Described by Jarmusch as a "Psychedelic Western", the film is shot entirely in monochrome.[4]Neil Young composed the guitar-dominated soundtrack with portions he improvised while watching the movie footage. Many have considered it a premier postmodern Western. It has been compared to Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian.[5]
Plot
William Blake, an accountant from Cleveland, Ohio, rides by train to the frontier company town of Machine to take up a promised accounting job in the town's metal works. During the trip, the train fireman warns Blake against the enterprise. Arriving in town, Blake notes the hostility of the townsfolk towards him. He then discovers that the position has already been filled, and John Dickinson, the ferocious owner of the company, drives Blake from the workplace at gunpoint.
Jobless and without money or prospects, Blake meets Thel Russell, a former prostitute who sells paper flowers. He lets her take him home. Thel's ex-boyfriend Charlie surprises them in bed, shoots at Blake, and accidentally kills Thel when she shields Blake with her body. The bullet passes through Thel and wounds Blake, who kills Charlie with Thel's gun before climbing out the window and fleeing the town on Charlie's horse. Company owner Dickinson is Charlie's father and hires three killers — Cole Wilson, Conway Twill, and Johnny "The Kid" Pickett — to bring Blake back "dead or alive".
Blake awakens to find a large Native American man trying to dislodge the bullet from his chest. The man, calling himself Nobody, reveals that the bullet is too close to Blake's heart to remove, rendering Blake effectively a walking dead man. When he learns Blake's full name, Nobody decides Blake is a reincarnation of William Blake, a poet whom he idolizes but of whom Blake is ignorant.[6] He decides to care for Blake and to use Native methods to help ease him into death.
Blake learns of Nobody's past, marked by prejudice from Euro-Americans who objected to his Indigenous ancestry, and equally from Native Americans who objected that his mother and father were from two opposing tribes, Piikáni and Apsáalooke, respectively.[7] As a child, English soldiers abducted and brought him to Europe as a model savage. He was briefly educated before returning home, where his stories of the white man and his culture were laughed off by fellow Native Americans. They thus dub him Xebeche: "He who talks loud, saying nothing". Nobody resolves to escort Blake to the Pacific Ocean to return him to his proper place in the spirit world.
Blake and Nobody travel west, leaving a trail of dead and encountering wanted posters announcing growing bounties for Blake's death or capture. Nobody leaves Blake alone in the wild when he decides Blake must undergo a vision quest. On his quest, Blake kills two U.S. Marshals, experiences visions of nature spirits, and grieves over the remains of a dead fawn his pursuers accidentally kill. He paints his face with the fawn's blood and rejoins Nobody. Meanwhile, the most ferocious member of the bounty hunter posse, Cole Wilson, has killed his comrades (eating one of them) and continued his hunt alone.
At a trading post, a bigoted missionary identifies Blake and attempts to kill him but instead dies at Blake's hands. Shortly after, Blake is shot again, and his condition rapidly deteriorates. Nobody hurries to take him by the river to a Makah village and persuades the tribe to give him a canoe for Blake's ship burial. Delirious, Blake trudges through the village, where the people pity him, before he collapses from his injuries.
He awakens in a canoe on a beach wearing a Native American funeral dress. Nobody bids Blake farewell and then pushes the canoe out to sea. As he floats away, Blake sees Cole approaching Nobody. Too weak to cry out, he can only watch as the two shoot and kill each other. Looking up at the sky one last time, Blake dies as his canoe drifts out to sea.
Cast
Johnny Depp as William Blake, a meek accountant from Cleveland, Ohio
Gary Farmer as Nobody, a strong and opinionated Native American forcibly raised by whites and later given the mocking name Xebeche, or "He Who Talks Loud, Saying Nothing", by fellow natives
Crispin Glover as Train Fireman, a coal-covered boilerman who welcomes Blake to the "hell" of Machine
Lance Henriksen as Cole Wilson, an infamous bounty hunter and murderous cannibal
Alfred Molina as Trading Post Missionary, a corrupt missionary and businessman
Cultural allusions
The film contains many references to William Blake's poetry. Xebeche, aka Nobody, recites from several Blake poems, including Auguries of Innocence, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and The Everlasting Gospel. When bounty hunter Cole warns his companions against drinking from standing water, it references the Proverb of Hell (from the aforementioned Marriage), "Expect poison from standing water". Thel's name is also a reference to Blake's The Book of Thel.
