Dead Man (1995)

October Challenge Day 30

Oh the thin veil is opening! The other side is here! Let's talk about:

Dead Man

I haven't seen this in nearly 20 years. I used to watch it all the time, with two of my best buds. 

My pals.

My protectors. 

My two best brothers from another mother. 

And they are both Dead now. 

I wasn't sure what to watch, for the closure of this year's movie review binge, and then I scrolled upon this gem and knew *exactly* what had to be watched. It's been 20 years, after all.

This is the story of a naive young accountant who travels too far West in the American frontier sun, and finds himself shot and an accidental outlaw. 

We follow his wanderings with a Native American guide who ridicules and protects him on his journey to .... death.

This film is so honest, frightening, and funny in a gallows humor way. I laughed out loud and re-watched several scenes my dead friends and I used to say/reenact as daily inside jokes.

Oh how I rolled with laughter, all by myself.

While I could not predict or prepare for their untimely passing, we all roared with vitality and, oddly, prepared for the unprepared-able, instinctively, while alive: we all knew death was coming. As mimicked, to a degree, in this film. 

This movie is made more personal as the three of us traveled - from Montana, South Dakota, and California, to find each other in the wilds of Western Washington - like our Dead Man, here. Who, by the good graces of the Makah people, release this stupid white man into the next world. 

While the Duwamish tribe would play a march larger role in our own lives, rather than the Makah - even as I was watching this film, my Duwamish neighbor, a woman of few words, called me up to give me several bags of apples and pears "....because you leave so many treats for us [building residents]..." - I kinda wanted to cry at the full circle of it all. 

This is not a review of the film. This is a review of my life and how much I appreciate it. 

I hope you also see this film as a beautiful gift of: we a have short time here. 

Happy 13 years of Horror Habit, and the 46 years of adventures that built it. 

I miss you, Law and Chance. Love: Karma. 

See you on the other side when Nobody says so. 

I watched this film on HBO Max or use the Find It! Watch It! Links on Horror Habit's sidebar to see where else you can find this existential diamond in the rough.