Dead Man
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{{Infobox Film
| name = Dead Man
| image = DeadManPoster.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Theatrical poster
| director = [[Jim Jarmusch]]
| producer = [[Demetra J. MacBride]]
| writer = Jim Jarmusch
| narrator =
| starring = [[Johnny Depp]]<br>[[Gary Farmer]]
| music = [[Neil Young]]
| cinematography = [[Robby Muller]]
| editing = Jay Rabinowitz
| distributor = [[Miramax Films]]
| released = [[May 26]], [[1995]] ([[Cannes Film Festival]] premiere)
| runtime = 121 minutes
| country = [[United States|USA]]/[[Germany]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| budget = [[United States dollar|$]]9,000,000 (est.)
| gross = [[United States dollar|$]]1,025,488 (USA)
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
| website =
| amg_id = 1:134741
| imdb_id = 0112817
}}
'''''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,<ref>[http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/break-with-the-past/2005/09/08/1125772639995.html Break with the past - Film - Entertainment - theage.com.au<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> which includes twisted elements of the [[Western (genre)|Western Genre]]. The film is shot entirely in [[black-and-white]].
==Plot==
<!-- if I've reworked the confusing section, was I write to delete the following? {{Confusing|date=October 2007}} -->
Bound from Cleveland, accountant William Blake arrives by train at the [[American frontier]] company town of "Machine" to assume a promised job in the town's namesake metal works. He discovers that his job is already taken and is driven from the workplace at gunpoint by John Dickinson, the ferocious owner of the company. Jobless and without money or prospects, Blake meets Thel Robinson, a former prostitute who sells paper flowers, and lets her take him home. Thel's ex-boyfriend Charlie 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 horse. 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 regaining the stolen horse.
Blake awakens to find a large [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|American Indian]] 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 to all effects and purposes already dead. When he learns Blake's full name, Nobody decides Blake is a reincarnation <ref>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." [http://www.nytrash.com/deadman/deadjj.html]</ref> of [[William Blake]] the [[poet]] whom he idolizes but of whom accountant Blake himself is prosaically ignorant. Incredibly moved that Blake is now not only a visionary poet and painter but also a "killer of white men," Nobody resolves to escort Blake, before he dies, to the Pacific Ocean for a proper sea-burial that will return Blake to his proper place in the spirit-world. Discovering that Blake is being hunted, he also determines to assist Blake in expanding his legend by killing as many more white men as may become necessary.
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 homicidal 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, and escape from, Europe as a model savage. Meanwhile, the three bounty hunters are whittled down to one as the sociopathic Cole Wilson kills his less vicious companions out of annoyance.
Nobody leaves Blake alone in the wild when he decides Blake must undergo a vision quest. On his quest, two [[U.S. Marshal]]s surprise Blake and are killed, their bodies later found and desecrated by Cole. Blake spots local animal deities in human form, experiences the astonishing significance and beauty of his natural surroundings, and finds the remains of a young deer whose body he grieves over.
Later, he meets back up with Nobody, and they continue their journey. At a trading post, a bigoted Christian missionary trader 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 sea canoe for Blake's [[ship burial]]. Blake deliriously trudges through the clean and orderly village before collapsing from his injuries.
Blake 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 towards the waiting sky on the horizon.
==Cast==
[[Image:Deadmanfilm.JPG|350px|thumb|William Blake and 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, Says Nothing" or ''Exaybachay'' 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, who informs Blake that the accounting job has gone to another man
*'''[[Mili Avital]]''' as '''Thel Russell''', a young woman who makes and sells [[Artificial flower#Cloth and paper flowers|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 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]], psychopathic [[fur trade]]r at a campsite
*'''[[Billy Bob Thornton]]''' as '''Big George Drakoulious''', a [[mountain man]] at Sally's campsite
*'''[[Jared Harris]]''' as '''Benmont Tench''', a British-accented fur trader who is proud of his knife.
*'''[[Alfred Molina]]''' as '''Trading Post Missionary''', a zealous but corrupt missionary and businessman.
*'''[[Gibby Haynes]]''' as '''Man with Gun in Alley'''
==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 [[The Marriage of Heaven and Hell#Proverbs of Hell|Proverb of Hell]] (from the aforementioned ''[[The Marriage of Heaven and Hell|Marriage]]''), "Expect poison from standing water". Thel's name is also a reference to Blake's ''[[The Book of Thel]]''.
The film's [[Dead Man (soundtrack)|soundtrack album]] and promotional music video also feature Depp reciting passages from Blake's poetry.
==Portrayal of Native Americans==
This film is generally regarded as being extremely well-researched in regard to Native American culture.<ref name="Rosenbaum">Rosenbaum, Jonathan (2000). ''Dead Man''. London: Cromwell Press. ISBN 0-85170-806-4</ref>
''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]].<ref>http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/jarmusch.html</ref> 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.<ref name="Rosenbaum" />
==Reception==
In its theatrical release, ''Dead Man'' earned about $1 million for a budget of $9 million.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/business Dead Man (1995) - Box office / business<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 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".<ref>[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19960628/REVIEWS/606280301/1023 :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: Dead Man (xhtml)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Desson Howe and Rita Kempley, both writing for the ''[[Washington Post]]'', offered largely negative appraisals.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/deadman.htm 'Dead Man' (R)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> [[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."<ref>[http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/1999/12/02/deadman/index.html?CP=SAL&DN=110 Salon Arts & Entertainment | Dead again<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 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"<ref>[http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/0696/06286.html Chicago Reader Movie Review<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 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]].
==Soundtrack==
{{main|Dead Man (soundtrack)}}
==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]]''.
==See also==
* [[List of recent films in black-and-white]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
*[http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/01/14/dead_man.html ''Dead Man'' by Gino Moliterno]
*Tubutis, Todd J., "Filming a Makah Village for Jim Jarmusch's ''Dead Man''." Unpublished master's thesis. University of British Columbia, 1998.
{{refend}}
==External links==
* {{imdb title|id=0112817|title=Dead Man}}
* {{amg movie|id=1:134741|title=Dead Man}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|id=dead_man|title=Dead Man}}
* {{metacritic film|id=deadman|title=Dead Man}}
* {{mojo title|id=deadman|title=Dead Man}}
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{{Jim Jarmusch Films}}
[[Category:1995 films]]
[[Category:Black and white films]]
[[Category:Western films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jim Jarmusch]]
[[Category:1996 albums]]
[[Category:Film soundtracks]]
[[Category:Neil Young albums]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
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