and there's a film well worth your time. Presented as a feature (which includes an overture and an intermission), the dusty plains and tough talkin' cowboys are replaced with waist-deep snow and grizzled mountain men. Robert Redford is the eponymous Jeremiah Johnson, a veteran of the Mexican War, who sets off into the Colorado Rockies to put his troubled past behind him and start afresh. It transpires, however, that starting afresh isn't as simple as it may seem.

Johnson's journey takes many twists and turns - he is mentored by the seasoned and eccentric "Bear Claw" Lapp, is seemingly pranked into marrying a young Flathead Native woman by a fellow trapper, and he adopts a mute young boy whose family were killed. This provides him with an idyllic - if unorthodox - family life up in the high country. However this is short lived, as the meddling nature of a group of American settlers causes his relationship with the Crow Tribe to sour, and things take a very dark turn indeed.

Despite the odd goofy, out-of-placed moment and a couple of montages that haven't aged hugely well, Jeremiah Johnson is a nonetheless thoughtful and moving reflection on the natural world, and deserves special praise for its nuanced representation of the Indigenous people of America.

Contributor
Contributor

Neo-noir enjoyer, lover of the 1990s Lucasarts adventure games and detractor of just about everything else. An insufferable, over-opinionated pillock.