The
film was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.[12]
In its theatrical release, Dead Man earned $1,037,847[3] on a budget of
$9 million.[2] Then, it was the most expensive of Jarmusch's films,
due, in part, to the costs of ensuring accurate period detail.
The
film contains conversations in the Cree and Blackfoot languages, which
were intentionally not translated or subtitled, for the exclusive
understanding of members of those nations, including several in-jokes
aimed at Native American viewers.[10] The Native character was also
played by an Indigenous American actor, Gary Farmer, who is a Cayuga.
Critical responses were mixed to positive. Roger Ebert gave the film
one-and-a-half stars (out of four stars maximum), noting "Jim Jarmusch
is trying to get at something here, and I don't have a clue what it
is".[13] Desson Howe and Rita Kempley, both writing for theWashington
Post, offered largely negative appraisals.[14] Greil Marcus, however,
mounted a spirited defense of the film, titling his review "Dead Again:
Here are 10 reasons why 'Dead Man' is the best movie of the end of the
20th century."[15] Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum dubbed the film an
acid western, calling it "as exciting and as important as any new
American movie I've seen in the 90s"[16] and went on to write a book on
the film, entitled Dead Man (ISBN 0-85170-806-4) published by the
British Film Institute. The film scored a 'Fresh' 71% rating on website
Rotten Tomatoes. [
Wiki]
In July 2010, New York Times chief film critic A. O. Scott capped a
laudatory "Critics' Picks" video review of the film by calling it "One
of the very best movies of the 1990s."[17]
