Amazon.com

Jim Jarmusch's 1991 ensemble comedy turns a gimmick into a revelation. The story begins in Los Angeles one evening at 7:07 p.m. A talent agent (Gena Rowlands) gets into the back of a taxi driven by a sullen, chain-smoking young woman (Winona Ryder), and over the course of their bumpy conversation, Rowlands's character becomes convinced that the cabby would be perfect for a particular part in a movie. Meanwhile, at that very moment, taxi drivers in New York, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki are all having unique encounters with a variety of fares, breaking through that invisible social barrier between the front and back seats of their cars, often to absurd or touching effect. Among them are cabby Roberto Benigni's ranting confessions to a priest, Armin Mueller-Stahl's relinquishing of the wheel to a stunned Giancarlo Esposito, and Isaach De Bankolé's relentless discussion of sight and sex with an angry, blind woman (Beatrice Dalle). What emerges is a chain of brief intimacies (not always welcomed by the characters), like a number of matches lit simultaneously across the globe, flickering brightly for a few short moments. This popular work by Jarmusch helped confirm his reputation as a fiercely independent filmmaker of rare perception, rigor, and classical sensibility matched with original thinking. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (30)

OFFBEAT, POIGNANT FIVE-STORY COMEDY
Tom Waits' music helps establish the mood of the streets in cities, empty of its day people. Seemingly, the minds of Jim Jarmusch's night people are affected by all of the dreams and nightmares surrounding them. NIGHT ON EARTH creates a lonely, romantic mood similar to Jarmusch's "Mystery Train," a film about wanderers in nighttime Memphis.

NIGHT ON EARTH presents us with slices of life in five cities played out by taxi drivers and their passengers at twilight through dawn. A Los Angeles casting agent (Gena Rowlands) tries convincing a tough young female cabbie (Winona Ryder) that she should have a career in the movies. In New York, a black passenger (Giancarlo Esposito) is convinced his driver (Armin Mueller-Stahl), who had just immigrated from Germany, will never find Brooklyn without help. In Paris, a taxi driver from the Ivory Coast throws out two tipsy African diplomats from his cab, then picks up a self-assured, tough and sexy young blind woman. In Rome, a cabbie (Roberto Benigni) burdens an aging priest by "confessing" his sexual perversions; causing the priest to have a heart attack in the back seat. Problem: what to do with the dead priest? Meanwhile in Helsinki, an icy snow covered winter dawn surrounds three drunken passengers as their driver decides who has the most tragic story to tell.

The film opens somewhere in space, zooming in on LAX airport in Los Angeles at exactly 7:07 PM. Jarmusch is mainly concerned with character; with relationships that form. For example, he throws together in a taxi a tattooed, gum-chewing, chain-smoking young cabdriver played to the hilt by Ryder, and the elegant Hollywood casting executive Rowlands who decides she'll cast her for a movie. But Ryder character announces, "I've got my life all mapped out," hoping to work her way up to mechanic. "There must be lotsa girls who want to be in the movies. Not me," she instructs the presumptuous and bemused talent scout. Nice!

Moving from Los Angeles, Jarmusch creates a global feeling of kinship. As the film progresses eastward around the world, we will hear Spanish, German, French, Italian, Finnish and even a little Latin. The film's literal and figurative vehicle remains the same: the inside of a taxi moving through a the empty streets of a great city in the middle of the night. Maybe the New York segment is the funniest. Mueller-Stahl's German cab driver lets passenger Esposito, who insists on driving himself home to Brooklyn to admireingly do so. On the way, they encounter anmd pick up Esposito's foul-mouthed sister in law, Rosie Perez as the shrill counterpoint voice from the back seat. Each man (the German named Helmut and the cool black guy who is Yo-Yo) argues that the other one has a rediculous name.

In Paris an Ivory Coast, African taxi driver gets up the nerve to ask his blind young woman passenger what sex is like for her: what's it like to make love with someone she can't see? Then he asks her what she thinks about colors. Without a hint of self consciousness, she abruptly responds that she knows more about colors and sex than he ever will! "I can do everything you can do," she assertively answers and announces that her entire being is involved in whatever she does. Retorts the skeptical cab driver, "Can you drive?" She shoots back, "Can you?!"

Jim Jarmouch offers us offbeat comedy and pathos at their best.

A true unsung classic
Night On Earth is often described as a "slice of life", but it is more accurate to call it a slice of time, cinema temporal rather than cinema verite. Unlike the new novel, in which the timeline of a story is chopped up like a piece of film and re-spliced out of order, Jarmusch's little masterpiece pulls apart five simltaneous events which take place in different time zones and presents them sequentially. The new novel technique gives the impression that ordered time is merely a psychic convention, that life is ultimately fragmented...by allowing us to experience five simultaneous taxi rides, from 7 pm in Los Angele to 5 AM in Helsinki, Jarmusch shows us the unity, rather than disconinutity, of life across time. It is a bit like what I imagine the astronauts felt in viewing the Earth from the Moon.

I find Night on Earth to be a tremendously comforting and human film...it is five small vignettes, each describing it's own particular emotional, as well as temporal, moment. Winona Ryder's turn as a gum snapping chain smoking tomboy taxi driver to Gena Rowland's high powered call-phone addicted Hollywood agent is priceless.. Roberto Benigni delivers one of the most hilarious comic performances of a legendary career in his portrayal of a chronically self-narrating lunatic careening through the deserted streets of Rome. Despite the differing feeling-tones of each story, a tender shared sense of the commoness of experience, what Latinos would call "sympatico", prevails. This movie is a masterpiece of the best sort of non-cloying sentiment.

See the film...

fun flick
Watch this one with friends. The Italian part had me laughing so hard I hurt.

Oh. My. God.
If you haven't seen this 1991 classic comedy, see it now.
The premise is that we follow events during one night in taxis in several places around the world: New York, LA, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The best, by far, the one I always think of first when someone mentions this incredibly funny and touching film, is the one set in Rome with Roberto Benigni as the taxi driver. He gives this rambling monologue sort of a confession about lambs and pumpkins and sex that you HAVE to see the movie to appreciate. There's a priest in the back seat getting more and more 'cardiac challenged' by the specific nature of this confession. It's a marvelous set piece, and I always rewind and watch that sequence at least 2-3 more times. It is just as funny on the 3rd viewing as it was on the first.
Top notch.

A Great Night on Earth
I watched this film late at night, when every sane person is supposed to be asleep, out of their cars and in their beds. Life still goes on, however, for the taxi-drivers who move people from one quiet location to another in the wee hours of the night. The locations are quiet, but the people are not, and the dialogue in this movie is humorous, meaningful, and real. A temporary bond is formed between passenger and driver (sometimes the roles are even reversed, as in the New York vignette featuring Helmut Grokenberger and YoYo, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl and Giancarlo Esposito, respectively). Armin Mueller-Stahl, born in 1930, may be relatively unknown to American audiences (as opposed to, say, Rosie Perez), but he did play Vertikoff in the George Clooney flick "The Peacemaker" (1997). Who is the stranger at the wheel who is responsible for bringing one home? What kind of person drives late at night, waiting for the dispatcher's call to a new address? A passenger has to pay him or her at the end of the ride, but there is still a feeling of gratitude, and even affection, towards this gruff conveyor of souls. "You're a good man, Mika," the half-drunk, initially hostile, Finnish workers tell their driver (played by Matti Pellonpää) at the end of their journey. Or a battle of wits takes place, as evidenced by the Paris vignette. Ivorian actor Isaach De Bankolé (who also appears in Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes") is great here as a luckless "taxiste" whose prying questions are turned against him by his blind passenger (played by Béatrice Dalle). Roberto Benigni is of course hilarious, and does here what he does best: rapid, hilarious dialogue with a lot of gesticulation and wide grins. He and the actor who plays the priest (not a bishop), Paolo Bonacelli, have been co-stars before: on the Benigni vehicle "Johnny Stecchino."
I am really looking forward to the time when "Night on Earth" is made available on DVD. ... Read more

