Company Always on the run
Destiny is the rising sun
Oh I was born 6-gun in my hand
Behind a gun I’ll make my final stand
That’s why they call me Bad company
And I can’t deny
Bad company
Till the day I die
Till the day I die
Till the day I die Rebel souls
Deserters we are called
Chose a gun and threw away the sun
Now these towns
They all know our name 6-gun sound is our claim to fame
I can hear them say Bad company
And I won’t deny
Bad Bad company
Till the day I die
Till the day I die
SOLO Bad
Bad company
I can’t deny
Bad company
Till the day I die
And I say it’s
Bad company Oh Yeah—Yeah
Bad company
Till the day I die Oh Yeah Tell me that you are not a thief
Oh But I am
Bad Company
It’s the way I play
Dirty for dirty
Oh Somebody Double-crossed me
Double-cross
Double-cross
Yeah
We’re Bad company
Kill in cold blood
Jeremiah Johnson and Billy the Kid: Stranger than Fiction?
I doubt many care – or even that it’s all that important – but Robert Redford doesn’t look much like the real Jeremiah Johnson.
JOHNSON … REDFORD
However … in most Westerns, it don’t really seem to matter whether the actor looks like the actual person – or not. There’s plenty of examples: Kris Kristofferson as Billy the Kid in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Kristofferson was too good looking for ‘the Kid’ – and was also in his 30’s. While the ‘Kid’ was … well … an ugly cuss (if I can tell by the famous photo) and was about 20 years old … almost ‘a kid’. But, James Coburn didn’t look a whole lot like Pat Garrett … I better stop here. Great movie though.
So if likeness’ is a casting necessity … ?
Hell, maybe it’s just too darn hard to find anybody that ugly who can act.
A young Henry Silva actually looks a lot like ‘the Kid”.
SILVA … THE ‘KID’
In most other movie biographies though, likeness is important. For instance, If you’re playing Winston Churchill … Redford wouldn’t get the job … and also (hopefully) the chance to murder an English accent.
And I do admit that Redford’s ‘matinée idol’ looks did initially grate on me a bit when I first watched Jeremiah Johnson. I figured they should have cast somebody a bit more (or a lot more?) rugged looking than Redford. Someone like Tom Selleck maybe, or Lee Marvin. Bronson? (Trivia says that this movie was initially to star Clint Eastwood as Johnson – and be directed by Sam Peckinpah … WOW! … that would have been a different movie … punk) We didn’t get lucky.
Director Sydney Pollock, however, had a very simple philosophy about making a movie: Employ Stars. Star Power guarantees success. And Pollock surely knew Redford’s Star Power – Directing him in seven movies.
And all in all … Redford did a great job: one of My Favorite Westerns.
The other beef I had with the movie was that the actual (supposed) true story about Jeremiah Johnson seemed more interesting than the movie version.
I suspect, however, that some of these ‘facts’ about Johnson pushed a few credibility buttons … and was hardly the stuff of ‘Heros’. “Liver Eating Johnson”?! Some believe Johnson actually did this. It’s said that the Crow believed that unless a body was intact that the spirit could not pass over. So Johnson removed the liver and … yet it’s also said that Johnson confessed once that this story was a story he propagated (to scare or anger the Crow?) But if you were a cannibal, would you admit it?
Possible. Probable? Believable?
I figure some of these ‘details’ were kept out of the movie because not only do they seem implausible, but they made the character – our Hero – a lot less of a Goodguy.
As the Crow flies …
Then there’s the story that Johnson killed over 300 Crow braves. 300?!! That’s a hell of a lot of empty Teepees. Let’s see … if the Crow sent only one brave at a time (as the movie suggests)… and Johnson killed one brave a month … it would take 25 years to kill 300 Crow. That’s almost as hard to swallow as liver. 30 would be impressive enough … and believable. But 300 … ??? You have to question it.
But who’s counting?
Johnson? The Crow? (I might believe their count). But Johnson’s …
Yet … maybe it’s true.
Billy the Kid’s myth labours under similar suspicious history. Some claim ‘The Kid” really only killed about 4 people … though folklore and myth claim about 20 … or more.
So … the truth is … we really don’t know the truth.
Yet again … sometimes the truth IS indeed ‘stranger than fiction’.
Slowly putting in my content for Pekinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. I have a ton, but have still been slowed down by this persistent flu – which I’ve had for 2 weeks now. It’s a killer.
The story behind the making of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid in very interesting. Pekinpah’s ongoing fight with studio over content and costs. Reminds me of John Huston’s battle with the studio during his making of Unforgiven (starring Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn). Both of these films still turned out to be Classics despite all the infighting and interference. To production people, movies are about money – that’s all. But to Pekinpah and Huston movies are about Art. Can you imagine somebody telling these guys how to make a movie? Incredible.
Making a movie is a tough task – involves hundreds of people. When you think of all the things that go wrong, it’s a wonder that anything gets turned out at all.
I was laid low by a nasty flu for over a week. I’m not over it yet, but I think I’ll feel well enough to do some work here.
Mainly, I’ve continued research on Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. It’s worth noting that Pekinpah’s version of ‘the kid’ saga does pretty well follow the actual historical chain of events. So those who often criticize many western movies for historical inaccuracy should take note. There are some liberties taken, such as Kristopherson’s age (32) compared to ‘the kid (20).
I’ve included a link to the Wiki which details the events. But with or without any such inaccuracies this would have been a fine piece of Western film making.
