Dead Man (1995)

• Year: 1995
• Released: 10 May 1996
• Country: United States, Germany, Japan
• Adwords: 5 wins & 14 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dead_man
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/dead-man
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, Cree
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
• Runtime: 121 min
• Writer: Jim Jarmusch
• Director: Jim Jarmusch
• Cast: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover
• Keywords: murder, 19th century, black and white, sheriff, dying and death,

	7.5/10
	62/100
	70% – Critics
	88% – Audience

Dead Man Storyline

Heading towards a metalworks factory at the edge of the known universe, a pristine, young accountant named William Blake steps into the ungodly, mechanical Hell that is the town of Machin, and so begins this man’s descent into purgatory, in the wrong place, at a point where time itself is non-existent. Blake arrives in Machin after a demented, tireless train ride through what may be his own self. Spanning the beauty of epic horizons and dense forests, yet ending in the bleak misery of the barren desert, we meet this out-of-place traveller in a tiring, strange situation. His frailty is evident: alone, without a living heir, struggling to make his way amidst the freaks and grim destination that awaits. As expected, the town itself begs no welcome, as the malevolent rumors prove to be true, and leave Blake face to face with the dusty spines of inexorable destiny. In more ways than one, the Wild West awaits. From this point on, Blake embarks on his surrealistic journey into nothingness, as he becomes a marked man running from nearly everyone and everything. Trusting in a Native friend (appropriately named “Nobody”), the descent into Blake’s rejection is juxtaposed with the realities of a truly inescapable destiny. As such, the notions of ill fate and bad luck are separately defined alongside each other. Soon enough, however, Blake learns to cope with the road to ruin, and from his relationship with Nobody, he begins to transform into the gunslinging poet he never was.

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Dead Man Movie Reviews

Effortlessly cool and self-styled western

Dead Man is a unique piece of film. As this is my first taste of Jim Jarmusch, I had no idea of what to expect, but even if I had; I reckon that this film wouldn’t have conformed to them. Dead Man is a surreal and trippy western that peels itself away from the staples of the genre and succeeds in creating something truly one-off and self-styled. Lead by a score written by Neil Young, Dead Man is continually satisfying and powerful; and you get the impression that every scene has been fully thought through, and is perfectly realised as the auteur intended. For this reason, Dead Man captivates it’s viewer from the moment it starts until the moment it ends, and as it descends into full blown trippy weirdness, you can do nothing but stare in admiration of this strange gem of cult cinema. The plot is thin on the ground and it largely lacks meaning, but it doesn’t matter because Dead Man is a purely aesthetic experience. Still, it follows William Blake (Johnny Depp), an accountant from Cleveland that arrives in a town to take a job offer, only to find that the vacancy has already been filled…

Dead Man is filmed in very stark black and white, which only adds to the surrealism of the story. Had this film have been done in colour, it would not have captured the same atmosphere that the black and white gives it; and so this decision was an inspired one indeed. One staple of the western genre that Jarmusch is keen to retain is the use of close-ups. The director spends a lot of time caressing Depp’s facial features with his camera and, at times, even focuses on his lead actor when the action doesn’t concern him. Aside from keeping in with the western tradition, this also allows Jarmusch to keep the focus on the main character, which keeps the viewer focused on his plight. For this film, Jarmusch has put together a cast of B-movie icons that will have B-movie fans foaming at the mouth. Crispin Glover, Robert Mitchum, Billy Bob Thornton, Lance Henriksen, Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, Alfred Molina and even Iggy Pop feature and it’s great to see so many faces in the same movie. The cast is, of course, lead by a man who is perhaps today’s best actor; Johnny Depp. Depp’s name on a credit list speaks for itself, and I don’t need to tell you that his performance is great; nor do I need to point out the effortless cool that this movie exudes, largely thanks to the great man’s presence. My only advice is see it…see it now.

One of the strangest and dirtiest westerns ever made.

In the 1920s-50s, Hollywood promoted man myths about the old west. One of the most common one was the ‘pretty boy hero’. These heroic guys were nearly always perfectly coiffed, clean and wore clothing that looked more like what 21st century folks would wear to go country line dancing as opposed to acting like a real cowboy. To top it off, many of them loved to sing for no particularly good reason! They were, essentially, caricatures of the west. Entertaining? Yes…but caricatures.