Description

Johnny Depp (CHOCOLAT) delivers a remarkable performance in this highly acclaimed tale of adventure and intrigue in the wild, wild west! A young man in search of a fresh start, William Blake (Depp) embarks on an exciting journey to a new town ... never realizing the danger that lies ahead. But when a heated love triangle ends in double murder, Blake finds himself a wanted man, running scared -- until a mysterious loner teaches him to face the dangers that follow a "dead man." With an outstanding supporting cast including Gabriel Byrne (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) and Robert Mitchum (CAPE FEAR), and a sizzling soundtrack, DEAD MAN is another motion picture triumph from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch. ... Read more

Reviews (186)

Totally empty pitch black eye candy, disgusting aftertaste
So, here's the story. A gentleman from 19th century Ohio goes West to take a white collar job and ends up as an outlaw and then we don't actually know what happens to him in the end. If you saw this film, please tell me if I miss any single detail worth mentioning. That's it, there is nothing else there. No message to debate, no opinion to think about, nothing to come back to, to replay in the memory, nothing to watch again. In fact, I can't wait to forget that I saw it. Well, pretty good acting by Johnny Depp, can't deny this, in fact, top notch acting. The rest is nothing, emptiness, just some artsy scene arrangement, sort of cinematic ikebana. Dead body right, dead body left, kill this, kill that... Sound track matches the visuals with its sickness. I don't remember a seeing a NIGHTMARE that was as bad as this movie. The ending is nothing but a flop half baked in a hurry: some generic primitive native settlement that does not match anything you may find in any period of the history, for some reason with one hi-tech detail in it, two men shoot each other and set one more adrift into some water body, a lake or a sea, who cares. There were a couple Jim Jarmusch movies I liked, namely Night on Earth (very much) and The Samurai Way (sort of). Now, after that dead man-dead movie I am not sure if I like these either. Too much dark sickness, bad medecine.

A great film with a fine soundtrack
Every time you watch this film, it reveals some more of its character. Is this a western, a road movie, a black comedy, surreal art or just something to look at while you listen to Neil Young's eerie sound track? To find your own answers you must watch it yourself.

Set in the late nineteenth century, we see Johnny Depp playing William Blake, a young accountant who gives up his sheltered life in Cleveland to head out to the Wild West. He has a job offer from a manufacturing company owned by John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum) in a lawless town called Machine which is literally, "the end of the line."

The film starts with his train journey out to the west and we see him becoming gradually more uneasy as the civilised East turns into the rough and dirty West. All too soon he is in Machine where he finds out that the job has gone to another man bacause Blake took too long in getting there. Out of money, he ends up in bed with Thel Russell (Mili Avital) the prettiest girl in town. When her boyfriend arrives, Blake's troubles get worse. After the ensuing gunfight, Blake flees, mortally wounded and leaving two bodies behind him.

The father of the dead boyfriend, Dickinson again, hires a group of killers to catch Blake. Also, he calls in the Marshals and posts public rewards. Since this is a road movie, Blake needs a buddy and he teams up with Nobody (Gary Farmer) an outcast Native American who just happens to have a passion for the poems of the more famous William Blake. Nobody accepts Blake as the embodiment of the real poet and assumes, because the the poet had already died and the man he sees now is slowly dying, that Blake must seek a place to die and return to the world beyond.

Nobody sets out to help and guide him on his journey. They must dodge the bounty hunters, marshals and citizens who want the reward and along the way, Blake turns into a man who can kill without remorse.

Surreal barely describes the people that they meet and, generally, kill on the way. There is a lot of humour ranging from Nobody's observations of European "civilisation" to the constant sniping (figurative and literal) between the three bounty hunters sent to kill Blake.

Shooting the film in black and white and using a soundtrack that is just a constant guitar presence rather than a set of songs, gives the film a outward appearance that well matches the content.

Many people will doubtless find this film deeply unappealing or offensive but they will be missing a movie that is as refreshing and stylish as anything else from the nineties.

JOHNNY LEGEND
Dead Man.... is haunting.... irritating... comic.... mesmerising... all thanks to Johnny Legend(oops), I mean Depp - and a good cast and crew.... It`s a smoky and mythical journey, traveled by an ill-fated book-keeper named William Blake... Johnny Depp and his moon-face is incredable.... There has never really been anyone quite like him... and never a western... quite like this 1.... It is something u should never miss.....

JOHNNY LEGEND
This is irritating....mesmerising....comic.....haunting.... The idea that the indian is the metaphore of Mr Dead is a good 1... Johnny is at his MOST legendary in this film... A legend in his own time.... No one in film history has his moon-face....
It is a brave production and it should never be missed:-)

neil young's masterpiece
This is one of my all time favorite films (along with Sweet
Movie and A World Apart -B. Hershey). The music fits this
film perfectly. I have watched this many times just to
listen to the soundtrack. I cannot enjoy the CD soundtrack
because of background noise. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Coffee, cigarettes and verbal sparring
Coffee and Cigarettes is not a movie that everyone will like, but fans of Jim Jarmusch may appreciate it as much as I did. This is not a conventional movie, but a series of short conversations between well known people over coffee, mostly in improbably seedy places. The dialogue reminded me a lot of Jarmusch's first film, Stranger Than Paradise; there is an existentialist absurdity to many of the encounters. There is also a fair amount of tension. Most of the conversations are between two people who don't like each other very much, or who are at least are engaged in some kind of power struggle or game of one-upmanship.

Among those that stood out to me --Two English actors, Steve Coogan and Alfred Molina conduct a clever spoof on celebrity egotism. Molina tells Coogan that they may be cousins; Coogan is arrogant and indifferent until he finds out that Molina has Hollywood connections, and then the tables are turned. Tom Waits and Iggy Pop barely conceal their competitive feelings as they verbally spar over trivial topics like quitting cigarettes (both smoke, but claim to have quit). Steve Buscemi, a ubiquitous presence in independent films, is a waiter in a Tennessee diner who imposes himself on a pair of twins ( Joie and Cinqué Lee) and espouses his theory that Elvis was impersonated by an unknown twin brother. Cate Blanchett has a dual role as a celebrity and her resentful cousin. This one really highlights what I liked about the whole movie. You could easily read it either way --seeing Blanchett (the glamorous star) trying her best to be supportive while dealing with an envious relative, OR as a suave celebrity who has mastered the art of polite condescension. The line between the two interpretations is paper thin.

I appreciated the atmosphere of these scenes as much as the dialogue. Shot in black and white, they evoke a kind of noirish simplicity from older films, although the dialogue itself is very postmodern. I found all of the scenes entertaining; the lack of a plot beyond the talk, if anything, added to the charm. It is refreshing to see a film that stands on the actors' performances. Since dialogue is so central here, every word, gesture and nuance becomes filled with meaning. There are no special effects, car chases, shoot-outs or sex scenes to distract us. I can imagine someone criticizing this as being almost an exercise for the actors rather than an actual film, but I found it totally captivating. In fact, contemporary directors and screenwriters would do well to study this as a class in subtle and intelligent dialogue, something many of them could use. I highly recommend this to fans of Jarmusch or anyone who has an ear for offbeat conversation.

Check, please!
I read about this film in the lobby of my neigborhood indy movie house, and thought, "Well! That sounds like it could be very interesting!" A series of vignettes all centering on people meeting over coffee and cigarettes. Names you must know, like Cate Blanchett, Alfred Molina, Bill Murray, et al. Concept, yes. Execution, no.

Despite there being so many different actors, almost every vignette was basically the same--one person is trying awfully hard to please or make a good impression on the other, who isn't having it. And, the object of desire is never worth it, either.

The exceptions: Two old Italian guys in a diner somewhere, cursing up a storm at each other. This was very New York and very real; there must be about 1000 longshoremen here just like that. Taylor Meade and another old guy wind up the film as two friends on a coffee break hearing a tune in Taylor's mind. Clever and artful.

But all the rest--even the much lauded Cate as two cousins--were just TOO irritating, I suppose because my own Personal Motto is "Don't cast your pearls before swine." The idea of trying so hard to get a hostile person to like you is anathema to me, sorry, and this whole movie turns on that. The odd thing is that it seems the filmmaker is on the side of the "hip" unpleasant people, so I guess I won't be meeting him for coffee and a biscotti (I don't smoke) any time soon. Misanthropic without a filter.

