My favorite movie of all time. Everything works as few others do. And Neil Young completes the picture with his incomparable soundtrack.

William Blake (Johnny Depp) is a meek accountant traveling to the American west frontiers from Cleveland. He is welcomed by the train boilerman. He arrives at Dickinson Metal Works. Manager John Scholfield tells him that he's too late. The owner John Dickinson sends him packing with a shotgun. He befriends former prostitute Thel Russell. John's son Charlie Dickinson is her jealous ex and kills her. Blake kills Charlie in return. He is helped by a native American named Nobody. John Dickinson sends a posse of Cole Wilson, Conway Twill and Johnny 'The Kid' Pickett to go after him.I really like some of the odder surreal touches from Jim Jarmusch. The movie starts well with the train trip and the muddy town. The movie loses steam after the killings. Gary Farmer is a little funny but I get a sense that he's meant to be much funnier. Jarmusch's indie camera work lacks style. I can sense where this movie is trying to go. It's trying to subvert the western with a lot of weird takes. It doesn't really succeed as a movie.

I really sought this out because of Only lovers Left Alive, a wildly entrancing, unique film. This is also unique in the pantheon of western genres. I think the score doesn't fit quite as nicely as it should with the film's content, but it doesn't distract too badly. Johnny Depp does great work here, totally in sync with what Jim intended. It's actually not as minimalist as people like to point out (from what I've read) but you can still see where some people get impatient to a point. It's hypnotizing and it does a fine job of setting up its atmosphere well enough to succeed in its points. Definitely recommended enough, even if not sure how much I really liked it.

Timid accountant William Blake arrives at the west-end of the world and finds his promise of a new job broken and a short acquaintance with a free-spirited woman turned into a false charge of double-murder. With a bullet in his chest, he's aided by whacked-out Indian Gary Farmer, who believes him to be the earthbound spirit of the same-named poet. Meanwhile, a trio of hired killers, including motor-mouthed Michael Wincott and psychopath (and reputed cannibal!) Lance Henrikson, are soon on his trail.Weird, violent, and often times quite surreal, one doesn't know whether this acid western is supposed to be dead-serious or a put-on, as it's equal parts action/adventure, comedy, and art-house pretentiousness, very much a product of the mid-nineties.Although it's a pinch too long, it's never boring, with an almost always entertaining Depp losing his sanity bit-by-bit with each graphically violent encounter (with gore FX by Steve Johnson!), usually involving flashy guest stars like Billy Bob Thornton (who's Slingblade in turn guest-starred director Jim Jarmusch), Iggy Pop, Jared Harris (as a trio of degenerates), Gabriel Byrne, and Alfred Molina as a racist scripture- quoting trader. Other guest stars include Crispin Glover, John Hurt, and Robert Mitchum, in his final western appearance.The ugliness of it all is beautifully photographed in black and white and set to a quasi-psychedelic score by Neil Young(!), who in turn was the subject of a documentary/concert film from Jarmusch.