Dead Man

"It is preferable not to travel with a dead man."

1995 2h 2m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

🍅

70%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.5

IMDB

★7.3TMDB · 1,805🍅70%Rotten Tomatoes●62Metacritic★7.5IMDB · 110,001

DramaFantasyWestern

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

On the run after committing murder, an accountant encounters a strange Native American man who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.

“It is preferable not to travel with a dead man.”

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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' Pickett
John Hurt
John Scholfield
Robert Mitchum
John Dickinson

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jim Jarmusch
Writers: Brick Mason, Jim Jarmusch
Languages: Cree, English
Countries: United States of America, Germany, Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 12% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

31 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Cree, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: United States of America, Germany, Japan.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jim Jarmusch, shot by Robby Müller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Neil Young. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jay Rabinowitz shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer and Crispin Glover carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jim Jarmusch directs. Robby Müller behind the camera. Neil Young scores. Jay Rabinowitz cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America, Germany, Japan. Dialogue in Cree, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 12% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
231 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Cree, English.
4International production across 3 countries: United States of America, Germany, Japan.
5Directed by Jim Jarmusch, shot by Robby Müller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Neil Young. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Jay Rabinowitz shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer and Crispin Glover carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "It is preferable not to travel with a dead man.".
10IMDB entry: tt0112817 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 13 themes, including "dying and death", "sheriff", "bounty hunter", "gun".

The technical file

Cinematography: Robby Müller
Original score: Neil Young
Editing: Jay Rabinowitz
Production design: Bob Ziembicki
Costume design: Marit Allen
Makeup / hair: Richard Alonzo
VFX supervisor: Randall Balsmeyer
Sound: Héctor Cordero
Stunt coordinator: Al Jones
Runtime: 122 min · 2h 2m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $9,000,000
Box office: $1,038,000
Return: 12% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Dead Man (1995)
Rotten Tomatoes: 70% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 62/100
IMDB rating: 7.5/10 · 110,001 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

6 wins & 14 nominations total

European Film Award for Best Non-European Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Jim Jarmusch

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2023-07-04
★ 6/10
A somewhat surrealist film, which has value, but which is not for everyone's taste. This film is a little disconcerting. It is an uncompromising Western, frontal, very raw and sometimes difficult to understand. It all starts with William Blake, an accountant from the East Coast, taking a train to a remote place in the West, to accept a job in the company of an unscrupulous industrialist. It turns out that the vacancy was filled by someone else: at the end of the day, unmotivated, he goes to bed with a prostitute and ends up killing a man who tried to kill her out of jealousy. This man was the son of the factory owner, who sends henchmen after Blake, who is unaware of this and runs away, ending up in the company of a strange Indian named Nobody. The film has great artistic note. It has excellent black and white cinematography, makes intelligent use of light, shadow, angles and filming framing. The sets and costumes are very good: they are not particularly rigorous from a historical point of view, the film was not concerned with being strictly framed in time and space, so that aesthetics prevails over the realism of the recreation. However, the aesthetic value is remarkable, and it gives us a raw, rough and dirty vision of the West. Jim Jarmusch ensures effective management that makes the most of what's in its hands. There are a good number of visual effects and the soundtrack, based on the electric guitar, is atmospheric and somehow fits into the film effectively, even if it is never one of the soundtracks that we will want to have on CD. The film has a series of good actors, of which Johnny Depp stands out in an almost natural way. He was still young here, but he already showed his taste for playing the most bizarre characters. However, and perhaps because of the bizarre nature of the film itself, it is not one of the actor's greatest works. Iggy Pop, Robert Mitchum and Crispen Glover are also here, and they do an interesting and sincere job, in rough, tough characters, with few lines and a lot of presence and impact. The big problem with the film – and it really is a big one – is that it is so apparently complex and almost surreal. At various times it is suggested that the character played by Depp is a man who is already dead, and there is almost a synesthesia between the accountant and his British namesake, who was an artist and poet and who would be, at the time of the events of the film, really dead! It's very strange, and such strangeness makes this not a film for everyone's taste.

Production companies