Would you like coffee with your cigarettes?
I just saw the latest Jim Jarmusch film "Coffee and Cigarettes" today. I was intrigued bythe film when I first saw the trailer for it when I saw "Dogville" a couple of months ago. I thought it looked very interesting. The film centers around the notion of smoking cigarettes while drinking a cup of coffee. In the film there are a slew of celebrities including Steve Buscemi, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Wu Tang Clan's Rza and Gza, and Alfred Molina. The film is shot in entirety in black and white so it has this grainy feel to the film which really worked out for the best. I couldn't imagine seeing this film in color. There are approximately a dozen vignettes (or close to a dozen) with two or three different celebrities discussing the finer points of smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee or just having a pointless conversation. Steve Buscemi was quite funny as this annoying waiter in a Memphis diner. The only vignette that didn't have more than one celebrity was in "Cousins" with Cate Blanchett who played both herself and her cousin Shelly. That was one of my favorite vignettes. I had a good laugh at the "Cousins?" vignette starring Alfred Molina and Steve Coorgan. It wasn't all comedy until the final vignette where the moviegoer catches some glimpse of bleak and despair where two elderly men are on a coffee break. The dialogue in most of the vignettes were hilarious. I loved the two old Italian men who got into each other's faces over their bad habits, one drank too much coffee and the other smoked too much cigarettes. There were moments in the film that did get on my nerves like the "No Problem" vignette but overall I enjoyed this movie. There may not have been much of a plot but it was refreshing to see a group of actors and musicians be themselves rather than try to pretend to be someone other than themselves.

A couple of the vignettes may make it worth your time
Coffee and Cigarettes is not for everyone. It most certainly is not an action film. Did you perhaps see the fabulous 1981 production, My Dinner with Andre? If so, you should get the general idea. Some parts of this film are very boring. The interaction between Roberto Benigni and Steven Wright, for instance, didn't work for me. Is Director Jim Jarmusch trying for the existential angst crowd? Are we all supposedly insane in a world which doesn't have any meaning? Oh well, Cate Blanchett is at least superb playing both sisters, Cate and Shelby. Blanchett once again proves that she is one of our most brilliant actresses. It wasn't until I read the credits after the movie ended when I even realized that she was performing both roles! One sister is a success in the eyes of the world and the other is deemed a loser. They have little in common but their bloodline. It is hauntingly beautiful. The vignette staring Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan is also provocative dealing with the theme of snobbery and the desire to belong to the elite class.

There's enough here to warrant buying the the eventually released dvd. You will then be able to decide which vignettes grab your attention while skipping over the others. As a matter of fact, many viewers may prefer avoiding the theater experience altogether. Your living room TV screen may be deemed more than sufficient for your viewing pleasure. Coffee and Cigarettes earns four stars.

must have coffee?
saw it and loved it!; 10 or so vignettes pieced together so that the venue of where the actors are consuming coffee improves, while the acceptance of both caffeine and tobacco wanes -- until the end --when it is rejected in toto. Each vignette is subtlely linked to at least one other. Our renowned director is trying to tell us to listen to one another -- the interaction is essential for the human being, even if the parties do not particularly like one another. Coffee and cigarettes are the life blood or conversation, or, are they? As the film moves forward we see that good social intercourse can take place without actually drinking coffee or inhaling cigarettes -- but that is because we once did. The final vignette summarizes the world and takes a drab, depressing locale and elevates it, existentially, to the highest peak ... Read more

Amazon.com

Elvis may not be alive, but his spirit continues to permeate the American cultural landscape. Jim Jarmusch pays tribute his legacy in his funky third feature, Mystery Train. The name comes from the great bluesy recording Elvis made for Sun Records in 1955, but the stories of wandering tourists and lost souls drifting through Memphis come from the mind of Jarmusch. Three different tales play out in a single 24-hour period, a loose trilogy spinning around a fleabag hotel manned by a sleepy Screamin' Jay Hawkins and his eager bellboy Cinqué Lee. A young Japanese couple arrives in Memphis to take the Elvis tour, an Italian woman (Nicoletta Braschi of Life Is Beautiful) takes possession of her dead husband's ashes and gets a surprise visit from a wandering spirit, and three Memphis lowlifes (including indie stalwart Steve Buscemi and Clash guitarist Joe Strummer) take an aimless and ultimately fateful midnight cruise around town. Jarmusch lazily unfolds his tales at the speed of life, the unhurried rhythms lending the deadpan mix of quirky Americana, pop culture, and cinematic poetry a quietly lived-in quality, while he juggles timelines in a trick Quentin Tarantino borrowed for Pulp Fiction. The offbeat interweaving is just another pattern to the crazy quilt, lovely examples of the mercurial playfulness of life in Jarmusch's America. --SeanAxmaker ... Read more

Reviews (21)

A wonderful journey
I first saw this movie in San Francisco and loved it immediately. Having lived in Memphis, this movie helped me feel, smell, and taste Memphis as I remembered it. The review by Sean Axmaker for Amazon.com describes the movie well. I can add that, if you have lived in Memphis, you will love this movie, as it brings a very diverse and unexpected group of people (Japanese, Italian, and an English Elvis want-to-be) to such a unique city that really must be experienced first hand. For those unfamiliar with Memphis, it may take several viewings to develop a strong appreciation, but I think it is well worth the effort. This movie is an artistic masterpiece.

Memphis Soul Stew
Jim Jarmusch's follow-up to 1986's "Down By Law" is an engrossing trio of stories revolving around one night in a run-down Memphis hotel. Continuing his tradition of casting musicians as actors, he enlists Joe Strummer as a British Elvis and the late Screamin' Jay Hawkins as the hotel night clerk. R&B great Rufus Thomas appears in the train station, and Tom Waits is the voice of the radio DJ. John Lurie provides the score, along with a fabulous soundtrack of classic Memphis music (from Elvis Presley to the Bar-Kays). The stories are intertwined, with certain events being shown from the perspective of each of the three sets of characters. The town has fallen a bit since its heyday as a musical hotbed, but the spirits of its past can be sensed in the delapitated buildings and landscapes, all lovingly embraced by Jarmusch's lens. All of the night shots were actually filmed at night, and some scenes are subtitled in Japanese and Italian. As is typical with Jarmusch's work, the action unfolds at a leisurely pace, and not without some humor. The film's juxtaposing of cultures is a popular theme with the director, and one he would use again in his next anthology piece, "Night On Earth." For fans of independent films, this is a wonderful and offbeat movie that would make an excellent addition to your DVD library.

Where are the English subtitles?
When I saw this movie in the theatre many years ago, there were English subtitles during the foreign language scenes. However, the DVD version does not offer English subtitles. It does offer French and Spanish subtitles.

Brilliant piece of work
Jarmusch does it again with excellence!!!!
Great character piece....

This plum is from Japan

This simple movie is great! It really brings you in and tells a great story of three parties crossing paths in downtrodden Memphis.

The story of the Japanese couple was an excellent way to show America through the eyes of a foreigner. I almost felt like a stranger in my own country. The scenes with the local lowlifes were the movie's weaker points, but they were still good. "Son, I'm the man who's gonna make you use that gun."

Definitely worth purchasing for repeat viewings if you're a film afficianado. If you are into more mainstream films, rent it first.

-- JJ Timmins ... Read more

Album Description

Widely acclaimed director Jim Jarmusch's 1997 film about Neil Young & Crazy Horse on an NTSC videotape. 107 minutes long, it contains live performances, never-before-seen backstage footage and interviews spanning more than two decades. Includes Neil's classics 'Like A Hurricane', 'Tonight's The Night' and more! 1997 release. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

Finally...................but could be better.
Finally a film about Neil Young and Crazy Horse, but I have to agree with 'Young and Disjointed' (previous reviewer). I LOVE Crazy Horse. Neil and the Horse are by far one of the greatest live bands ever. But these are nowhere near their best performances. This movie seems to have been filmed mainly during the 1996 Broken Arrow tour. The band seems bored and Neil appears to be already moving on to the next thing but is stuck finishing this tour. There are some great moments but not enough to make this a GREAT film which it could be if performances from every era of Neil and the Horse were shown, such as some Danny Whitten gigs, Tonights the Night tour, Rust Never Sleeps tour, more of the Zuma tour. How come the great footage of 'Like a Hurricane' from 1976 all of a sudden cuts to the end of the 1996 live version just as the 1976 version starts to mesmorize? It's things like that that make the film disjointed. It could be so much better, and I think Neil knows it.