The scenes with Thel culminating in the bedroom murder scene visually enact Blake's poem, "The Sick Rose": "O rose, thou art sick. / The invisible worm, / That flies in the night / In the howling storm: / Has found out thy bed / Of crimson joy: / And his dark secret love / Does thy life destroy." The film's soundtrack album and promotional music video also features Depp reciting passages from Blake's poetry to music Neil Young composed for the film.
Although the film is set in the 19th century, Jarmusch included a number of references to 20th century American culture. Benmont Tench, the man at the campsite played by Jared Harris, is named after Benmont Tench, keyboardist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Billy Bob Thornton's character, Big George Drakoulias, is named for record producer George Drakoulias. The name of Mitchum's character is a reference to rock producer Jim Dickinson.
According to film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, Dead Man is generally regarded as well-researched in regard to Native American culture.[9] The film is also described as one of few about Native Americans to be directed by a non-native that offers a nuanced understanding of the individual differences between Native American tribes with considerable detail given that is relatively free of common stereotypes.[10] Regarding the character Nobody, Jarmusch stated: "I wanted to make an Indian character who wasn’t either a) the savage that must be eliminated, the force of nature that’s blocking the way for industrial progress, or b) the noble innocent that knows all and is another cliché. I wanted him to be a complicated human being."[10]
The film intentionally leaves conversations in the Cree and Blackfoot languages untranslated and without subtitles, for the exclusive understanding of members of those nations, including several in-jokes aimed at Native American viewers.[9] Nobody was also played by a First Nations actor, Gary Farmer, who is Cayuga.
In its theatrical release, Dead Man earned $1,037,847[3] on a budget of $9 million.[2] Then, it was the most expensive of Jarmusch's films, due in part to the costs of ensuring accurate period detail.
Critical responses were mixed. Roger Ebert gave the film one and a half stars out of four, praising the cinematography and Farmer's performance, but otherwise stating the film was "strange, slow [and] unrewarding", and adding: "Jim Jarmusch is trying to get at something here, and I don't have a clue what it is".[12]Desson Howe and Rita Kempley, both writing for The Washington Post, offered largely negative reviews.[13]Greil Marcus, however, mounted a spirited defense of the film, titling his review "Dead Again: Here are 10 reasons why 'Dead Man' is the best movie of the end of the 20th century."[14]
Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum dubbed the film an acid western, calling it "as exciting and as important as any new American movie I've seen in the 90s"[15] and went on to write a book on the film, Dead Man ( ISBN0-85170-806-4) published by the British Film Institute. The film has a 70% approval rating on website Rotten Tomatoes based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's consensus reads: "While decidedly not for all tastes, Dead Man marks an alluring change of pace for writer-director Jim Jarmusch that demonstrates an assured command of challenging material".[16]Metacritic reports a score of 62 out of 100 from 20 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".[17]
In July 2010, The New York Times chief film critic A. O. Scott capped a laudatory "Critics' Picks" video review of the film by calling it "One of the very best movies of the 1990s."
The Criterion Collection added the film to their collection, due to its "profound and unique revision of the western genre".[18]
Neil Young recorded the soundtrack by improvising (mostly on his electric guitar, with some acoustic guitar, piano and organ) as he watched the newly edited film alone in a recording studio. Jarmusch encouraged Young's improvisational music, as it would add to the film's spontaneous narrative. The soundtrack album consists of seven instrumental tracks by Young, with dialog excerpts from the film and Johnny Depp reading the poetry of William Blake interspersed between the music.
In other media
Gary Farmer makes a cameo appearance as Nobody in Jarmusch's subsequent film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, in which he repeats one of his signature lines of dialogue, "Stupid fucking white man!"
Rudy Wurlitzer's unproduced screenplay Zebulon inspired Jarmusch's film. Wurlitzer later rewrote the screenplay as the novel The Drop Edge of Yonder (2008).[19][20]
James Robert Jarmusch is an American film director and screenwriter.
John Christopher Depp II is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and two British Academy Film Awards. His films, in which he has often played eccentric characters, have grossed over $8 billion worldwide, making him one of Hollywood's most bankable stars.
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American actor. He is known for his antihero roles and film noir appearances. He received nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984 and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1992. Mitchum is rated number 23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema.
Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III is an American musician and singer, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Stranger Than Paradise is a 1984 American black-and-white absurdist deadpan comedy film directed, co-written and co-edited by Jim Jarmusch, and starring jazz musician John Lurie, former Sonic Youth drummer-turned-actor Richard Edson, and Hungarian-born actress and violinist Eszter Balint. It features a minimalist plot in which the main character, Willie, is visited by Eva, his cousin from Hungary. Eva stays with him for ten days before going to Cleveland. Willie and his friend Eddie go to Cleveland to visit her, and the three then take a trip to Florida. The film is shot entirely in single long takes with no standard coverage.
