Dead Man is a 1995 Western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, and Robert Mitchum (in his final role). The film, dubbed an "Acid Western" by its director,[1] includes twisted elements of the Western genre. The film is shot entirely in black-and-white. Some consider it the ultimate postmodern Western, and related to postmodern literature such as Cormac McCarthy's novel, Blood Meridian.[2][3]
Plot
William Blake (Johnny Depp), a meek accountant from Cleveland, Ohio, becomes mortally wounded and embarks on a bloody journey through a twisted version of the American Old West.
William Blake rides by train to the frontier company town of Machine to assume a promised job as a bookkeeper in the town's namesake metal works. During the trip, a Fireman (Crispin Glover) warns Blake against the enterprise while passengers shoot buffalo from the train windows. Arriving in town, Blake discovers that his position has already been filled, and is driven from the workplace at gunpoint by John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum), the ferocious owner of the company. Jobless and without money or prospects, Blake meets Thel Russell (Mili Avital), a former prostitute who sells paper flowers. He lets her take him home. Thel's ex-boyfriend Charlie (Gabriel Byrne) surprises them in bed and shoots Blake, accidentally killing Thel when she tries to shield Blake with her body. A wounded Blake shoots and kills Charlie with Thel's gun before climbing dazedly out the window and fleeing Machine on a stolen pinto. Company-owner Dickinson, the father of Charlie, hires three legendary frontier killers to hunt down Blake as the murderer of his son and Thel, although he seems to care most about recovering the stolen horse.
Blake awakens to find a large American Indian (Gary Farmer) attempting to dislodge the bullet from his chest. The Indian, calling himself Nobody, reveals that the bullet is too close to Blake's heart to remove, and Blake is effectively walking dead. When he learns Blake's full name, Nobody decides Blake is a reincarnation[4] of William Blake, a poet whom he idolizes but of whom accountant Blake himself is ignorant. Nobody resolves to escort Blake to the Pacific Ocean to return him to his proper place in the spirit-world. After discovering that Blake is being hunted, Nobody also determines to assist Blake in expanding his legend by killing as many more white men as may become necessary. Meanwhile, the most ferocious member of the bounty hunter posse, Cole Wilson (Lance Henriksen), kills and eats his comrades and continues the hunt alone.
Blake and Nobody travel west, leaving a trail of dead and encountering wanted posters announcing higher and higher bounties for Blake's death or capture. Nobody sends Blake into a camp of psychotic fur trappers, whom he and Blake dispatch. Blake learns of Nobody's past, marked both by Native American and White racism, which includes Nobody's abduction to Europe as a model savage and subsequent return to America. 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 that was killed accidentally by his pursuers. He paints his face with the fawn's blood and rejoins Nobody on their journey.
At a trading post, a bigoted missionary (Alfred Molina) identifies Blake and attempts to kill him, resulting in a shootout. Blake is shot again and his condition rapidly deteriorates. Nobody takes him by river to a Makah village and convinces the tribe to give him a canoe for Blake's ship burial. Blake deliriously trudges through the village before collapsing from his injuries. He awakens in a canoe on a beach, wearing Native American funeral dress. Nobody bids Blake farewell and pushes him out to sea. As he floats away, Blake watches Cole sneak up behind Nobody, but he is too weak to cry out and can only watch as the two shoot and kill each other. As Blake gazes up at the clouds for the last time, he dies and his canoe drifts out to sea.
Cast
Johnny Depp as William Blake and Gary Farmer as Nobody.
- Johnny Depp as William Blake, a meek accountant from Cleveland, Ohio
- Gary Farmer as Nobody, a strong and opinionated Native American who was forcibly raised by whites and later given the mocking name "He Who Talks Loud, Saying Nothing" or Xebeche by fellow natives
- Crispin Glover as Train Fireman, a coal-covered boilerman who welcomes Blake to the "hell" of Machine.
- Robert Mitchum as Mr. John Dickinson, a shotgun-toting industrialist in Machine
- John Hurt as John Scholfield, the business manager of Dickinson's factory
- Mili Avital as Thel Russell, a former prostitute who makes and sells paper flowers
- Gabriel Byrne as Charlie Dickinson, Thel's ex-boyfriend and John Dickinson's son.
- Lance Henriksen as Cole Wilson, an infamous bounty hunter and murderous cannibal
- Michael Wincott as Conway Twill, a talkative bounty hunter
- Eugene Byrd as Johnny "The Kid" Pickett, a young African-American bounty hunter.
- Iggy Pop as Salvatore "Sally" Jenko, a cross-dressing, Bible-reading fur trader at a campsite
- Billy Bob Thornton as Big George Drakoulious, a mountain man at Sally's campsite
- Jared Harris as Benmont Tench, a knife-toting fur trader at Sally's campsite.
- Alfred Molina as Trading Post Missionary, a corrupt missionary and businessman.
- Gibby Haynes as Man with Gun in Alley
Cultural allusions
There are multiple references in the film to the poetry of William Blake. 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 feature Depp reciting passages from Blake's poetry.
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. The marshals chasing Blake are named Lee Hazlewood and Marvin Throne-berry, after Lee Hazlewood and Marv Throneberry.[5] Nobody's name ("He Who Talks Loud, Saying Nothing") is a reference to the James Brown song Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing.[5]
Portrayal of Native Americans
This film is generally regarded as being extremely well-researched in regard to Native American culture.[6]
Dead Man is also notable as one of the rather few films about Native Americans to be directed by a non-native and offer nuanced and considerate details of the individual differences between Native American tribes free of common stereotypes.[7] There are intentionally unsubtitled passages in the Cree and Blackfoot language exchanges in Dead Man, which were left untranslated for the exclusive understanding of members of those nations, including several in-jokes aimed at Native American viewers.[6]
Reception
The film was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.[8]
In its theatrical release, Dead Man earned about $1 million for a budget of $9 million.[9] It is 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 stars maximum), noting "Jim Jarmusch is trying to get at something here, and I don't have a clue what it is".[10] Desson Howe and Rita Kempley, both writing for the Washington Post, offered largely negative appraisals.[11] 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."[12] 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"[13] and went on to write a book on the film, entitled Dead Man (ISBN 0-85170-806-4) published by the British Film Institute. The film scored a 'Fresh' 71% rating on website Rotten Tomatoes.
The film also was placed 398th in "They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?"'s list of the 1,000 Greatest Films of All Time[14].
Soundtrack
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. 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 Jim Jarmusch's subsequent film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, in which he repeats one of his signature lines of dialog, "Stupid fucking white man!"
Johnny Depp makes a brief cameo as his character William Blake in the film L.A. Without a Map.
Rudy Wurlitzer's unproduced screenplay Zebulon inspired Jarmusch's film. Wurlitzer later re-wrote the screenplay as the novel The Drop Edge of Yonder.
Related pages
Notes
References
- Dead Man by Gino Moliterno
- Pelzer, Peter. "Dead Man — an encounter with the unknown past," Journal of Organizational Change 15 (2002): 48-62.
External links