Crazy Horse & Jim Jarmusch: the wierd turn pro. . .
For the Rusties and anybody who wants to see what ordinary guys who happen to work in Rock & Roll do for a living this is a fine film. Jarmusch has inveigled himself into the band and comes off as one of the strangest people in the film (albeit that a groupie/fan/nutcase in one clip clearly is a brick shy of a load).

This is an avant garde film of working-man rockers and it shows what 30 years together means to these men ... if only by scratching the surface. Neil & Frank (Pancho) come across as very human and, quite frankly, I believe that this film contains about as much information about their lives and personal business that anybody outside the group ought to have access to. I know that these men have worked hard to stay honest to their muse, they don't back down from nobody and they do get up in the morning.

this is a masterpiece
One bandmate jestingly complains that some artsy filmmaker from NYC can't get to the essence of Crazy Horse (and what they've gone thru for 30 years) , but Jim Jarmusch gets as close to it as you can in 107 minutes. The band members open up, each individually interviewed in a basement with a washing machine in the background, in their hotel rooms, and on the tour bus. And the concert footage from different eras is often stunning. Some of the complaints below are essentially that the film is non-linear but these critics miss the point because this is an artists depiction of fellow artists and the artists he's depicting are masters of the psychedelic experience. It's NOT supposed to be linear. My favorite parts were Jarmusch's visual dipictions to go along with the music (far better than any MTV videos), they are simply stunning compositions, they are as true to the music as can be, they add to the music. This is a must for those into the artistic psychedelic experience. Roll one up, have a few bottles of wine, strap yourself in and enjoy the trip!

By the album instead
Although die-hard Neil Young fans will no doubt embrace every song in the movie, casual fans may become a bit bored. The song selection here does offer a few choice cuts that are not on the live Neil Young album of the same name, such as the rarely heard "Stupid Girl". And that's a good thing. However, a couple of cuts on this video, such as the the brash and tired "F*&kin Up", may make you reach for the remote.

As for the "documentary" side of things, the interviews between the songs tend to quickly become dull. Fans will learn nothing new, and casual viewers may be confused as to who these people are that are being referred to. The guitarist Poncho states snidely (and I am paraphrasing here), "You think you can learn everything about this band from this short documentary?" Then the camera cuts away leaving the viewer with nothing at all. Later in the film, he says almost the exact same line to the camera, perhaps forgetting that he said it before. The answer clearly is, "No, I won't learn very much at all from this documentary."

A saving grace for the video comes in a few short clips of documentary footage from the '70's and '80's. These clips show the band sometimes unaware of the camera, sometimes hamming it up. They're a great depiction of Neil Young and his band in their prime. They also represent everything a documentary film should be. Sadly, there are too few of these moments in this film.

The director does manage to sneak himself into the picture several times, along with the name of his production company (I think they're even in the trailer.) This should make it easier to avoid his documentaries in the future.

Buy the DVD "Rust Never Sleeps" if you want a concert movie, or buy the album "Year of the Horse" to get the music from this film instead.

Amazon betrays its buyers again
The video is fine. But Amazon's "marketplace" provider, a company in Canada, sent me a FRENCH version. When I pointed out the order had specifiec ENGLISH, they apologized for their error. Per their instructions, I return-mailed the FRENCH video June 28, almost 9 weeks ago. They claim the mail hasn't arrived and refuse to send me the correct ENGLISH version until the mail gets through Amazon won't do anything to help, nor will they let me post my "feedback" on the transaction. They claim I'm not allowed to post feedback after 60 days pass. I love Neil Young, I hate Amazon. I'll never shop here again. Watch out for the "A-Z guarantee." It's worthless. Their customer service employees probably used to work for Enron. ... Read more

Reviews (34)

I saw this in Paris in the 80's, and it just clicked
I was a lonely GI living in Germany in the early 80's and was in Paris for the weekend. A Parisian couple (Great folks, I've NEVER found Parisians to be anything but nice and warm people!) invited me to the film. We saw it near the George Pomp. (I can't spell...) center and it was marvelous. Enough has been analyzed about the film, but to me it struck a personal nerve/note on items of alienation, lonliness, and finally, warmth and acceptance. Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I put a spell on you" fits so well...it was genius to place it (and the boombox, in black and white on a lonely street corner...) in the film. I even bought his albums (that I could find).
Anyway, it's a slow movie, definitely art house, but if you're in a very expat (American) mood, or halfway intelligent, you'll get it. I think it would be interesting if the director did a more updated film on Imigrants. I have a friend who's parents are from Syria, who was brought up in the U.S. He is your typical (OK, well, we're like that) American, and when cousins visit from the Middle East they're in culture shock. I think if Jim J. did something with a Middle Eastern bent it would be interesting.

Mark

Tired of Hollywood Crap??? This is the Remedy.
What a refreshing change of pace this movie is from all those big-budget Hollywood bores. Finally on DVD, Jarmusch's great first flick is available once again to shine for movie lovers everywhere. It's basically just a slice of life piece on three characters: Willie, friend Eddie and Eva (Willie's cousin). Their lives are pretty much going nowhere, so they set out to Cleveland and later Florda to find paradise. But what they discover is that "whatever new place we go to, it all looks the same." There really is no message here, though, it's just a remarkable look into the lives of 3 real characters. Funny, touching and downright engrossing, it's a great little film. The DVD presents the B&W film in widescreen. The only "extra" is some soundless behind-the-scenes footage (in color) shot during filming. There is no trailer...(this is MGM you know).

A Perfect Movie
Maybe THE perfect movie, very funny, very close to the bone & improves immensely with each viewing.

Back when hip meant wise rather than trendy, I would have tagged it the hippest.

Paradise is in the wind
Brilliant deapan humor, slow timely dialog, low budget distinct look, raw though beautiful black and white production and stunning subtle performances by a small well placed cast. When Willie's (Lurie) Hungarian cousin Eva (Balint) comes to stay with him for a few weeks before retreating to Cleveland to stay with her Aunt, we experience, from a fly on the wall perspective, the boring lives of the two unfold. After Willie grows fond of her, he tracks her down in Cleveland along with his buddy Eddie (Edson) in search for something more in their dull existence. The three decide to voyage to Florida to escape the cold and dark environment, only to find similar dullness only in sunnier shades. Brilliant deapan originality and haunting story of three people looking for "Paradise" or any place that doesn't resemble hell. This is the greatest Indie flick ever made.. simple and honest the film's low budget production looks better than most. This one will stay with you and force you to look at our world differently from here on.

slowest film I ever loved
This is not an exciting film. It is a love story -- a platonic love story about an American, played by John Lurie, who "doesn't even consider himself part of [his] family anymore," who is forced by his mother to host a cousin who has just arrived from Europe. He wants nothing to do with her and her treats her [badly]. He's the kind of guy that wants to be cool, never show his emotions, you know the type. He and his best friend occupy themselves by cheating at poker and going to the track. As far as he is concerned, she's about as uncool as it gets. His cousin barely speaks English, and when she speaks she says what she thinks. That's how it starts out. I don't want to tell you the plot so... if you want to see where it goes check it out for yourself. ... Read more

