--- title: "Dead Man" year: 1995 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/dead-man" fi1m_id: "dead-man" imdb_id: "tt0112817" tmdb_id: 922 wikidata_id: "Q547189" fi1m_score: 81 critics_score: 67 critics_reviews: 7 published: "2026-09-13" updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:18.614214+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Dead Man (1995) Directed by Jim Jarmusch · 2h 02m · MPA R · Drama, Fantasy, Western ## Identity Dead Man - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/dead-man - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** dead-man - **IMDb ID:** tt0112817 - **TMDB ID:** 922 - **Wikidata ID:** Q547189 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/922, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q547189 **Fi1m score: 81** · Critics 67 from 7 reviews *In a sentence:* Give Young’s sounds as worried about Johnny Depp being in a Western as Johnny Depp looks > Jim Jarmusch’s funny, unsettling Western makes a fragile accountant worth following across a hostile frontier. Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer give it warmth, though the long pauses sometimes ask more patience than they repay. ## Synopsis William Blake (Johnny Depp) is a meek accountant travelling through the American frontier. His journey takes him into a West shaped by violence and exploitation. Along the way, he travels with a Native American guide, Nobody (Gary Farmer). Their passage brings Blake into contact with people whose ways he has to learn while trying to find his own place among them. Jim Jarmusch writes and directs this Western, with Robert Mitchum, John Hurt and Lance Henriksen among the supporting cast. ## Review Jim Jarmusch’s *Dead Man* is a funny, disquieting Western, worth its slow progress even when it tests our patience. Its accountant, William Blake, enters a frontier where violence and exploitation leave little space for anyone so ill-equipped to deal with them. Jarmusch takes that mismatch seriously without losing his pleasure in the absurd people it brings together. The black humour also gives us a way to stay with material that might otherwise become oppressively solemn. Johnny Depp plays Blake with a meekness that gives the film something immediate to worry about. We felt protective of him, because his uncertainty among the frontier’s grotesques makes each encounter seem like more than he can manage. Gary Farmer’s Nobody, the Native American guide travelling with him, brings a welcome steadiness to their scenes. Farmer’s dry humour keeps the relationship from becoming an uninterrupted lesson, and he makes Nobody interesting beyond the help he can offer Blake. Robby Müller’s black-and-white photography gives the landscape a lonely, unwelcoming look. There is beauty here, but the images do not offer much reassurance to anyone crossing the frontier. Bob Ziembicki’s production design is especially useful in the grotesque opening, where Blake looks out of place before the film needs to explain why. Together, the photography and the settings make the West’s supposed promise of opportunity hard to believe. Give Young’s’s electric guitar is just as important to that unease. The playing sounds exposed and unsettled, and its roughness prevents the pictures from becoming too comfortable to look at. We like the way it refuses the smooth reassurance a more conventional score might supply, though its insistence can occasionally make an already sombre passage feel laboured. It is a strong musical choice because it suits Blake’s vulnerability as well as the violence around him. The more substantial reservation is the pacing. Editor Jay Rabinowitz leaves space around the separate episodes, allowing the deadpan humour to register without hurrying on to the next encounter. That works until a pause gives us nothing further to notice, and there are stretches where Jarmusch seems content to restate how strange and brutal this frontier is. At 122 minutes, the film could lose some of that repetition without damaging its quietness or making Blake’s journey feel too tidy. Yet the treatment of the West is more thoughtful than the succession of eccentrics might suggest. Violence has consequences here, and Nobody’s Native American perspective complicates the idea that the frontier exists for an outsider to discover himself. Farmer gives Nobody a life that does not appear to begin with Blake’s arrival, so the guide never feels present simply to explain things. Jarmusch gives their companionship enough warmth to make his thoughts about death bearable. Go in expecting an episodic Western, with room for discomfort and jokes that take their time. It is not a film for an evening when the next plot development has to arrive on schedule. Give Young’s guitar a little volume, though perhaps not enough to introduce it to the neighbours. *Fi1m score 81, published 13 