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Accountant William Blake has been offered a job in the town of machine as an accountant in a steal mill run by the very imposing Mr Dickinson. William leave Cleveland a broken man after both his parents die and his fiancée gets cold feet and calls of their relationship using the last cent he owns to make the trip to Machine and hoping for a fresh start and a new life but what he finds there will change his life in ways he can not comprehend.
Things get off to a bad start when William Blake arrives at Dickensons mill only to discover his job has been taken by another accountant a month before he arrived when Mr Dickenson points a rifle in his face for entering his office invited William Blake is left to wonder a rough dirty town alone. Drowning his sorrows in a very small bottle of Whiskey outside a saloon William Blake meets the beautiful Thel getting roughed up by a drunk and goes to her aid. Thel takes William Blake back to her room for a little romance when Thels ex bursts in the room to surprise her but a happy renlunion turns nasty when in a effort to save William Blake life Thel is shot and killed by her ex and William Blake must take his life to save his own but not before he takes some white man's steel close to his heart first. William Blake escapes into the wilderness but unbeknown to him he just killed the son of the biggest member of the town Mr Dickinson.
William Blake passes out in the woods and when he awakens he is greeted by Nobody a Native American who tried to save his life cutting the white man's steel from his chest but it's too late the bullet has travelled to far to be extracted. When Nobody finds out his new friend is named William Blake he mistakes him for the Poet and Painter William Blake a man who's poems he studied when he was kidnapped and brought to England as a side show for the ignorant pale skins of the civilised world. So begins William Blakes final journey to the afterlife.
Dead Man was a film my mate and I discovered back in our teenage years where we would rent films from the video store on a Saturday night and do an all nighter watching as many films as physically possible. Right from the opening credits and William Blakes journey through the old West by train something just felt special I could just feel that I was in for something that would stay with me for a long time but I didn't think it was gonna be a film that would stick with me forever. The rumbling of that steam train thundering through the forests mountains ghost towns and destroyed Native settlements was all so beautiful and sad at the same time. William Blake looks fresh faces awkward nervous and innocent not prepared for what he was barrelling towards the deeper into his journey the rougher the passengers become between naps everytime he opens his eyes more and more harder faces greet him from his slumber. Even before he steps foot in the town of machine the man looks broken already he does not belong in this part of the country in his flash clown suit and very soft hair.
Dead Man really is a journey and it's amazing to watch the evolution of William Blake starting so awkward fragile and nervous of his own shadow becoming harderened confident and accepting his own mortality. I love the relationship between William Blake and Nobody it really grows and flourishes and a very strong bond is created between the two. Gary Farmer is fantastic as Nobody he is such a good soul teaching William Blake in the ways of the wild and how to survive even if they both no there is only one way this journey will end apart from teaching and looking after William Blake Nobody is funny and keeps William Blakes feet planted firmly on the ground with a random insult with his go to being Stupid F**king White Man
behind it all you can see that Nobody has so much love for William Blake if you can't tell by the look on his eyes you will know after they are separated and reunited he joy and how hard Nobody embrasses him will warm your heart.
Dead Man is such a beautiful visually stunning film shot entirely in black and white everything just pops the blood is so black it looks amazing the black and white really emphasizes the gritty look to everything how dirty the towns are it almost makes people look dirtier showing the rough and tough ways people would of actually lived in the old West. There is so much amazing imagery in every single scene so obvious and some are very subtle that you will need repeat viewings to take them all in i swear last night I spotting new things I never noticed before and I have watched this film soooo many times which really shows the genius of Jim Jarmusch.
This film is cast so perfectly everyone is amazing in their roles the whole film is jam packed with so many larger than life characters and the dialogue is truly amazing from the campfire scene with Aunt Sally and big George to the relationship between the bounty hunters is just hilarious honestly never fails to make me laugh out loud. Conway Twill is my favourite character as one of the bounty hunters he just can't shut his bloody mouth which causes him a lost of trouble with Mr Cole Wilson an other bounty hunter hired to hunt down William Blake.
As usual I give a special shout out to the soundtrack of a film this was the first ever soundtrack that I went out and hunted down back before I ever used the internet to buy anything so it was hoping to hunt it down out in the wilds hopefully one day Waxwork might give us a vinyl release. Anyway the whole soundtrack was composed and performs by Neil Young it adds so much beauty to the film and is played the whole way through there are barely and scenes where it's not in the background. I watched videos if him recording it the first time he just stood Infront of a big screen showing the film and played to what he saw its a masterpiece of a soundtrack to me anyway.
Dead Man is one of the best films I have ever seen it's a film that has lived with me since I was 15 and I think it has a bigger impact on me know than ever. It's been a few years since I last saw it and after watching it last night I think I love it even more than ever now.
I better stop or this will be too long and there isn't a hope anyone will read a great wall of China of text
AMAZING / 10
THE HUNT IS ON.