Amazon.com

After creating one of the breakthrough movies of the American independent cinema, Stranger than Paradise, Jim Jarmusch stayed right in the same minimalist, oddball, black-and-white groove. Down by Law takes place in Louisiana, where two losers (musicians Tom Waits and John Lurie) find themselves stuck in a jail cell together. One day they are joined by a boisterous Italian (Roberto Benigni), and the chemistry changes--suddenly an escape attempt is on the horizon. Conventional drama is not Jarmusch's intention; one of the emotional high points of this movie is the three guys marching around their prison cell shouting, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" Yet the deadpan style creates its own humorous mood, underscored by melancholy (also underscored by the music of Lurie and the gravel-voiced songs of Waits). This was the first American film for Roberto Benigni, the Italian comedian (Life Is Beautiful), and he lights it up with his effervescent clowning. Jarmusch has said that Down by Law forms a loose trilogy with Stranger than Paradise and the subsequent Mystery Train, a triptych of disaffected, drifting life in the United States. Few filmmakers have ever surveyed ennui so entertainingly. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (32)

It's a sad and beautiful world . . .
I can't say enough good things about the "Down By Law" Criterion DVD! The high-definition digital film transfer is wonderful and it really shows off Robby Muller's breathtaking b/w camera work. The DVD has 2 discs and the packaging is well done. The first disc contains the film itself and the second disc is packed full of goodies such as the insightful "Thoughts & Reflections" from director Jim Jarmusch, a "2002 Video Interview" with director of photography Robby Muller, "1986 Cannes Film Festival Press Conference" with Jarmusch and cast members John Lurie, Roberto Benigni & Nicoletta Braschi that is fun to watch, a great "1986 Interview" with John Lurie + his hilarious commentary on the interview, a bunch of film "Outtakes" which feature some great never before seen bits (especially with Lurie!) a terrific Tom Waits music video for "It's All Right With Me" also directed by Jarmusch and 3 wonderful recorded phone conversations from 2002 that Jarmusch had with Waits, Benigni and Lurie about making "Down By Law", etc.

The extras on the DVD give an intimate view of this very personal film and are amazing to watch and listen to. It's so complete that I can't imagine what else could be added to the Criterion release to make it more perfect. Many years from now when Jarmusch and the cast have left this sad and beautiful world, this gem will no doubt be a priceless look at one of the best American films ever made by one of America's best directors. Fantastic! One of the best films Criterion has released.

Somewhat interesting, saved by Roberto
Down by Law, Jim Jarmusch's 1986 film has a premise that has been used by countless filmmakers: Guys who should never be friends end up in prison together, try to make a break for it, and end up as better people. The atmosphere is this film works; one can feel the foggy Louisiana bayou creeping up around them as these characters slog their way around. The problem is the acting; better, that Tom Waits and John Lurie, while doing an admirable job, are not natural actors, but musicians. It is Roberto Benigni, who many now recognize as a tremendous talent, who saves this film. In this, his first English-language performance, his character (aptly named Roberto) is charming, witty, and valiantly puts comradeship and friendship above all else. Benigni and the great Louisiana locations are the best reason to see this film.

Not only moody, but moody New Orleans
Great movie, inspired casting, subtle direction.

"Down By Law" also perfectly crystalizes the lower echelon life experience in New Orleans, which is pleasantly surprising given that it's so elusive, and, that none of the principals are natives. Although Tom Waits did spend a lot of time here - I saw him and Rickie Lee Jones perform together while they were living here in the 9th Ward, so maybe that counts for something in terms of him getting into character.

BTW, just as an aside, I saw this film again with Italian friends in Italy in a cinema last year and the Italians LOVE this movie. Not just because of Benigni (like any big star in his home country, there are mixed feelings about him) but because the film is so wonderful.

Pure Magic!
Three Stooges meet "Waiting for Godot." Lurie, Waits and Benigni turn in great performances. They've been locked up in a Lousiana penitentiary for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jarmusch gives you each of their sordid lives in turn before throwing them together in a jail cell. Benigni plays wonderfully off Lurie and Waits, culminating in a hilarious version of "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice scream." Eventually, they find the light at the end of a tunnel, only to have to escape through a swamp. Jarmusch gives his characters plenty of room, making for many amusing interchanges. Jarmusch provides deft camera work and his usual wonderful eye for detail to make this his most memorable film.

Great movie, great transfer
This movie is a classic. The criterion collection DVD's are, in general and in this case, worth the little extra money. While DVD's may not be forever, they are certainly longer-lived than VHS tapes and Criterion's treatment of the films is worthy of such a lifespan.
Bonus: If you are a fan of any of the three main actors, this film is a gem. ... Read more

Reviews (176)

An Unexpected Delight
Jim Jarmusch doesn't do films like anyone else and let's all say a big 'thank-you' for that. With 'Ghost Dog', he demonstrates an understanding of Japanese culture and film traditions than far exceeds the likes of Tarantino, and at the same a connection to contemporary hip-hop, the likes of which hasn't been seen in celluloid since 'Do the Right Thing'.

The film centres around the eponymous hero, a black hitman, or 'retainer' as he puts it, for a local mafia clan, who follows the Samurai code, meditating and practising his swordplay in his modest rooftop hut which he shares only with his pigeons. In this role, Forest Whitaker puts in an outstanding performance full of understated power and pathos, at once bulky and balletic, that emphasises how criminally neglected he is, and indeed black actors are more generally (Washington and Berry's Oscars notwithstanding), by Hollywood.

Ghost Dog is estranged from the city as he struggles to follow his archaic code of honour, his only human connections made to a Haitian ice-cream vendor who speaks only French, and a little girl who loves reading. They aren't the only ones: coping with the absurdity of the uncaring city, its bleakness, poverty, lonelines and racism is a key theme in 'Ghost Dog'; those who survive need something to connect them to the real and to the transcendent: at one point, Ghost Dog and his Haitian friend come across a Hispanic man building a full-sized boat on a nearby roof-top, a labour of love that has no practical use.

The film is infused with genuine but very edgy humour: Ghost Dog's almost empathic understanding with the ice-cream vendor somehow transcends their mutual linguisitc imcomprehension is joyous and affecting. There are some genuine moments of slapstick and absurdity from the outdated, incompetant and decidely dishonourable mafia men who give Ghost Dog his orders and eventually decide to have him eliminated, in particular their leader's bizarre love of Public Enemy's Flavor Flav, and their inability to cope with Ghost Dog's carrier pigeons.

The sound-track by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA is a far more complex jazz-inflected hip-hop confection than you might have hoped for, meshing perfectly with the moodily-filmed cityscpes, and he also makes a very brief - but perfectly judged - cameo appearance!

Occasionally you stumble across a film that turns out to be an unexpected delight. 'Ghost Dog' is one of them.

what is this rubbish?
I think this movie COULD have been great. There are some funny moments: the icecream man scenes, and the mob members trying to catch those pigeons. But this movie was bizarre, and it dragged. There were countless shots of birds flying in the sky...no kidding. It was painful to watch from the begining to the end, i had to take frequent breaks to work my morale back up. I'm very glad i borrowed this from a friend instead of paying money to see it.

Whittaker Shines
Forrest Whittaker is certainly one of our most talented and underrated actors. This role probably allows him the greatest latitude to express a wide range of emotions since he starred as Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's "Bird" or in the gender-bender "The Crying Game." As Ghost Dog, he winds his way through Jim Jarmusch's script with grace & depth.

In adopting the way of the Samurai, GDog latches onto Louie, a mid-level mob boss played by John Tormey. The mix of cultures is a familiar Jarmusch theme that is exceptionally well realized in this DVD. One of the most interesting aspects of the film is GDog's relationship to his French-speaking best friend Raymond. The two often converse, not understanding each other's language but almost mirroring each other's thoughts as the subtitled French indicates. Isaach de Bankole does a great job as the ice cream truck-driving friend. Also very pivotal to the film is the wonderful screen time given to Camille Winbush as Pearline, a child who GDog loans a copy of Rashamon to. There is a great rapport between the two.

The Italian crime bosses are ironically played for laughs with Cliff Gorman's inept mob boss front & center. As Vargo, Henry Silva who has such a great ethnic look and has played in "Dick Tracy" & "Oceans 11" does a great job of being hard-edged and incompetent. His daughter Louise is a witness to one of GDog's early executions and eventually orders Louie to perform the hit on our star.

With the aspects of carrier pigeons and a guy building an arc on a city rooftop, we see numerous interesting cultural aspects and humor combined in the drama. This is an interesting film melding Asian culture with modern crime, kind of a Hip-Hop version of Kung Fu. Whittaker keeps us glued to the screen for a most interesting performance. Enjoy!

