The 1972 movie Robert Redford made against all odds: “We think we can”

Robert Redford and director Sydney Pollack made *Jeremiah Johnson* despite studio doubts about its budget and commercial appeal. Redford’s persistence helped bring the film to the screen and foreshadowed his later work supporting independent filmmakers through the Sundance Institute and festival.

Redford said the film was made for $3 million after the studio estimated it would cost at least $5 million. Executives also worried that audiences would not buy Redford as a bearded mountain man and later struggled to market the finished film, which remained unreleased for three and a half years.