Starring: Johnny Depp, Crispin Glover, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott Directed By: Jim Jarmusch Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Miramax Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Region Code: 1 Release Date: December 19, 2000 Running Time: 121 minutes Theatrical Release Date: May 10, 1996
Description: Johnny Depp (CHOCOLAT) delivers a remarkable performance in this highly acclaimed tale of adventure and intrigue in the wild, wild west! A young man in search of a fresh start, William Blake (Depp) embarks on an exciting journey to a new town ... never realizing the danger that lies ahead. But when a heated love triangle ends in double murder, Blake finds himself a wanted man, running scared -- until a mysterious loner teaches him to face the dangers that follow a "dead man." With an outstanding supporting cast including Gabriel Byrne (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) and Robert Mitchum (CAPE FEAR), and a sizzling soundtrack, DEAD MAN is another motion picture triumph from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch.
Amazon.com: This disappointment from Jim Jarmusch stars Johnny Depp in a mystery-Western about a 19th-century accountant named William Blake, who spends nearly all his money getting to a hellish mud town in the old West and ends up penniless and doomstruck in the wilderness. A benevolent if goofy Native American (Gary Farmer) takes an interest in guiding Blake on a quest for identity in his earthly journey, but the film is really just a string of endless shtick about inbred woodsmen, dumb lawmen, and a trio of irritable killers. With Robert Mitchum, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Alfred Molina, and a noodling soundtrack by Neil Young. --Tom Keogh
A renowned masterwork! Dead man constitutes a golden cinematographic jewel in all senses. Not only because it develops a mesmerizing and mature script, but besides carves in relief the vital importance of the author's cinema's genre, so overlooked for many people but that must survive in order to point the several directions of the lucid conscious iof any honest artist.
Depp is wounded man who must escape from both bounty hunters. One can not let to associate a mite of Wender and Italian Neo realism's influences around this existential journey where he will meet a cast of unthinkable personages along the way that conform a social puzzle that are not kept in mind due its small relevance.
A wonderful masterpiece.
Go Johnny Depp! This is an interesting legend, a somewhat confusing at times mystery which will make you laugh or make you sad, although you must watch it completely from start to finish otherwise you will be totally confused. Johnny Depp was the main character in this black and white masterpiece, with co stars like Billy Bob Thorton,Gary Farmer and Crispin Glover. This movie you either love or you will hate, its worth a try none the less..
Dead Man Neil Young's haunting music creates the mood in this movie. A man's quest for a better life turns to havoc once he his train ride reaches the town of Machine "the end of the line". Johnny Depp is marvelous!
Dead in the water As watchable as this movie is, I kept thinking while watching this Western that no Western fan would enjoy this movie.
If you love Westerns, you will probably be bored, frustrated, confused and ultimately disappointed by DEAD MAN.
If you like quirky Independent films with obscure points, talented actors reading demented dialogue as overwrought grotesques, a genre picture that is anti-genre...this movie is for you.
I liked everyone in the movie but found every character (except Johnny Depp and his goofy Native American guide) repellent and extreme. The story appears to just meander, especially when it reaches its inconclusive ending. It's not like the story just stopped...I just wondered why it was there in the first place. I had the feeling that I would have to read a very long review in Film Comment to find out what really happened since it wasn't included in the film itself.
DEAD MAN has its moments. I liked the slimy trio of killers (I laughed out loud while they all drew down on Robert Mitchum's portrait over and over just before he enters the room). There was more tension and momentum in their scenes than Johnny Depp's sleepy ride through the wilderness.
Neil Young's "soundtrack" was nearly as minimalist as the "Seinfeld" soundtrack.
If you're looking for strange and remote, this is it. If you're looking for a good Western....keep riding, Hoss.
Deadman Excellent performance by the actors and actresses involved in this Star Packed feature! Jim Jarmusch Does it again!!!
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