Dead Man [Criterion Collection]

Director: Jim Jarmusch Jim Jarmusch

Overview

Jim Jarmusch's visionary, allegorical western chronicles a man's search for a physical and spiritual presence in the world. Johnny Depp is William Blake, traveling from Cleveland, where his parents have just died, to the Western town of Machine, where he has been promised a job as an accountant. Things don't bode well for Blake when, while playing solitaire in the train car, a grimy-faced fireman (Crispin Glover) ominously warns him that when he reaches the town of Machine, he will find his own grave. It turns out the fireman is almost as good as his word. When Blake arrives at Machine, a backwater cesspool of a town, he reports to the Dickinson Metalworks, only to be told by the office manager, John Scholfield (John Hurt) that the accounting position has been filled. Confronting the owner John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum) to protest, Blake is ordered to leave at gunpoint -- otherwise he'll be "pushing up daisies." With no money to his name and no place to go, Blake ends up in a bar, where he meets the beautiful Thell Russell (Mili Avital). They go back to her room to make love but are interrupted in their lovemaking by Charlie Dickinson (Gabriel Byrne) -- Dickinson's son and Thell's boyfriend. Charlie shoots at Blake but misses, killing Thell instead. Blake grabs a gun and shoots Charlie dead. Critically wounded from a chest wound, he leaps out of the window and becomes a man on the run. The next morning he discovers an Indian guide named Nobody (Gary Farmer) tending to his chest wound. Nobody mistakes Blake for the English poet William Blake and determines that he will be Blake's guide back into the spirit world. As the two undertake this spiritual odyssey, they head westward for the Pacific Ocean, leaving a trail of carnage behind them.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/24/2018
UPC:	0715515213912
Original Release:	1995
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:01:00

Special Features

New Q&A in which Jarmusch responds to questions sent in by fans; Rarely seen footage of Neil Young composing and performing the film's score; New interview with actor Gary Farmer; New readings of William Blake poems by members of the cast, including Mili Avital, Alfred Molina, and Iggy Pop, accompanied by Jarmusch's location-scouting photos; New selected-scene audio commentary by production designer Bob Ziembicki and sound mixer Drew Kunin; Deleted scenes; Color photos from the film's production; Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Johnny Depp	William Blake
Gary Farmer	Nobody
Lance Henriksen	Cole Wilson
Michael Wincott	Conway Twill
Mili Avital	Thel Russell
Crispin Glover	The Fireman
Eugene Byrd	Johnyy `The Kid' Pickett
Iggy Pop	Salvatore `Sally' Jenko
Billy Bob Thornton	Big George
Jared Harris	Tench
Robert Mitchum	John Dickinson
Gabriel Byrne	Charlie Dickinson
John Hurt	John Scholfield
Alfred Molina	Missionary
John North	Mr. Olafsen
Jimmie Ray Weeks	Marvin, Older Marshal
Michelle Thrush	Nobody's Girlfriend
Pete Schrum	Drunk,Drunk
Gibby Haines	Man in the Alley
George Duckworth	Man at End of Street
John C. Pattison	Trading Post Man No. 1
Richard Boes	Man with Wrench
Mickey McGee	Bartender (Uncredited)
Mike Dowson	Old Man with Wanted Posters
John Pattison	Trading Post Man No. 1
Todd Pfeiffer	Trading Post Man No. 2,Man at Trading Post
Leonard Bowechop	Mahah Villager
Cecil Cheeka	Mahah Villager
Michael McCarty	Mahah Villager
Thomas Bettles	Young Nobody No. 1
Daniel Chas Stacy	Young Nobody No. 2
Mark Bringleson	Lee, Younger Marshall
Gibby Haynes	Man with Gun in Alley

Technical Credits

Jim Jarmusch

Jim Jarmusch	Director,Screenwriter
Demetra J. MacBride	Producer
Ellen Lewis	Casting
Laura Rosenthal	Casting
Lou Carlucci	Special Effects
Jon Farhat	Special Effects

