Not to be confused with: Dead Man (1995)

Plot comparison: An enigma wrapped in a moral conundrum, as Jim Jarmusch’s deadpan Western about a wounded accountant's (Johnny Depp) journey through cowboy country meets Tim Robbins' crusading drama about a nun’s (Susan Sarandon) attempts to free an unrepentant rapist and murderer (Sean Penn) from the death penalty.

If they switched directors: Jarmusch films long scenes of whacked-out rabble rousers sitting around and acting crazy (so, pretty much like prison, then), while Robbins turns in an earnest liberal treatise on the mistreatment of native Americans (so, er, Dances With Wolves, then).

Irksome to whom?:  The makers of rival 1998 movies Dead Man’s Curve and Dead Man on Campus, who quickly found that audiences weren’t ready for yet more movies with the words ‘Dead' and 'Man’ in the title.