Ten years ago today, May 26, 1995, Jim Jarmusch’s stark and haunting allegory of the American frontier, DEAD MAN, debuted at the Cannes film festival. In the intervening years, and despite a spotty early critical reception and an almost total lack of promotion by its distributor, DEAD MAN has advanced from cult favorite to landmark film. It is widely acknowledged as one of Johnny Depp’s finest performances, a perfect meld of artist and vehicle.

The Zone salutes Jim Jarmusch,who wrote and directed DEAD MAN; director of photography Robby Muller and editor Jay Rabinowitz, for their extraordinarily poetic images; Neil Young for his evocative score, and an outstanding cast headed by Johnny Depp as William Blake and Gary Farmer as Nobody, with Lance Henricksen, Iggy Pop. Billy Bob Thornton, Mili Avital, Crispin Glover, Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, Alfred Molina, and, in his final role, screen legend Robert Mitchum. We invite Zone members to post their reminiscences to a tribute thread on the Porch, and to join in a special discussion of DEAD MAN on the Movie Nights board.