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In the so-called "Golden Age" of Hollywood Westerns, many directors made a name for themselves within this specific genre and rarely dared to venture outside of it. John Ford, Anthony Mann, Howard Hawks; they were all known for their work as Western directors, and rarely found success doing anything else.
However, as the Western genre evolved throughout the decades and became less affixed to the classic Hollywood model, various directors who'd found success in other genres began to try their hand at the Western. In 1979, this was Sydney Pollack.
Pollack had a wide and varied career; in 1969, he'd been nominated at the Academy Awards for his psychological drama They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. Before that, he'd attracted attention for his surrealist war comedy, Castle Keep. He had experience with Westerns, but they certainly weren't the genre he was most associated with.
And yet, Jeremiah Johnson changed everything for Pollack. The dark, sprawling tale of adventure and revenge was an enormous commercial success, grossing upwards of $44 million at the box office against a reported budget of just $3 million. The film proved that Hollywood Westerns weren't dying out after all—they just needed a fresh burst of energy from a new guard of filmmakers.
Today, the film is generally considered one of the greatest Westerns ever made, and one with immense influence over the industry. It was named No. 8 on IndieWire's ranking of the genre.
The film stars Robert Redford as the real-life mountain man Jeremiah Johnson, whose live of solitude and isolation in the Rocky Mountains was interrupted by a local tribe who pulled him into their violent vendetta. The film took inspiration from classic Westerns such as The Searchers and Django, but its historical roots and modern filmmaking gave it a fresh commercial appeal.
Although Jeremiah Johnson is now considered one of Pollack's best films, the auteur director almost wasn't involved at all. The film was originally going to be directed by established Western filmmaker Sam Peckinpah, with Clint Eastwood attached to the script. But when Peckinpah and Eastwood actually met, the pair failed to get along—and the director promptly stepped back from the film.
Without a director, Eastwood went his own way to make Dirty Harry instead, and Jeremiah Johnson was almost cancelled altogether. Thankfully, Warner Bros. intervened and gave the script to Robert Redford. The actor was already looking to work with Pollack again following their successful collaboration on This Property is Condemned, so he convinced the director to give it a shot, and the rest is history.