Starting in the 1960s and 70s, a few westerns have been made to completely de-glamorize the wests…with no pretty boy heroes and lots of ugliness instead. Director Jarmusch and the casting directors deliberately chose non-pretty folks for the film…such as Iggy Pop and Crispen Glover (all covered in soot). These are much more realistic…though not necessarily fun representations of the American old west. In the films, there often were no heroes at all…and there was dirty, filth and long, greasy hair on nearly all the men. They are a huge contrast to these earlier Hollywood westerns!

One of the uglier representations of the west is seen in “Dead Man”…a film which tries to look like an old western through the use of black & white cinematography….but a thoroughly modern western when it comes to its sensibilities. All the men could use haircuts and shampoos…and the streets are full of mud, filth, filthy people and sleaze…and a minimum of dialog. Perhaps this film went a bit too far trying to de-glamorizing the west, as it presents a view which is too ugly and nasty…at least to be enjoyed by many viewers. Now this isn’t to say it’s a bad film….it is, in its own way, very interesting and unique.

The story begins with William Blake (Johnny Depp) aboard a train headed west. However, instead of just arriving in the town, there is a real tedium about these scenes…because such a trip would have taken many days or even weeks . Blake has apparently sold everything and is moving west following his parents’ death and the breakup of his engagement. He has a letter from the Dickenson Company offering him a job….but after the train FINALLY arrives, he learns that the job was filled long ago and the owner of the company (Robert Mitchum…in his last film) is a psychotic nut who seems eager to shoot anyone who bothers him in his office!

Soon after leaving the Dickenson office without a job, Blake meets up with a prostitute. After doing the nasty, a guy walks in the hotel room and shoots the girl…and Blake shoots him. Now Blake is NOT familiar with a gun and misses the first couple times he shoots at him from almost point-blank range…illustrating both his inexperience with guns and that the murderer wasn’t particularly eager to avoid his fate. He just seemed to wait to be shot. But the bullet that hit the woman and killed her also hit Blake….but Blake is in even more trouble, as the man he just justifiably killed turns out to be the son of the crazed Mr. Dickenson….so you know that he won’t rest until Blake is dead. And, he soon hires some hired guns to get Blake…as Blake recuperates with the help of a Native American who clearly hates white folks! What’s next? See the film….as describing what follows would not be easy!

So is it any good? Well….that’s really hard to say. Much of it is because there really is nothing like it. The film becomes very allegorical and surreal….and probably isn’t everyone’s tea. As for me, I neither hated it nor liked it….it was novel experience and I did appreciate that and so I recommend you see it…especially if you want something different.

By the way, the reason why Nobody keeps talking about poetry and art is that Johnny Depp’s characters, William Blake, shares the same name as the famous British painter/poet.

Finding Meaning In The Obscure

Well maybe I’m just a Philistine but I certainly have to dissent from all the rave reviews this film has gotten. It happens I like my westerns traditional, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Delmar Daves, Burt Kennedy, those guys make westerns. Jim Jarmusch makes weird.

So does Johnny Depp who I salute for having the artistic courage to play an incredible variety of roles. I love what he did in Edward Scissorhands, Nick of Time, and in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. But he came up short in playing William Blake, the guy who is not the famous English poet.

This William Blake travels west spending every dime he has on a promise of a job keeping books for a metal works company owned by Robert Mitchum. When he arrives late, he’s told the job is filled. He casually drifts into a relationship with a woman and wouldn’t you know it, she’s the gal pal of Gabriel Byrne, Mitchum’s son. Byrne comes in guns blazing and catches Depp and his woman en flagrato. He shoots the woman and Depp shoots him in self defense.

No matter, Mitchum’s the big he bull of the area and a bounty goes on Depp’s head. In the words of that immortal 20th Century philosopher Joe Louis, he can run but he can’t hide. Not even with the help of a new found Indian friend in Gary Farmer.

A lot of reviewers extracted meaning from obscure things in this film which wanders rather aimlessly with Depp’s fugitive status. I extracted nothing, but boredom.

But Dead Man might be your cup of tea, it certainly isn’t mine.