Dead Man is a 1995 film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Michael Wincott and Lance Henriksen. Noted musician Neil Young recorded the haunting minimalist soundtrack by improvising on his guitar as he watched the newly edited film alone in a recording studio.
Johnny Depp plays a character named William Blake who travels from Ohio to Machine Arizona for a bookeeping job, but instead finds himself wrongly accused of two murders. Blake is not initially familiar with the works of the William Blake(18th-19th century artist and writer of the same name). One of the more memorable lines in the film comes from Depp's character before he kills a man; after the victim asks if he's William Blake, Blake replies, "Yes I am. Do you know my poetry?" and then shoots. The poetry of William Blake is quoted by Gary Farmer's character, a Native American named Nobody, at several points in the film. Nobody was aquainted with the works of Blake when he was captured by English trappers and sold as a circus curiosity to be exploited throughout North America and England before being assimilated and then finally returned to his people, only to be rejected as a liar. Nobody's character is fictional but there are many well-documented instances of Natives exploited like this throughout the early history of the New World. Another character, a canabalistic parricidal bounty hunter indirectly refers to Blake's poetry when he advises a colleague not to drink water from a still pond ("Expect poison from standing water" -Blake). Blake and Nobody travel from the Crow area of the Southwest, up to (presumably) the Makaws along the Northwest Pacific coast.
This film is generally regarded as extremely well-researched in Native American culture. It is also considered to be one of if not the only film by a white about Native Americans that is considerate of the individual differences in Native American tribes and free from stereotypes. The movie makes many poetic statements about both Native American and Anglo-American cultures. A brief but highly informative book on the film, by the same name, was written by noted film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum.
The film has very strong but subtle surreal or dreamlike qualities.
Robert Mitchum, Gabriel Byrne, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Steve Buscemi and Alfred Molina also have minor roles or cameos.