Branded to Kill is a 1967 Japanese yakuza film directed by Seijun Suzuki and starring Joe Shishido, Koji Nanbara, Annu Mari and Mariko Ogawa. The story follows contract killer Goro Hanada as he is recruited by a mysterious woman named Misako for a seemingly impossible mission. When the mission fails, he is hunted by the phantom Number One Killer, whose methods threaten his life and sanity.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a 2003 American neo-Western action film written, directed, produced, photographed, scored, and edited by Robert Rodriguez. It is the sequel to Desperado (1995) and the third and final installment in the Mexico Trilogy. The film features Antonio Banderas in his second and final performance as El Mariachi. In the film, El Mariachi is recruited by CIA agent Sheldon Sands to kill a corrupt general responsible for the death of his wife, Carolina.
Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native American companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Tonto has appeared in radio and television series and other presentations of the characters' adventures righting wrongs in 19th-century western United States.
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for The Chicago Reader from 1987 to 2008. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has contributed to such notable film publications as Cahiers du cinéma and Film Comment.
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Donnie Brasco is a 1997 American crime drama film directed by Mike Newell and starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo and Anne Heche appear in supporting roles. The film, written by Paul Attanasio, is based on the 1988 nonfiction book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia by Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley.
Mystery Train is a 1989 comedy-drama anthology film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and set in Memphis, Tennessee. The film is a triptych of stories involving foreign protagonists, unfolding over the course of the same night. "Far from Yokohama" features a Japanese couple on a cultural pilgrimage, "A Ghost" focuses on an Italian widow stranded in the city overnight, and "Lost in Space" follows the misadventures of a newly single and unemployed Englishman and his reluctant companions. The narratives are linked by a run-down flophouse overseen by a night clerk and his disheveled bellboy, the use of Elvis Presley's song "Blue Moon", and a gunshot.
Dead Man is the soundtrack to the 1995 Jim Jarmusch western-themed film of the same name starring Gary Farmer, and Johnny Depp as William Blake. Both the soundtrack and the film's score are written and performed by Neil Young.
"Into the Great Wide Open" is a song by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, included as the third track on their eighth studio album, Into the Great Wide Open (1991). Released as a single in September 1991, the song reached number four on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart but stalled at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. Internationally, the song peaked at number 23 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart and found moderate success in Belgium and Germany.
George Drakoulias is a Greek-American music producer and a former A&R executive at the American Recordings label. He is often considered a protégé of Rick Rubin.
William Blake's body of work has influenced countless writers, poets and painters, and his legacy is often apparent in modern popular culture. His artistic endeavours, which included songwriting in addition to writing, etching and painting, often espoused a sexual and imaginative freedom that has made him a uniquely influential figure, especially since the 1960s. After Shakespeare, far more than any other canonical writer, his songs have been set and adapted by popular musicians including U2, Jah Wobble, Tangerine Dream, Bruce Dickinson and Ulver. Folk musicians, such as M. Ward, have adapted or incorporated portions of his work in their music, and figures such as Bob Dylan, Alasdair Gray and Allen Ginsberg have been influenced by him. The genre of the graphic novel traces its origins to Blake's etched songs and Prophetic Books, as does the genre of fantasy art.
Acid Western is a subgenre of the Western film that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s that combines the metaphorical ambitions of critically acclaimed Westerns, such as Shane and The Searchers, with the excesses of the Spaghetti Westerns and the outlook of the counterculture of the 1960s, as well as the increase in illicit drug taking of, for example, cannabis and LSD. Acid Westerns subvert many of the conventions of earlier Westerns to "conjure up a crazed version of autodestructive white America at its most solipsistic, hankering after its own lost origins".
Cannes Man is a 1996 independent comedy film directed by Richard Martini, and Susan Hillary Shapiro. The film stars Seymour Cassel and Francesco Quinn. The film also features more than 15 famous Hollywood actors including Johnny Depp, Jon Cryer, Benicio del Toro, John Malkovich, Dennis Hopper, Kevin Pollak, Jim Jarmusch and Chris Penn. The film was released as Direct-to-DVD in many countries.
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↑ In an interview Jarmusch states "For Nobody, the journey is a continuing ceremony whose purpose is to deliver Blake back to the spirit-level of the world. To him, Blake's spirit has been misplaced and somehow returned to the physical realm."
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