Good, could have been great
I liked this movie for the most part but it was the ending that put me off. I really did not want to see Ghost Dog die in that way, at the hands of a white man who did not understand him or his philosophy. I wish that Forrest Whitaker's character could have shown more determination to fight and survive, with more of what the samurai author of Hagakure would have called "martial valor". But then isn't it the juxtaposition of the cold, efficient samurai code with this gentle, somewhat bemused giant part of what makes the film interesting? Come to think of it, the samurai were more concerned with an honourable death than with mere survival. A better ending, at least for me, would have had Ghost Dog choosing, at the very last moment, to survive rather than follow the samurai code into the grave.

Surreal and entertaining
This was another gem from the director Jim Jarmusch, who previously brought us the incredibly underrated zen spaghetti western Dead Man. Which mixes some of the same elements, taking several genres, and blending them together in a believable and respectful way.

Forest Whitaker is playing the main character. A street punk who follows a bushido code and considers himself a modern day samurai. He lives his life by this strict code of honor, and has pledged his life to a mobster who saved him. So he works for this gangster as a contract killer. Never questioning the reasons for his killings, just like a samurai, there is no good and evil. You follow your the will of your master to the death. Through all this you definitely get the feeling that he is alone in this world of his, duty is what concernes him. His only friend is an ice cream vendor that doesn't speak english, just french, which Forest Whittaker's character doesn't.

The second part of this film is the Mafia themself. A comical group of broken down gangsters who are starting to show their age. They are having trouble making their bills, and are suffering from internal conflicts. Obviously their glory days are long gone, and they seem to be waiting for the inevitable.

This movie blends to the two genres well, making them both entertaining and believable for the premise. As we all know the Mafia lost most of it power through the late 70' to the mid 90's. They show this with the age of the mobsters and the fact that they can't even make their bills. The Bushido code wasn't practiced on a grand scale since World War 2 with the Japanese, when they lost the war, a lot of that part of their culture started to dissappear from their lives. So you have two groups that were once held a great deal of power and respect, but now are a shadow of themeselves, being slowly forgotten.

He also manages to make this as surreal as his previous pictures. Not like the sledgehammer to head stylings of Greg Arraki, or force fed surrealism of David Lynch, but more subtle. Lots of people watch cartoons, there are silent interludes where ambiant soundtracks play and you just feel the intensity of the main character, the world has a subdued and detached feel to it, like you are looking from the outside in, the philosophies still hold relavence today despite their age,......

All in all it is a very good movie. Be warned it isn't an action movie, dont' expect any John Woo style gun fights or sword wielding killers, that isn't what this is about. It is something deeper and more introspective. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

"Ice cream, you scream, we all scream of ice cream.."
When I saw it zilion of years ago I did not know this the first Jarmush movie. It is simply an outstanding movie - reminding one why a movie is a form of art...Hope it comes out as a DVD.

...we all scream for ice cream.
I am a good egg.
The begining of a fabulouse film career, the first Jarmusch. Tom waits, John Luarie, and Roberto Benigni form the heart of this movie.
And look closely or you'll miss Ellen Bursten.
It took me years to find a VHS copy, and I can hardley wait for the DVD!
Please hurrey Island Pictures

only 3 reviews? c'mon people, watch and review this film
This is a really good movie. It lacks some of the layers present in Jarmusch's other movies (Dead Man, Ghost Dog, Stranger than Paradise), but it has the same visual appeal and arid humor. Most importantly, it creates that cyclical, hypnotic rhythm that characterizes all J.J. films. As usual, don't look for too much meaning; if it's there it's an inch deep. Nevertheless, it is a fun satire of the classic jail-break film.

Wonderful!
I was just introduced to "Down By Law", some 15 years after its release, and I loved it. It was beautifully filmed, with some truly amazing shots. Gorgeous. The dialogue is very funny and entertaining. Truly, this film is great! I highly recommend it to people who don't need the constant stimulation of a "Hollywoody" movie and can actually enjoy just watching character interaction.

Three cheers for Jarmusch's wry prison-break comedy.
This is clearly Jarmusch's finest and funniest work. The script mockingly alludes to its genre, the prison-break drama, by skipping over the escape sequence altogether. What takes twenty minutes in an excellent film like "Runaway Train" is glossed over in a cut in "Down By Law." Benigni - Bob - (in his first American movie; ironically, the only one of the three "criminals" that has killed someone) claims he knows how to escape, and in the next shot, they've already escaped. What makes this film so great is the fact that Jarmusch plays it all out in combination shots. The inimitable charm of Waits, Lurie, and Benigni hold your attention and keep you laughing. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This disappointment from Jim Jarmusch stars Johnny Depp in a mystery Western about a 19th-century accountant named William Blake, who spends his last coin getting to a hellish mud town in Texas and ends up penniless and doomstruck in the wilderness. A benevolent if goofy Native American (Gary Farmer) takes an interest in guiding Blake on a quest for identity in his earthly journey, but the film is really just a string of endless shtick about inbred woodsmen, dumb lawmen, and a trio of irritable killers. With Robert Mitchum, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Alfred Molina, and a noodling soundtrack by Neil Young. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (186)

Totally empty pitch black eye candy, disgusting aftertaste
So, here's the story. A gentleman from 19th century Ohio goes West to take a white collar job and ends up as an outlaw and then we don't actually know what happens to him in the end. If you saw this film, please tell me if I miss any single detail worth mentioning. That's it, there is nothing else there. No message to debate, no opinion to think about, nothing to come back to, to replay in the memory, nothing to watch again. In fact, I can't wait to forget that I saw it. Well, pretty good acting by Johnny Depp, can't deny this, in fact, top notch acting. The rest is nothing, emptiness, just some artsy scene arrangement, sort of cinematic ikebana. Dead body right, dead body left, kill this, kill that... Sound track matches the visuals with its sickness. I don't remember a seeing a NIGHTMARE that was as bad as this movie. The ending is nothing but a flop half baked in a hurry: some generic primitive native settlement that does not match anything you may find in any period of the history, for some reason with one hi-tech detail in it, two men shoot each other and set one more adrift into some water body, a lake or a sea, who cares. There were a couple Jim Jarmusch movies I liked, namely Night on Earth (very much) and The Samurai Way (sort of). Now, after that dead man-dead movie I am not sure if I like these either. Too much dark sickness, bad medecine.

A great film with a fine soundtrack
Every time you watch this film, it reveals some more of its character. Is this a western, a road movie, a black comedy, surreal art or just something to look at while you listen to Neil Young's eerie sound track? To find your own answers you must watch it yourself.

Set in the late nineteenth century, we see Johnny Depp playing William Blake, a young accountant who gives up his sheltered life in Cleveland to head out to the Wild West. He has a job offer from a manufacturing company owned by John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum) in a lawless town called Machine which is literally, "the end of the line."

The film starts with his train journey out to the west and we see him becoming gradually more uneasy as the civilised East turns into the rough and dirty West. All too soon he is in Machine where he finds out that the job has gone to another man bacause Blake took too long in getting there. Out of money, he ends up in bed with Thel Russell (Mili Avital) the prettiest girl in town. When her boyfriend arrives, Blake's troubles get worse. After the ensuing gunfight, Blake flees, mortally wounded and leaving two bodies behind him.

The father of the dead boyfriend, Dickinson again, hires a group of killers to catch Blake. Also, he calls in the Marshals and posts public rewards. Since this is a road movie, Blake needs a buddy and he teams up with Nobody (Gary Farmer) an outcast Native American who just happens to have a passion for the poems of the more famous William Blake. Nobody accepts Blake as the embodiment of the real poet and assumes, because the the poet had already died and the man he sees now is slowly dying, that Blake must seek a place to die and return to the world beyond.

Nobody sets out to help and guide him on his journey. They must dodge the bounty hunters, marshals and citizens who want the reward and along the way, Blake turns into a man who can kill without remorse.

