Dead Man – What Went Wrong?

 

Jim Jarmusch, director, 1995

 

KEEPERs: “Why is it, the landscape is moving, but we don’t seem to be.” “You are a poet and a painter, and now, William Blake, you are a killer of white men.”

 

JOHN: Jarmusch’s first major film, Stranger Than Paradise, was released in 1984 to critical acclaim. Recounting a journey of three disillusioned youths from New York to Cleveland to Florida, the film broke many conventions of traditional Hollywood moviemaking, and to this day is still considered a landmark work in modern independent film. Dead Man isn’t quite that lucky. It’s as if Federico Fellini were directing a Western that he was writing as he went along. On the one hand Jarmusch doesn’t seem to have any feel for the subject, on the other it is an excuse for misplaced lyricism, violence and self indulgence. But it should have been interesting, at least in some idiosyncratic way. Why isn’t it?

 

HOOK: A dawdling, horseback road-movie in black and white: and, hey, aren’t those guys sitting backward on their steeds. Give us your ideas why this would-be cult film bites the dust.

 

STORY: A lugubrious train journey of William Blake (Johnny Depp) to the hellish town of Machine— where an accountant job supposedly waits for him—leads to his shooting (and being shot) by Robert Mitchum’s son (Gabriel Byrne). The old man puts killers on Depp’s trail where he is befriended by a less-than-helpful Indian/spiritual-guide.

 

SPANKY: Jarmusch puts even his fanss tolerance to the test. The eccentric Indian (called “Nobody”) mistakes Depp for William Blake, the famous English (dead) poet of the same name. Robert Mitchum, in his last and worst role, Gary Farmer, who looks like Chris Farley as the Native American, and a randy guitar score by Neil Young are all ludicrous. You’ll be happy when this film is over. There is a deleted scene of a fresh corpse’s skull crushed under an assassin’s heavy boot. After watching this movie, I know how that skull feels.

 

GOSSIP:  When Jim Jarmusch appeared on “The Simpsons,” he claimed to be able to eat an onion without crying. Homer Simpson challenged him to prove it so he proceeded to bite into an onion. As he did so, he cried profusely. Homer pointed out that he was crying but Jim said he was crying about something else. When Homer asked Jim what he was crying about he said he was crying because it was the last time they would be together.

 

Give us your take, so the Dead Man can finally rest in peace. The best response will receive a free copy of John’s new poetry book, “Acting Lessons.”