Jeremiah Johnson … and the importance of ‘Casting’

Robert Redford as Jeremiah JohnsonRobert Redford as Jeremiah Johnson

“Are you sure you can skin griz?”

Just starting to working the Jeremiah Johnson profile.

Jeremiah Johnson has always presented one overall dilemna for me: Why cast Robert Redford as Jeremiah Johnson?

Redford did a great job, but he sure wouldn’t have been my choice. As a matter of fact, he almost seems like a case of outright ‘miscasting’. Redford, a good looking ‘matinee idol’ type and Johnson being a raw hard-boned ‘liver eating’ murdering mountain man. Does that fit for you?

Seems more likely a part for Lee Marvin, Tom Sellick, Charles Bronson, Lancaster … ?? or ten other guys before I’d think of Redford.

But … he pulled if off. Amazing.

So Jeremiah Johnson makes it to My Favorite Westerns list.

Another interesting casting problem looms for Tom Cruise – who is said to be putting together a re-make of The Magnicent Seven. Good grief ! How do find a cast that will inevitably be compared to the likes of Yul Brunner, James Coburn, Steve Mcqueen, Charles Bronson, etc. Is that at all possible? It’s going to be interesting to find out who they come up with.

Author: jcalberta

Howdy! I love Westerns. ... and the intent of MyFavoriteWesterns.com is to celebrate Western Movies/Film - old and new. This site will eventually show my top 30 favorite Westerns - or more. I will have original graphic work with regular updates. All this - and more ... Yee Haw ... !! - jcablerta / Moderator / Administrator

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