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics respond positively to Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man, with praise centred on its deadpan humour, visual style and revision of western conventions. The favourable reviews find purpose in its episodic journey through a frontier shaped by death and exploitation. Johnny Depp’s central performance draws particular praise, while even some reservations leave room for admiration of the imagery. Slant Magazine makes the strongest case for its treatment of violence, environmental damage and indigenous perspectives without romanticising them. The division concerns whether the slow pace gives the film substance or exposes a shortage of it. The more enthusiastic critics find quiet irony and thoughtful genre revision; the mixed reviews find overlength, uncertain momentum and heavy-handed philosophy. RogerEbert.com admires the lonely black-and-white photography but objects to Neil Young’s score and finds little reward in the lingering. Variety likewise praises the visuals and performances while finding the narrative insufficiently propulsive. ## Straight answers **Is Dead Man worth watching?** *Dead Man* is worth watching for anyone who can settle into a slow, episodic Western with a taste for black humour, and we scored it 81. Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer make the journey warm and often funny, but the long pauses between encounters sometimes give you nothing new to notice. Avoid it on an evening when you want the plot to keep moving. **How long is Dead Man, and what is it rated?** *Dead Man* runs 2h 02m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and fantasy film. **Where can I watch Dead Man in the US?** *Dead Man* is streaming on The Criterion Channel, HBO Max, Tubi, Hulu, The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $5.99. It leaves HBO Max on 30 September. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Dead Man, and is it suitable for children?** *Dead Man* is certified 18 in the UK and is not suitable for children. The frontier Jim Jarmusch shows is shaped by violence and exploitation, and the film takes the consequences of that violence seriously rather than playing it for thrills. It is more disquieting than frightening, with grotesque characters and a steady preoccupation with death that older teenagers and adults will handle better than the squeamish. **How does Dead Man compare to Walkabout?** *Dead Man* and [*Walkabout*](https://film.one/film/walkabout) are both journeys in which misunderstanding between cultures matters more than finding the way home, but they feel quite different. Jarmusch's film is a deadpan black comedy in black and white, punctuated by long pauses; Roeg's outback drama is more openly moving and holds our attention more evenly. We rate *Walkabout* slightly higher, though *Dead Man* is the funnier and stranger of the two. **What should I watch after Dead Man?** After *Dead Man*, try [*Walkabout*](https://film.one/film/walkabout) (1971, Fi1m 85): Another journey where cultural misunderstanding matters more than knowing the way home. Then [*Stalker*](https://film.one/film/stalker) (1979, Fi1m 86): For another guide-led journey whose pauses can be as unsettling as its dangers; and [*Embrace of the Serpent*](https://film.one/film/embrace-of-the-serpent) (2015, Fi1m 82): Black-and-white river journeys examine colonial damage through a guide’s encounters with outsiders. ### Reviews we read (10) - **Slant Magazine**, Zach Campbell (85/100, inferred): The critic praises Jarmusch's revisionist western for its incisive critique of the American West as a place of death and exploitation rather than opportunity, highlighting its nuanced take on violence, environmental degradation, and indigenous perspectives without romanticization. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/dead-man/) - **Empire**, Bob McCabe (80/100, inferred): The critic describes Johnny Depp entering Jarmusch's impressionistic, darkly deadpan vision of the frontier land in this elegiac, episodic and thoughtful Western. It subtly reinterprets the genre and delivers Jarmusch's most accomplished, if not necessarily his most accessible film to date. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/dead-man-review/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Jack Mathews (80/100, inferred): The shortened version is called Jarmusch’s best movie, with quirky characters and familiar themes played out at higher stakes and greater purpose. The critic singles out Depp’s riveting central performance. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-10-ca-2689-story.html) - **The AV Club**, Maria Schneider (75/100, inferred): The critic defends the film against accusations of pretension, noting its black humor, thematic echoes of Jarmusch's earlier work, and effective use of quiet irony and visuals to suit the western genre, calling it as strong as anything the director has done. