How to Watch ‘Jeremiah Johnson’ and Pretend You Knew Robert Redford Was the Nodding Guy the Whole Time

In case you hadn’t heard the news from Film Twitter yet, the Nodding Meme Guy is a GIF of Robert Redford in his 1972 film Jeremiah Johnson. It is not a GIF of Zach Galifianakis doing a bit for his much more recent but similarly grainy web series, “Between Two Ferns.” If you didn’t know that, don’t worry, Twitter is a safe space for people to admit their ignorance on inconsequential matters that really don’t have have much of an impact on the world at all. (Kidding. Twitter is a hellscape, obviously.)

The Nodding Meme Guy Discourse (again, hellscape) was stirred up this week by Splinter when writer Nick Martin wrote a quick and fun post about his revelation that this meme—which is often used when one wants to convey a feeling of bittersweet pride or approval—is in fact, a GIF of Redford. Some of Twitter shared Martin’s surprise, others were shocked by the number of young people who couldn’t ID Redford in a beard. Hilarity (and by hilarity, I mean headache-inducing arguing) ensued.

But there’s good news if you’re under 30 and looking to brush up on your meme-able movie history: Jeremiah Johnson is available for purchase on VOD! For just one tiny payment of $3.99, you can rent the film on Amazon (or buy it for $12.99) and then you, too, can join in on the fun of feeling superior to all the young people who are so annoyingly young on Twitter. You can also rent it from YouTube, Google Play, or Vudu, if you prefer. Or if you just want to watch the meme scene, you can click play on the video below:

For a little more background on the film: It’s a western that stars Redford as Jeremiah Johnson, a Mexican war veteran who goes off to live in the woods by himself as a trapper. He does all the classic western stuff: Fight with Native Americans, adopts a young child, is gifted a young Native American girl as his bride—the usual! Directed by Tootsie‘s Sydney Pollack, the film was well-received by critics at the time, for the most part. Now its greatest legacy is a meme and a Twitter fight. What else can an artist hope for? So go ahead and give this film a watch, and educate yourself on meme history.

Where to stream Jeremiah Johnson