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| Director: Jim Jarmusch
Actors: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott
Studio: Walt Disney Video
List Price: $9.99
Buy Used: $2.00
You Save: $7.99 (80%)
New (9) Used (16) Collectible (1) from $2.00
Rating:  294 reviews
Sales Rank: 13015
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Hifi Sound, Ntsc
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 121 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 630426786X
UPC: 786936018868
EAN: 9786304267868
ASIN: 630426786X
Theatrical Release Date: May 10, 1996
Release Date: January 6, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Do you have any tobacco? No, but I have a great film! August 20, 2002
Rotten Arsenal (Burleson, Texas United States)
24 out of 27 found this review helpful
I finally watched this film after having two people rave about it repeatedly. I can immediately see why critics panned it. It's not Hollywood flashy nor is it a deep, takes-itself-too-seriously Indie film. It is what it is.
Quite simply, it's a story of a guy (Johnny Depp)who dies. Along the way, he encounters plenty of oddball, surreal people. A cryptic Crispin Glover, Robert Mitchum with a rifle, Gabriel Byrne the jilted lover, the psychotic Lance Henrikson, and Iggy Pop in a dress.
But it's Gary Farmer who steals the show as Nobody, the mixed breed Indian who was raised in the White Man's world. Part mystic guide, part prankster.
Johnny Depp's acclimation to his complete death is fascinating to watch, as he moves from unassuming accountant to an entity he no longer understands but accepts.
This film is fantastic. Watch it and enjoy. Take it for what it is and you'll love it.
An underrated masterpiece. July 11, 2003
theosprastus x (India)
24 out of 32 found this review helpful
Full of subtle observations, wry humor and with gloriously satisfying gunplay, this is the only Western that I truly love.
The cast is huge and all the characters in the movie are genuinely funny.
This is a considerably bleaker West than the one we are accustomed to. Only more so as the movie is in black and white. While this might be a put off at first, it becomes soon difficult to visualize director Jim Jarmusch's west in any other way. It is also so profoundly anti-american that even the hotshot critics seem to pan it.
Johnny Depp's character is somehow similar to that in Sleepy Hollow, despite being in extremely different situations. This film is also the better of the two.
The story is : Accountant travels from Cleveland to Machine,Far West - finds position already taken - puts up with Girl - meets with Girl's Fiance, who shoots, killing girl + fatally injuring Accountant, is killed by Acountant - escapes on a Pinto, wakes up to see Fat Red-Indian standing over him - three bounty hunters despatched to get Accountant - by Girl's Fiance's Father = Accountant's Employer.
Memorable characters. Memorable dialogue. Memorable screenplay.
Great Movie. Watch.
Poetry in the old west April 14, 2001
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man" is not only the best film of the 90's, but a mysterious, beautiful film that stands high among the finest American Films ever made. But at the same time, I can understand why many people disliked it. To quote Roger Ebert "The soundtrack by Neil Young sounds like nothing more then a guitar being repeatadly dropped on the ground". But you have to consider that Jarmusch chose this score for a reason. It's sort of like the anti-Hollywood score. Jarmusch himself said that there are so many taleneted musicians out there, he's at a loss to explain why almost all scores in movies today sound exactly the same. I've seen the movie 8 or 9 times now, and own it on dvd. The film is absolutely beautiful and quite thought-provoking. What you have to understand is that it's really a tale of one mans journey towards death, if you go in with the idea that it's going to be your typical shoot-em-up western, you're probably going to hate it. There are also alot of subtle messages in the film and plently of witty humor and dialogue to keep the viewer entertained. This is a film that can only increase in beauty and get better with repeated viewings. Go in with limited expectations and you might end up enjoying it or maybe even loving it as much as I did.
Not worth thinking about unless you think twice - please do! July 11, 2002
A wiever from Europe (Europe)
22 out of 25 found this review helpful
Some reviewers on this site find this movie totally empty and not worth thinking about. Nevertheless "Dead Man" has obviously made quite an impression on some of them, in fact so much, that they get themselves all worked up and can't wait to forget it. An apparently unexpectedly difficult decision to follow through, the alleged emptiness of the movie taken into consideration. Some of these angry reviewers obviously HAVE thought about it a great deal too, but it seems to have resulted in little more than a headache and a bad mood because they, like most of us after the first viewing, ended up confused. This can be a frustrating and scary experience, and with little tolerance for ambiguity and sad feelings they choose to give the movie neither a second thought nor a second viewing. They are thereby denying themselves a totally unique experience of coming to love a movie more each time you view it, even after 10 or 20 viewings. Yes, it is a sad, disturbing and confusing movie! But for most people life is at times sad, disturbing and confusing, and for some it takes a turn where there is no going back to the wellknown, there is only the painful task of letting go. Jarmusch's movie illustrates this like no other movie that I now of, and does it in a way that adds terrifying beauty to the sorrowfull recognition of this. The sadness and the beauty imbedded in every second of the movie points to something deeply human and trandescent beyond the pitcblack emptiness that some reviewers limit their insight to. Dear angry reviewers: It is not all emptiness! This movie changes with every viewing, because you will come to focus on different layers of meaning each time. It will reach deep into your soul, if you let it. It will resonate there forever.
A profoundly spiritual film January 14, 2004
21 out of 25 found this review helpful
Bleak, violent, surreal, and beautiful -- this film has been summarized by many other customer reviewers, so I won't repeat the plotline here. All I can say is that every time I watch this movie I am more deeply moved than I was the previous time, and more unsettled. My personal take is that this is a bardo, an account of a soul's journey through the land of the dead, with William Blake pursued relentlessly by hungry ghosts and demons. The movie works on many more levels than just this, but it leaps out at me again and again -- the fact that nearly everyone he meets asks him for tobacco, the vision of Blake as a skeleton, the opening train sequence which symbolizes his journey through life as a passive observer who is never really forced to take control of his destiny until he is already dead. It is a story, too, of spiritual transformation -- of learning to release attachment to the earthly realm when it is time to do so. Not only William Blake is transformed, but so are all those he meets along the way, including the film's viewer.Definitely not for the typical American filmgoer or maybe even for the typical person, but a must-see for anyone with a serious interest in spirituality, or anyone who can appreciate different levels of symbolism.
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