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Dead Man (Criterion Collection)
1. Westward Train [10:07]
2. Town Of Machine [8:18]
3. The Russell [9:41]
4. "Do You Have Any Tobacco?" [7:25]
5. William Blake [12:54]
6. "I Am Nobody" [3:36]
7. The Trappers [8:53]
8. "WANTED" [5:44]
9. Peyote [6:34]
10. The Quest For Vision [10:13]
11. Nobody's Return [8:27]
12. White Man's Trading Post [9:43]
13. Through The Mirror [10:36]
14. "I Don't Smoke" [9:04]
1. Shaking The Train [10:07]
2. Purveyors Of Bones And Hides [8:18]
3. Mud That Looks Like Mud [9:41]
4. Marit's Designs [7:25]
5. Horses And Boom Microphones [12:54]
6. Aspen Forest [3:36]
7. Nobody Gets You [8:53]
8. Violence [5:44]
9. Arizona Lava Fields [6:34]
10. Off-Camera Shooting [10:13]
11. "Grass Pants, Oregon" [8:27]
12. "We Sure Don't" [9:43]
13. The Makah Village [10:36]
14. Whaling Boat [9:04]
1. Introduction [:21]
2. Peyote [1:40]
3. Subvertin The Old West [2:10]
4. Robby Müller [2:40]
5. Neil Young And Iggy Pop [1:26]
6. "As A Dilettante . . ." [1:47]
7. How Many Bullets? [:22]
8. Casting [:36]
9. "Can I Be In One Of Your Movies?" [1:19]
10. Character Actors [2:16]
11. Earth, Wind & Fire [:17]
12. Who Would Make A Good Western? [:54]
13. The Cut Worm [:20]
14. Summit Mall [:39]
15. Miramax [3:30]
16. Beekeepers [3:12]
17. The Makah Village [1:31]
18. Nobody's Character [1:38]
19. Mitchum [2:49]
20. Calypso [2:00]
21. Space [1:34]
22. Bad Reviews [1:14]
23. What Is It About? [1:47]
24. The Score [1:44]
25. Dolemite [:40]
26. William Blake [2:09]
27. Them Ornery Mitchum Boys [1:56]
28. Pumpkin Ravioli [1:02]
29. "Music In Your Films" [1:29]
30. Cheer Up [1:38]
31. A Final Question [:43]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Dead Man (Criterion Collection)
   Play The Movie
   Chapters
   Commentary - Recorded For The Criterion Collection In 2017, This Selected-Scene Commentary Features Sound Mixer Drew Kunin And Production Designer Bob Ziembicki.
      Commentary: On
      Commentary: Off
      Index
   Supplements
      Q&A With Jim
         Play All
         Index
      Gary Farmer
      Reading Blake
         Play All
         Iggy Pop
         Alfred Molina
         Mili Avital
      Deleted Scenes
      Neil Young
         Play
         Music Video
      Black And White In Color
      Trailer

Editorial Reviews

The interesting thing about Western movies is that they are the oldest genre in the cinema and yet, because of that status, every couple of years there seems to be a reinvention or new take on what is, by definition, the most American of stories. Dead Man, putting it mildly, ain't your grandfather's Western. In fact, it breaks the Western stereotype in so many ways, maybe Westerns should be defined by more than just their setting. To begin with, the director is indie darling Jim Jarmusch, who would be associated with Westerns in much the same way that Jerry Lewis would be associated with Holocaust dramas. This is, after all, the same man who gave us such classics as the Elvis homage Mystery Train and Down by Law, which introduced Roberto Benigni to American audiences. Add to that the character of William Blake, a bookish accountant played by Johnny Depp, who is most decidedly not your typical Western hero. In fact, Blake is the type of character who would most likely have been comedy relief to John Wayne not too many years ago. Briefly, Blake is hired by a corrupt industrialist (Robert Mitchum, in his last screen role) to serve as his company's accountant. Upon spending everything he has to reach the West, he is told his job has been given to another, thus sending into motion a series of events where Blake is wounded and on the run from a gang of bounty hunters, including Lance Henriksen. While there are bits of adventurism, the film is really a much quieter character study of a man forced to survive in an unfamiliar place by unfamiliar means and how it changes him as a human being. As a consequence, the film applies layer upon layer of subtext, some of which is as meaningless as the rest is meaningful. Blake encounters a loner Indian named, appropriately enough, Nobody, who believes Blake to be the great English poet William Blake and attempts to save his soul before Blake can expire from his wounds (not to give anything away, but the title of the film says it all). The film does follow some classic Western traits, in that it is gorgeously shot; the black-and-white cinematography is excellent, particularly in the opening sequence that chronicles Blake's journey west. Dead Man can be a little slow-moving at times, but it definitely engages both the senses and the philosophical portions of the brain that sometimes need a good, swift kick.

All Movie Guide - Dan Friedman