Editing Dead Man

{{short description|1995 Western film}}
{{other uses|Dead man (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|text=another 1995 movie [[Dead Man Walking (film)]]}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Dead Man
| image          = DeadManPoster.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Jim Jarmusch]]
| producer       = Demetra J. MacBride
| writer         = Jim Jarmusch
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Johnny Depp]]
* [[Gary Farmer]]
* [[Lance Henriksen]]
* [[Michael Wincott]]
* [[Eugene Byrd]]
* [[Mili Avital]]
* [[Crispin Glover]]
* [[Iggy Pop]]
* [[Billy Bob Thornton]]
* [[Jared Harris]]
* [[Gabriel Byrne]]
* [[John Hurt]]
* [[Alfred Molina]]
* [[Robert Mitchum]]}}
| music          = [[Neil Young]]
| cinematography = [[Robby Müller]]
| editing        = [[Jay Rabinowitz (film editor)|Jay Rabinowitz]]
| distributor    = [[Miramax Films]]
| released       = {{Film date|1995|05|26|[[1995 Cannes Film Festival|Cannes]]|1996|05|10}}
| runtime        = 120 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 120:18--><ref>{{cite web|title=''DEAD MAN'' (18)|url=https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/dead-man-1970-2|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140725134544/http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/dead-man-1970-2|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 25, 2014|work=Electric Pictures|publisher=[[British Board of Film Classification]]|date=December 15, 1995|access-date=July 17, 2014}}</ref>
| country        = United States
| language       = English, Cree, Blackfoot
| budget         = $9 million<ref name="budget"/>{{better source needed|date=April 2024}}
| gross          = $1 million <ref name="gross"/>
}}
'''''Dead Man''''' is a 1995 American [[acid 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]], [[Gabriel Byrne]], [[Mili Avital]], and [[Robert Mitchum]] in his final film performance. The movie, set in the late 19th century, follows William Blake, a meek accountant on the run after killing a man. He has a chance encounter with enigmatic Native American spirit-guide "Nobody", who believes Blake is the reincarnation of the visionary English poet [[William Blake]].

Described by Jarmusch as a "Psychedelic Western", the film is shot entirely in [[monochrome]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/break-with-the-past/2005/09/08/1125772639995.html | location=Melbourne | work=The Age | title=Break with the past | date=September 10, 2005}}</ref> [[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]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=/published/emeraldfulltextarticle/pdf/0230150104.pdf|title=Dead Man – an encounter with the unknown past|first=Peter|last=Pelzer|date=April 12, 2013|journal=Journal of Organizational Change Management|volume=15|pages=48–62|access-date=September 2, 2017|via=www.emeraldinsight.com|doi=10.1108/09534810210417375|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522195040/http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1411125&show=pdf |archive-date=May 22, 2011 }}</ref>

==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 (steam engine)|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 [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|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]], the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English poet, whom he idolizes, but of whom Blake is ignorant.<ref>In [//www.nytrash.com/deadman/deadjj.html 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."</ref> 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.<ref name="taubin">{{cite web |last1=Taubin |first1=Amy |date=May 4, 2018 |title=Dead Man: Blake in America |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5619-dead-man-blake-in-america |access-date=May 9, 2022 |website=The Criterion Collection }}</ref> 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. Marshal]]s, 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
* [[Michael Wincott]] as Conway Twill, a talkative bounty hunter
* [[Eugene Byrd]] as Johnny "The Kid" Pickett, a young bounty hunter
* [[John Hurt]] as John Scholfield, the business manager of Dickinson's factory
* [[Robert Mitchum]] as John Dickinson, a shotgun-toting industrialist in Machine 
* [[Iggy Pop]] as Salvatore "Sally" Jenko, a [[cross-dressing]], Bible-reading [[fur trade]]r at a campsite
* [[Gabriel Byrne]] as Charlie Dickinson, Thel's ex-boyfriend and John Dickinson's son
* [[Jared Harris]] as Benmont Tench, a knife-toting fur trader at Sally's campsite
* [[Mili Avital]] as Thel Russell, a former prostitute who makes and sells paper flowers
* [[Billy Bob Thornton]] as Big George Drakoulias, a [[mountain man]] at Sally's campsite
* [[Michelle Thrush]] as Nobody's girlfriend
* [[Gibby Haynes]] as Man with gun in alley
* [[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 [[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 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 [[Dead Man (soundtrack)|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]].

The marshals chasing Blake are named Lee Hazlewood and Marvin Throne-berry, after [[Lee Hazlewood]] and [[Marv Throneberry]], and also an allusion to the American actor [[Lee Marvin]].<ref name="ccat.sas.upenn.edu">{{cite web |url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/105/Rea2.html |title=Rea, Jarmusch Interview |access-date=June 22, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227233624/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/105/Rea2.html |archive-date=February 27, 2008 }}</ref> Nobody's name ("He Who Talks Loud, Saying Nothing") is a reference to the [[James Brown]] song "[[Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing]]".<ref name="ccat.sas.upenn.edu" /> Michael Wincott's character is shown in possession of a [[teddy bear]]. Also, when asked his name, Xebeche answers, "My name is Nobody." ''[[My Name Is Nobody]]'' was an Italian Western film from 1973 starring [[Henry Fonda]] and [[Terence Hill]], and the clever answer of [[Odysseus|Ulysses]] to [[Polyphemus]] when asked [[Outis|the same question]].