Surreal barely describes the people that they meet and, generally, kill on the way. There is a lot of humour ranging from Nobody's observations of European "civilisation" to the constant sniping (figurative and literal) between the three bounty hunters sent to kill Blake.

Shooting the film in black and white and using a soundtrack that is just a constant guitar presence rather than a set of songs, gives the film a outward appearance that well matches the content.

Many people will doubtless find this film deeply unappealing or offensive but they will be missing a movie that is as refreshing and stylish as anything else from the nineties.

JOHNNY LEGEND
Dead Man.... is haunting.... irritating... comic.... mesmerising... all thanks to Johnny Legend(oops), I mean Depp - and a good cast and crew.... It`s a smoky and mythical journey, traveled by an ill-fated book-keeper named William Blake... Johnny Depp and his moon-face is incredable.... There has never really been anyone quite like him... and never a western... quite like this 1.... It is something u should never miss.....

JOHNNY LEGEND
This is irritating....mesmerising....comic.....haunting.... The idea that the indian is the metaphore of Mr Dead is a good 1... Johnny is at his MOST legendary in this film... A legend in his own time.... No one in film history has his moon-face....
It is a brave production and it should never be missed:-)

neil young's masterpiece
This is one of my all time favorite films (along with Sweet
Movie and A World Apart -B. Hershey). The music fits this
film perfectly. I have watched this many times just to
listen to the soundtrack. I cannot enjoy the CD soundtrack
because of background noise. ... Read more

Reviews (34)

I saw this in Paris in the 80's, and it just clicked
I was a lonely GI living in Germany in the early 80's and was in Paris for the weekend. A Parisian couple (Great folks, I've NEVER found Parisians to be anything but nice and warm people!) invited me to the film. We saw it near the George Pomp. (I can't spell...) center and it was marvelous. Enough has been analyzed about the film, but to me it struck a personal nerve/note on items of alienation, lonliness, and finally, warmth and acceptance. Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I put a spell on you" fits so well...it was genius to place it (and the boombox, in black and white on a lonely street corner...) in the film. I even bought his albums (that I could find).
Anyway, it's a slow movie, definitely art house, but if you're in a very expat (American) mood, or halfway intelligent, you'll get it. I think it would be interesting if the director did a more updated film on Imigrants. I have a friend who's parents are from Syria, who was brought up in the U.S. He is your typical (OK, well, we're like that) American, and when cousins visit from the Middle East they're in culture shock. I think if Jim J. did something with a Middle Eastern bent it would be interesting.

Mark

Tired of Hollywood Crap??? This is the Remedy.
What a refreshing change of pace this movie is from all those big-budget Hollywood bores. Finally on DVD, Jarmusch's great first flick is available once again to shine for movie lovers everywhere. It's basically just a slice of life piece on three characters: Willie, friend Eddie and Eva (Willie's cousin). Their lives are pretty much going nowhere, so they set out to Cleveland and later Florda to find paradise. But what they discover is that "whatever new place we go to, it all looks the same." There really is no message here, though, it's just a remarkable look into the lives of 3 real characters. Funny, touching and downright engrossing, it's a great little film. The DVD presents the B&W film in widescreen. The only "extra" is some soundless behind-the-scenes footage (in color) shot during filming. There is no trailer...(this is MGM you know).

A Perfect Movie
Maybe THE perfect movie, very funny, very close to the bone & improves immensely with each viewing.

Back when hip meant wise rather than trendy, I would have tagged it the hippest.

Paradise is in the wind
Brilliant deapan humor, slow timely dialog, low budget distinct look, raw though beautiful black and white production and stunning subtle performances by a small well placed cast. When Willie's (Lurie) Hungarian cousin Eva (Balint) comes to stay with him for a few weeks before retreating to Cleveland to stay with her Aunt, we experience, from a fly on the wall perspective, the boring lives of the two unfold. After Willie grows fond of her, he tracks her down in Cleveland along with his buddy Eddie (Edson) in search for something more in their dull existence. The three decide to voyage to Florida to escape the cold and dark environment, only to find similar dullness only in sunnier shades. Brilliant deapan originality and haunting story of three people looking for "Paradise" or any place that doesn't resemble hell. This is the greatest Indie flick ever made.. simple and honest the film's low budget production looks better than most. This one will stay with you and force you to look at our world differently from here on.

slowest film I ever loved
This is not an exciting film. It is a love story -- a platonic love story about an American, played by John Lurie, who "doesn't even consider himself part of [his] family anymore," who is forced by his mother to host a cousin who has just arrived from Europe. He wants nothing to do with her and her treats her [badly]. He's the kind of guy that wants to be cool, never show his emotions, you know the type. He and his best friend occupy themselves by cheating at poker and going to the track. As far as he is concerned, she's about as uncool as it gets. His cousin barely speaks English, and when she speaks she says what she thinks. That's how it starts out. I don't want to tell you the plot so... if you want to see where it goes check it out for yourself. ... Read more

Reviews (176)

An Unexpected Delight
Jim Jarmusch doesn't do films like anyone else and let's all say a big 'thank-you' for that. With 'Ghost Dog', he demonstrates an understanding of Japanese culture and film traditions than far exceeds the likes of Tarantino, and at the same a connection to contemporary hip-hop, the likes of which hasn't been seen in celluloid since 'Do the Right Thing'.

The film centres around the eponymous hero, a black hitman, or 'retainer' as he puts it, for a local mafia clan, who follows the Samurai code, meditating and practising his swordplay in his modest rooftop hut which he shares only with his pigeons. In this role, Forest Whitaker puts in an outstanding performance full of understated power and pathos, at once bulky and balletic, that emphasises how criminally neglected he is, and indeed black actors are more generally (Washington and Berry's Oscars notwithstanding), by Hollywood.

Ghost Dog is estranged from the city as he struggles to follow his archaic code of honour, his only human connections made to a Haitian ice-cream vendor who speaks only French, and a little girl who loves reading. They aren't the only ones: coping with the absurdity of the uncaring city, its bleakness, poverty, lonelines and racism is a key theme in 'Ghost Dog'; those who survive need something to connect them to the real and to the transcendent: at one point, Ghost Dog and his Haitian friend come across a Hispanic man building a full-sized boat on a nearby roof-top, a labour of love that has no practical use.

The film is infused with genuine but very edgy humour: Ghost Dog's almost empathic understanding with the ice-cream vendor somehow transcends their mutual linguisitc imcomprehension is joyous and affecting. There are some genuine moments of slapstick and absurdity from the outdated, incompetant and decidely dishonourable mafia men who give Ghost Dog his orders and eventually decide to have him eliminated, in particular their leader's bizarre love of Public Enemy's Flavor Flav, and their inability to cope with Ghost Dog's carrier pigeons.

The sound-track by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA is a far more complex jazz-inflected hip-hop confection than you might have hoped for, meshing perfectly with the moodily-filmed cityscpes, and he also makes a very brief - but perfectly judged - cameo appearance!

Occasionally you stumble across a film that turns out to be an unexpected delight. 'Ghost Dog' is one of them.

what is this rubbish?
I think this movie COULD have been great. There are some funny moments: the icecream man scenes, and the mob members trying to catch those pigeons. But this movie was bizarre, and it dragged. There were countless shots of birds flying in the sky...no kidding. It was painful to watch from the begining to the end, i had to take frequent breaks to work my morale back up. I'm very glad i borrowed this from a friend instead of paying money to see it.

Whittaker Shines
Forrest Whittaker is certainly one of our most talented and underrated actors. This role probably allows him the greatest latitude to express a wide range of emotions since he starred as Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's "Bird" or in the gender-bender "The Crying Game." As Ghost Dog, he winds his way through Jim Jarmusch's script with grace & depth.

In adopting the way of the Samurai, GDog latches onto Louie, a mid-level mob boss played by John Tormey. The mix of cultures is a familiar Jarmusch theme that is exceptionally well realized in this DVD. One of the most interesting aspects of the film is GDog's relationship to his French-speaking best friend Raymond. The two often converse, not understanding each other's language but almost mirroring each other's thoughts as the subtitled French indicates. Isaach de Bankole does a great job as the ice cream truck-driving friend. Also very pivotal to the film is the wonderful screen time given to Camille Winbush as Pearline, a child who GDog loans a copy of Rashamon to. There is a great rapport between the two.

