Dead Man (Film)

Dead Man is a 1995 American Western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, and Robert Mitchum (in his final role). The film, dubbed an "Acid Western" by its director, includes twisted elements of the Western genre. The film is shot entirely in black-and-white. Some consider it the ultimate postmodern Western, and related to postmodern literature such as Cormac McCarthy's novel, Blood Meridian. William Blake (Johnny Depp), an accountant from Cleveland, Ohio, rides by train to the frontier company town of Machine to assume a promised job as a bookkeeper in the town's namesake metal works. During the trip, a Fireman (Crispin Glover) warns Blake against the enterprise while passengers shoot buffalo from the train windows. Arriving in town, Blake discovers that his position has already been filled, and is driven from the workplace at gunpoint by John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum), the ferocious owner of the company. Jobless and without money or prospects, Blake meets Thel Russell (Mili Avital), a former prostitute who sells paper flowers. He lets her take him home. Thel's ex-boyfriend Charlie (Gabriel Byrne) surprises them in bed and shoots Blake, accidentally killing Thel when she tries to shield Blake with her body. A wounded Blake shoots and kills Charlie with Thel's gun before climbing dazedly out the window and fleeing Machine on a stolen pinto. Company-owner Dickinson, the father of Charlie, hires three legendary frontier killers, Cole Wilson (Lance Henriksen), Conway Twill (Michael Wincott) , and Johnny "The Kid" Pickett (Eugene Byrd) to hunt down Blake as the murderer of his son and Thel, although he seems to care most about recovering the stolen horse.