Johnny Depp plays William Blake, a young man who travels by train from Cleveland, Ohio, to the far West following his parents’ death.
He’s been promised a job at Dickinson’s Metal Works, but arrives in the town of Machine to find out someone else has already been hired to fill the position.
Nearly penniless, he heads to the local bar and comes to the aid of a lovely young woman named Thel who makes flowers out of paper. She dreams of the day she can make them from cloth and grace each one with a single drop of French perfume. She and Blake wind up in bed together.
That turns out to be a tragic mistake. Her former love shows up and fires a bullet that kills Thel and lodges in William’s chest.
He fires three shots in return, killing the man. That man turns out to be Dickinson’s son, and the wealthy businessman hires three assassins to track down the “murderer.”
So begins William Blake’s journey from the physical to the spiritual world. There are several more violent stops along the way.
But he gets a helping hand from an Indian outcast named Nobody (Gary Farmer), who mistakes him for the famed poet William Blake and, for that reason, is convinced he’s already dead.
Johnny Depp as William Blake in Dead Man (1995)
Robert Mitchum as John Dickinson in Dead Man (1995)
Review:
Interesting, for sure, as Jarmusch delivers a different sort of Western – in black and white, no less – pushing home the fragility of life on a frontier filled with tragedy and hardship. It’s certainly no place for a refined young man who wants a future as an accountant.
But this film about one “dead” man’s journey is also overlong and overly artsy, though some of the violence is likely to stick with you long after you’ve finished watching. Like when bounty hunter Conway Twill thinks a dead marshal, head nestled among some leaves, looks too much like a religious symbol. So he steps on his head, squashing it.
Lots of interesting cameos, too, including Robert Mitchum as the rich businessman named Dickinson in his final Western film appearance. Iggy Pop shows up as a frontiersman who dresses in women’s clothing. Oh, and Neil Young provides the music.
Gary Farmer as Nobody in Dead Man (1995)
Eugene Byrd as Johnny ‘The Kid’ Pritchett in Dead Man (1995)
Directed by:
Jim Jarmusch
Cast:
Johnny Depp … William Blake
Gary Farmer … Nobody
Crispin Glover .. Train Fireman
Lance Henriksen … Cole Wilson
Michael Wincott … Conway Twill
Eugene Byrd … Johnny “The Kid” Pritchett
John Hurt … John Scolfield
Robert Mitchum … John Dickinson
Iggy Pop … Salvatore “Sally” Jenko
Garbriel Byrne … Charlie Dickinson
Jared Harris … Benmont Tench
Mili Avital … Thel Russell
Runtime: 121 min.
Michael Wincott as Conway Twill and Lance Henriksen as Cole Wilson in Dead Man (1995)
Mili Avital as Thel Russell in Dead Man (1995)
Memorable lines:
William Blake, pulling a gun from beneath Thel’s pillow: “Why do you have this?”
Thel: “Because this is America.”
Nobody to William Blake: “What name were you given at birth, stupid white man?”
Nobody: “William Blake, do you know how to use this weapon?”
Blake, looking at his pistol: “Not really.”
Nobody: “That weapon will replace your tongue. You will learn to speak through it. And your poetry will now be written with blood.”
Conway Twill: “Tell you one thing – if that there Blake fella keeps on shooting marshals, I might wind up liking the bastard.”
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