On this day in movie and book history - Dead Man (1995 and 2000)

Dead Man

directed and written by Jim Jarmusch,

was released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 27, 1995.

Music by Neil Young.

Cast:

Johnny Depp, Mili Avital, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Eugene Byrd, John Hurt, Robert Mitchum, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Jared Harris, Jimmie Ray Weeks, Mark Bringelson, John North, Peter Schrum, Mike Dawson, Billy Bob Thornton, Michelle Thrush, Gibby Haynes, Richard Boes, George Duckworth, Thomas Bettles, Alfred Molina, Daniel Chas Stacy, Todd Pfeiffer, Leonard Bowechop, Cecil Cheeka, Michael McCarty, Steve Buscemi, John C. Carlucci.

Recommended reading:

Dead Man

by Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Published by British Film Institute.
Published 2000.
 
ISBN-10: 0851708064
ISBN-13: 9780851708065
 
Description:

“The book follows the narrative and picks out some of the stand-out cameos as well as some of the choice of dialogue, music, style and violence within. Just another good choice from the BFI/Palgrave on another solid film with heavy content.” – Filmwerk.

When it was released in 1995, Dead Man puzzled many audiences and critics. Jim Jarmusch's reputation was for directing slick, hip contemporary films. And Dead Man was a black-and-white Western. As time has passed, though, the number of its admirers has grown rapidly. Indeed, Dead Man, with its dark and unconventional treatment of violence, racism and capitalism, may be Jarmusch's finest work to date.

This is Jonathan Rosenbaum's view. For him, Dead Man is both a quantum leap and a logical next step in Jarmusch's career. Starring Johnny Depp as the uprooted accountant William Blake and Gary Farmer as his enigmatic Native American companion, Nobody, and with startling cameos from Robert Mitchum, John Hurt and Iggy Pop, Dead Man is by turns shocking, comic and deeply moving. This book explores and celebrates a masterpiece of 1990s American cinema.

On this day in movie history - Thunder Road (1958)

Thunder Road

directed by Arthur Ripley,

written by James Atlee Phillips and Walter Wise,

based on a story by Robert Mitchum,

was released in the United States on May 10, 1958.

Music by Jack Marshall.

Cast:

Robert Mitchum, Gene Barry, Jacques Aubuchon, Keely Smith, Trevor Bardette, Sandra Knight, James Mitchum, Betsy Holt, Francis Koon, Randy Sparks, Mitchell Ryan, Peter Breck, Peter Hornsby, Jerry Hardin, Robert Porterfield, Charles Elledge, Charles Hendrix, Christopher Mitchum, Jack Perry, Dale Van Sickel.

On this day in movie history - Cape Fear (1991)

Cape Fear

directed by Martin Scorsese,

written by Wesley Strick,

based on the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald,

was released in the United States on November 15, 1991.

Music by Bernard Herrmann and Elmer Bernstein.

Cast:

Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Martin Balsam, Illeana Douglas, Fred Thompson, Zully Montero, Craig Henne, Forest Burton, Edgar Allan Poe IV, Rod Ball, W. Paul Bodie, Joel Kolker, Antoni Corone, Tamara Jones, Roger Pretto, Parris Buckner, Margot Moreland, Will Knickerbocker, Robert L. Gerlach, Bruce E. Holdstein, Richard Wasserman, Paul Nagle Jr., Paul Froehler, Mary Ellen O'Brien, Jody Wilson, C.C. Costigan, Domenica Cameron-Scorsese, Gar Stephen, Billy D. Lucas, Ken Collins, Linda Perri, Libby Moyer, Catherine Scorsese, Charles Scorsese, Jackie Davis, George Grafas, Esther Rolle, Ken Waters.