DEAD MAN
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1996 Michael John Legeros
(Mirimax)
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Written by Jim Jarmusch
Cast Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen, Michael
Wincott, Eugene Byrd, Robert Mitchum, Mili Avital,
Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, Alfred Molina
MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for violence, gore, profantify, and
sexual content)
Running Time 120 minutes
Reviewed at The Colony, Raleigh, NC (15JUN96)
==
Not to be confused with DEAD MAN WALKING, this tedious, episodic anti-western stars a bespectacled Johnny Depp as William Blake, a timid accountant from Cleveland whose first day in the muddy frontier town of Machine is a busy one. In order, he loses a job that he didn't have, has a gun pointed at him by the plant owner (Robert Mitchum), beds a friendly flower girl (Mili Avital), kills her ex-boyfriend (Gabriel Byrne), rides off into the woods wounded, and is mistaken as the famous dead poet by the frank-speaking, world-traveled Indian (Gary Farmer) who rescues him. There's also trio of bickering bounty hunters (Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, and Eugene Byrd) on the trail, as the dead man courting was also the plant owner's son.
Long on interesting characters, but short on interesting action, DEAD MAN is engaging for, oh, about an hour. Robby Muller's crisp black-and-white photography adds a welcome layer of grit to several sights not normally seen in a western. As Depp mucks his way down Main Street, for example, we see a prostitute performing a sex act here and a horse urinating over there. The realism is refreshing and goes a long way toward balancing the more-absurd moments, like Robert Mitchum speaking to a stuffed bear, Iggy Pop appearing in drag, and Lance Henriksen feasting on human flesh. (Need a hand? No thanks, got one!) And how about that wild, weird guitar-only score by Neil Young? Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch (NIGHT ON EARTH).
Grade: C
--
Mike Legeros - Raleigh, NC
legeros@nando.net (h) - legeros@unx.sas.com (w)
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