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/dead-man-1798197459) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (2/4): The critic finds the film strange, slow and unrewarding, providing more time to ponder its meaning than actual meaning. He singles out the black-and-white photography for its moody loneliness while criticizing the Neil Young score. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dead-man-1996) - **The New York Times**, Stephen Holden (50/100, inferred): The film begins with sensational grotesquerie that sets up high expectations for a surreal western but fails to fulfill them, turning into a quirky allegory with brilliant flashes amid philosophic ham-handedness. The critic notes its droll hip sensibility will delight some but induce yawns in others. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/10/movies/film-review-weirdos-and-allegory-in-the-old-west.html) - **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (50/100, inferred): The film resembles a pokey stroll rather than an exciting ride, with piquant humor and eccentric mood but undermined by unassertiveness and considerable overlength. The critic praises the refined visual style and Depp and Farmer’s performances while noting the diffused impact and lack of narrative propulsion. [Read](https://variety.com/1995/film/reviews/dead-man-1200441549/) - **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★★★☆): Jarmusch's fabulously eccentric western features Johnny Depp as a meek accountant traversing a hellish frontier with a Native American guide. The supporting cast, including a 77-year-old Robert Mitchum in one of his final roles, stands out. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/dead-man-1995-review-jim-jarmuschs-fabulously-eccentric-western-22bzkwb39) - **Time Out**, GA: Jarmusch's film is a bizarre, funny, almost mystical take on the Western that charts the sentimental education of clerk William Blake. It features deadpan humour, superb imagery from cameraman Robby Müller and a haunting electric guitar score by Neil Young. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/dead-man) - **Eye for Film**, Anton Bitel: Jarmusch's film is a quirky, revisionist western and road movie that follows an accountant turned outlaw on a spiritual journey through the American frontier. The critic singles out its poetic beauty, understated violence, haunting Neil Young score, and Depp's ethereal performance as making it a low-key classic. [Read](http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/dead-man-film-review-by-anton-bitel) ## Details - **Director:** Jim Jarmusch - **Director:** Jim Jarmusch - **Writer:** Jim Jarmusch - **Cinematography:** Robby Müller - **Editor:** Jay Rabinowitz - **Music:** Neil Young - **Production design:** Bob Ziembicki - **Costume design:** Marit Allen - **Producer:** Demetra J. MacBride - **Cast:** Johnny Depp as William Blake; Gary Farmer as Nobody; Crispin Glover as Train Fireman; Lance Henriksen as Cole Wilson; Michael Wincott as Conway Twill; Eugene Byrd as Johnny 'The Kid' Pickett; John Hurt as John Scholfield; Robert Mitchum as John Dickinson - **Runtime:** 2h 02m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 10 May 1996 - **Genres:** Drama, Fantasy, Western - **Budget:** $9 million - **Box office:** $1 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEHMWguT--U ## Where to watch in the US - The Criterion Channel: streaming - HBO Max: streaming, leaving 2026-09-30 - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-13 - Hulu: add-on, hd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, sd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, sd *Checked 2026-09-13.* Also available in: AT, AU, CA, CH, DE, IT, JP, NZ, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - European Film Award for Best Non-European Film 1996: European Film Award for Best Non-European Film (won) ## If you liked this - *The Shooting* (1966): Another spare Western where travelling companions become more troubling than the landscape. - *Walkabout* (1971), Fi1m 85: Another journey where cultural misunderstanding matters more than knowing the way home. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/walkabout.md) - *Stalker* (1979), Fi1m 86: For another guide-led journey whose pauses can be as unsettling as its dangers. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/stalker.md) - *Embrace of the Serpent* (2015), Fi1m 82: Black-and-white river journeys examine colonial damage through a guide’s encounters with outsiders. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/embrace-of-the-serpent.md) - *A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night* (2014): For monochrome menace, deadpan humour and music that gives familiar genres fresh unease. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/dead-man