==Portrayal of Native Americans==
According to film critic [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]], ''Dead Man'' is generally regarded as 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> 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]].<ref name=LaFrance_2003>{{cite web | last=Lafrance | first=J. D. | title=Jim Jarmusch | url=http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/jarmusch/ | date=October 5, 2003 | work=Senses of Cinema | publisher=Film Victoria | access-date=October 22, 2011 | location=Victoria Australia}}</ref> 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."<ref name=LaFrance_2003/>

The film intentionally leaves conversations in the [[Cree language|Cree]] and [[Blackfoot language|Blackfoot]] languages untranslated and without subtitles, for the exclusive understanding of members of those nations, including several in-jokes aimed at Native American viewers.<ref name="Rosenbaum" /> Nobody was also played by a [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] actor, Gary Farmer, who is [[Cayuga people|Cayuga]].

==Reception==
[[File:Johnny Depp Jim Jarmusch Cannes 1995.jpg|thumb|[[Johnny Depp]] and [[Jim Jarmusch]] at the [[1995 Cannes Film Festival]]]]
The film was entered into the [[1995 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3380/year/1995.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Dead Man |access-date=September 3, 2009 |work=festival-cannes.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121034552/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3380/year/1995.html |archive-date=January 21, 2012 }}</ref>

In its theatrical release, ''Dead Man'' earned $1,037,847<ref name="gross">{{cite web | url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=deadman.htm | title=Dead Man (1996) | work=[[Box Office Mojo]] | publisher=[[Internet Movie Database]] | date=July 18, 1996 | access-date=July 17, 2014}}</ref> on a budget of $9 million.<ref name="budget">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/business|title=Dead Man (1995) - Box office / business|website=IMDb|access-date=September 2, 2017}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite news | url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19960628%2FREVIEWS%2F606280301%2F1023 | work=Chicago Sun-Times | title=Dead Man | first=Roger | last=Ebert | date=June 28, 1996 | access-date=May 28, 2016 | archive-date=March 22, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322203843/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19960628%2FREVIEWS%2F606280301%2F1023 | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Desson Howe]] and Rita Kempley, both writing for ''[[The Washington Post]]'', offered largely negative reviews.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/deadman.htm | title=Dead Man | work=The Washington Post (Critics' Corner; two reviews) | date=May 17, 1996 | access-date=May 28, 2016}}</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>{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/1999/12/02/deadman/|title=Dead again|first=Greil|last=Marcus|date=December 2, 1999|website=Salon|access-date=September 2, 2017}}</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>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/0696/06286.html|title=Chicago Reader|website=Chicago Reader|access-date=September 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929104355/http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/0696/06286.html|archive-date=September 29, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> and went on to write a book on the film, ''Dead Man'' ({{ISBN|0-85170-806-4}}) 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".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dead_man|title=Dead Man (1995)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]|access-date=May 18, 2022}}</ref> [[Metacritic]] reports a score of 62 out of 100 from 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://metacritic.com/movie/dead-man|title=Dead Man Reviews|website=[[Metacritic]]|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]|access-date=July 11, 2019}}</ref>

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".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.criterion.com/films/29064-dead-man |title=Dead Man |website=Criterion |access-date=January 21, 2019}}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
{{main|Dead Man (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. 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!"

Johnny Depp makes a brief cameo as William Blake in [[Mika Kaurismäki]]'s film ''[[L.A. Without a Map]]''.

[[Rudy Wurlitzer]]'s unproduced screenplay ''Zebulon'' inspired Jarmusch's film. Wurlitzer later rewrote the screenplay as the novel ''The Drop Edge of Yonder'' (2008).<ref>[http://www.arthurmag.com/2008/05/21/on-the-drift-rudy-wurlitzer-and-the-road-to-nowhere/ "On the Drift: Rudy Wurlitzer and the Road to Nowhere"]. Joe O'Brien. ''[[Arthur (magazine)|Arthur]]''. May 2008.</ref><ref>[http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/015_01/2272 "How the West Was Fun"]. Erik Davis. ''[[Bookforum]]''. April/May 2008.</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of post-1960s films in black-and-white]]
* [[Revisionist Western]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0112817}}
* {{TCMDb title|442968}}
* {{AFI film|60130}}
* {{mojo title|deadman}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|dead_man}}
* {{Metacritic film}}
* [http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/?p=19909 Jonathan Rosenbaum interviews Jim Jarmusch about ''Dead Man'']
* [https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2023/03/dead-man-in-2010-a-czech-preface/ Jonathan Rosenbaum's preface in 2010 Czech translation of his book] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331222128/https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2023/03/dead-man-in-2010-a-czech-preface/ |date=March 31, 2023 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101225063149/http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/01/14/dead_man.html ''Dead Man'' by Gino Moliterno]
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5676-dead-man-earth-wind-and-fire ''Dead Man: Earth, Wind, and Fire''] an essay by [[Ben Ratliff]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]

{{Jim Jarmusch}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dead Man}}
[[Category:1995 films]]
[[Category:1995 Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:American Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jim Jarmusch]]
[[Category:Adaptations of works by William Blake]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:Blackfoot in popular culture]]
[[Category:Cree-language films]]
[[Category:Films about Native Americans]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1870s]]
[[Category:Films set in the American frontier]]
[[Category:Films set in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Films shot in California]]
[[Category:Films shot in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Films shot in Nevada]]
[[Category:Films shot in Oregon]]
[[Category:American road movies]]
[[Category:1990s road movies]]
[[Category:European Film Awards winners (films)]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:Acid Westerns]]
[[Category:Miramax films]]
[[Category:Existentialist films]]
[[Category:English-language Western (genre) films]]