The Italian crime bosses are ironically played for laughs with Cliff Gorman's inept mob boss front & center. As Vargo, Henry Silva who has such a great ethnic look and has played in "Dick Tracy" & "Oceans 11" does a great job of being hard-edged and incompetent. His daughter Louise is a witness to one of GDog's early executions and eventually orders Louie to perform the hit on our star.

With the aspects of carrier pigeons and a guy building an arc on a city rooftop, we see numerous interesting cultural aspects and humor combined in the drama. This is an interesting film melding Asian culture with modern crime, kind of a Hip-Hop version of Kung Fu. Whittaker keeps us glued to the screen for a most interesting performance. Enjoy!

Good, could have been great
I liked this movie for the most part but it was the ending that put me off. I really did not want to see Ghost Dog die in that way, at the hands of a white man who did not understand him or his philosophy. I wish that Forrest Whitaker's character could have shown more determination to fight and survive, with more of what the samurai author of Hagakure would have called "martial valor". But then isn't it the juxtaposition of the cold, efficient samurai code with this gentle, somewhat bemused giant part of what makes the film interesting? Come to think of it, the samurai were more concerned with an honourable death than with mere survival. A better ending, at least for me, would have had Ghost Dog choosing, at the very last moment, to survive rather than follow the samurai code into the grave.

Surreal and entertaining
This was another gem from the director Jim Jarmusch, who previously brought us the incredibly underrated zen spaghetti western Dead Man. Which mixes some of the same elements, taking several genres, and blending them together in a believable and respectful way.

Forest Whitaker is playing the main character. A street punk who follows a bushido code and considers himself a modern day samurai. He lives his life by this strict code of honor, and has pledged his life to a mobster who saved him. So he works for this gangster as a contract killer. Never questioning the reasons for his killings, just like a samurai, there is no good and evil. You follow your the will of your master to the death. Through all this you definitely get the feeling that he is alone in this world of his, duty is what concernes him. His only friend is an ice cream vendor that doesn't speak english, just french, which Forest Whittaker's character doesn't.

The second part of this film is the Mafia themself. A comical group of broken down gangsters who are starting to show their age. They are having trouble making their bills, and are suffering from internal conflicts. Obviously their glory days are long gone, and they seem to be waiting for the inevitable.

This movie blends to the two genres well, making them both entertaining and believable for the premise. As we all know the Mafia lost most of it power through the late 70' to the mid 90's. They show this with the age of the mobsters and the fact that they can't even make their bills. The Bushido code wasn't practiced on a grand scale since World War 2 with the Japanese, when they lost the war, a lot of that part of their culture started to dissappear from their lives. So you have two groups that were once held a great deal of power and respect, but now are a shadow of themeselves, being slowly forgotten.

He also manages to make this as surreal as his previous pictures. Not like the sledgehammer to head stylings of Greg Arraki, or force fed surrealism of David Lynch, but more subtle. Lots of people watch cartoons, there are silent interludes where ambiant soundtracks play and you just feel the intensity of the main character, the world has a subdued and detached feel to it, like you are looking from the outside in, the philosophies still hold relavence today despite their age,......

All in all it is a very good movie. Be warned it isn't an action movie, dont' expect any John Woo style gun fights or sword wielding killers, that isn't what this is about. It is something deeper and more introspective. ... Read more

Reviews (176)

An Unexpected Delight
Jim Jarmusch doesn't do films like anyone else and let's all say a big 'thank-you' for that. With 'Ghost Dog', he demonstrates an understanding of Japanese culture and film traditions than far exceeds the likes of Tarantino, and at the same a connection to contemporary hip-hop, the likes of which hasn't been seen in celluloid since 'Do the Right Thing'.

The film centres around the eponymous hero, a black hitman, or 'retainer' as he puts it, for a local mafia clan, who follows the Samurai code, meditating and practising his swordplay in his modest rooftop hut which he shares only with his pigeons. In this role, Forest Whitaker puts in an outstanding performance full of understated power and pathos, at once bulky and balletic, that emphasises how criminally neglected he is, and indeed black actors are more generally (Washington and Berry's Oscars notwithstanding), by Hollywood.

Ghost Dog is estranged from the city as he struggles to follow his archaic code of honour, his only human connections made to a Haitian ice-cream vendor who speaks only French, and a little girl who loves reading. They aren't the only ones: coping with the absurdity of the uncaring city, its bleakness, poverty, lonelines and racism is a key theme in 'Ghost Dog'; those who survive need something to connect them to the real and to the transcendent: at one point, Ghost Dog and his Haitian friend come across a Hispanic man building a full-sized boat on a nearby roof-top, a labour of love that has no practical use.

The film is infused with genuine but very edgy humour: Ghost Dog's almost empathic understanding with the ice-cream vendor somehow transcends their mutual linguisitc imcomprehension is joyous and affecting. There are some genuine moments of slapstick and absurdity from the outdated, incompetant and decidely dishonourable mafia men who give Ghost Dog his orders and eventually decide to have him eliminated, in particular their leader's bizarre love of Public Enemy's Flavor Flav, and their inability to cope with Ghost Dog's carrier pigeons.

The sound-track by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA is a far more complex jazz-inflected hip-hop confection than you might have hoped for, meshing perfectly with the moodily-filmed cityscpes, and he also makes a very brief - but perfectly judged - cameo appearance!

Occasionally you stumble across a film that turns out to be an unexpected delight. 'Ghost Dog' is one of them.

what is this rubbish?
I think this movie COULD have been great. There are some funny moments: the icecream man scenes, and the mob members trying to catch those pigeons. But this movie was bizarre, and it dragged. There were countless shots of birds flying in the sky...no kidding. It was painful to watch from the begining to the end, i had to take frequent breaks to work my morale back up. I'm very glad i borrowed this from a friend instead of paying money to see it.

Whittaker Shines
Forrest Whittaker is certainly one of our most talented and underrated actors. This role probably allows him the greatest latitude to express a wide range of emotions since he starred as Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's "Bird" or in the gender-bender "The Crying Game." As Ghost Dog, he winds his way through Jim Jarmusch's script with grace & depth.

In adopting the way of the Samurai, GDog latches onto Louie, a mid-level mob boss played by John Tormey. The mix of cultures is a familiar Jarmusch theme that is exceptionally well realized in this DVD. One of the most interesting aspects of the film is GDog's relationship to his French-speaking best friend Raymond. The two often converse, not understanding each other's language but almost mirroring each other's thoughts as the subtitled French indicates. Isaach de Bankole does a great job as the ice cream truck-driving friend. Also very pivotal to the film is the wonderful screen time given to Camille Winbush as Pearline, a child who GDog loans a copy of Rashamon to. There is a great rapport between the two.

The Italian crime bosses are ironically played for laughs with Cliff Gorman's inept mob boss front & center. As Vargo, Henry Silva who has such a great ethnic look and has played in "Dick Tracy" & "Oceans 11" does a great job of being hard-edged and incompetent. His daughter Louise is a witness to one of GDog's early executions and eventually orders Louie to perform the hit on our star.

With the aspects of carrier pigeons and a guy building an arc on a city rooftop, we see numerous interesting cultural aspects and humor combined in the drama. This is an interesting film melding Asian culture with modern crime, kind of a Hip-Hop version of Kung Fu. Whittaker keeps us glued to the screen for a most interesting performance. Enjoy!

Good, could have been great
I liked this movie for the most part but it was the ending that put me off. I really did not want to see Ghost Dog die in that way, at the hands of a white man who did not understand him or his philosophy. I wish that Forrest Whitaker's character could have shown more determination to fight and survive, with more of what the samurai author of Hagakure would have called "martial valor". But then isn't it the juxtaposition of the cold, efficient samurai code with this gentle, somewhat bemused giant part of what makes the film interesting? Come to think of it, the samurai were more concerned with an honourable death than with mere survival. A better ending, at least for me, would have had Ghost Dog choosing, at the very last moment, to survive rather than follow the samurai code into the grave.

Surreal and entertaining