Dead Man is a 1995 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 movie is something of a Modern Western, dubbed a “psychedelic Western” by director Jarmusch, which 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.
References to William Blake
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 film’s soundtrack album and promotional music video also feature Depp reciting passages from Blake’s poetry.
The scenes with Thel Russell (played by Mili Avital) 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.
Portrayal of Native Americans
This film is generally regarded as being extremely well-researched in regard to Native American culture.
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. There are untranslated passages in several Native American Languages, and Jarmusch included several in-jokes aimed at Native American viewers, or at least those with a fluent knowledge of the languages used.
Reception
In its theatrical release, Dead Man earned about $1 million for a budget of $9 million. It is the most expensive of Jarmusch’s films, due to the expense of black-and-white film processing, and 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”. Desson Howe and Rita Kempley, both writing for the Washington Post, offered largely negative appraisals. 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.” 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” 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
Cast
- 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
