Kim Basinger was at the height of her fame when she decided to play a corpse. Not just any corpse, but a beautiful, silent "bride" being dragged around a dark mansion by a grieving, slightly unhinged mortician played by Tom Petty. It’s weird. It’s macabre. It’s also one of the most iconic pieces of visual storytelling from the 1990s. Even if you weren’t alive in 1993, you’ve likely seen the clips of Petty sitting at a dinner table with a dead woman or carrying her toward the ocean.
The video Last Dance with Mary Jane didn't just win Best Male Video at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards because Petty was a rock star. It won because it was a risk. In an era of flashy grunge and high-budget pop, Petty went for a slow-burn, cinematic horror-romance that felt like a twisted version of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
The Morbid Inspiration Behind the Story
Director Keir McFarlane and Tom Petty didn't just pull this concept out of thin air. While many fans assume the song is purely about marijuana—given the "Mary Jane" slang—the video takes a literal, albeit darker, path. It’s basically a retelling of the "Calamity Jane" story or, more accurately, a nod to the strange real-life case of Carl Tanzler.
Tanzler was a radiology tech in the 1930s who became obsessed with a young woman named Elena "Helen" Milagro de Hoyos. After she died of tuberculosis, he literally dug her up and lived with her body for seven years. Yeah, it’s a lot darker than a radio hit usually warrants. Petty and McFarlane softened the edges, turning it into a melancholy tale of a man who just can’t let go.
Basinger’s performance is actually underrated here. Think about it. She has to stay perfectly limp while being submerged in a bathtub and carried across a beach. She’s famously quoted as saying it was one of the hardest things she ever did because she had to suppress every natural human reflex—even the twitching of an eyelid—while Petty handled her like a prop.
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Why the Video Last Dance with Mary Jane Broke the MTV Mold
MTV in the early 90s was a sensory overload. You had the high-octane energy of Nirvana and the neon aesthetics of early hip-hop. Then comes this video. It starts with a mortician in a dusty office. The lighting is dim, yellowish, and feels like an old photograph.
The pacing is what stands out. Most videos back then were edited to the beat of the drum. Last Dance with Mary Jane ignores the rhythm for long stretches. We watch Petty’s character carefully dress the body in a wedding gown. We watch him place her at a dinner table. The disconnect between the upbeat, harmonica-driven track and the visual of a man slow-dancing with a cadaver creates a "polyphonic" experience. You’re feeling two things at once: the groove of the music and the chill of the imagery.
Honestly, it’s a masterclass in set design. That house feels lived-in but dead. The props—the candles, the heavy velvet drapes, the ancient-looking bathtub—all contribute to a sense of timelessness. It doesn't look like 1993. It looks like 1893 or 1923. That’s why it hasn't aged. If you watch it today, it doesn't look "dated" in the way a video with baggy neon jeans does. It looks like a short film.
The Mystery of the Song vs. the Visuals
We have to talk about the lyrics for a second. Petty was always a bit coy about whether "Mary Jane" was a woman or a drug. He once told Billboard that he didn't want to define it too strictly. But when the video Last Dance with Mary Jane dropped, the "woman" interpretation became the dominant one, even if she was, well, deceased.
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Some critics argued the video was a metaphor for the "death" of a relationship. You’re holding onto something that is clearly over, trying to dress it up and make it look alive for one last night. Others saw it as a commentary on the Hollywood "blonde" archetype—the beautiful, silent woman who is treated as an object. Whatever your take, it gave the song a weight it might not have had if it were just a simple performance clip.
Behind the Scenes: The Tub Scene and the Ocean
Filming the ending was a nightmare. They were at the beach, and the water was freezing. If you look closely at the final shots where Petty releases Basinger into the surf, it’s genuinely haunting. There’s no CGI. That is a real person floating in the Pacific.
- Basinger had to hold her breath for long takes.
- The dress became incredibly heavy once wet, making the "float" difficult to capture.
- Petty had to maintain a look of stoic grief while fighting the tide.
It’s these practical effects that give the video its soul. You can feel the weight of the body. You can see the way the dress tangles in the waves. It’s visceral.
A Legacy of "Quiet" Controversy
Surprisingly, the video didn't face much censorship. Today, a video about a guy taking a body home from a morgue might trigger a thousand "think pieces" about its appropriateness. In 1993, it was just seen as "artistic."
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It paved the way for other narrative-heavy, dark videos. You can see its DNA in things like Radiohead’s Street Spirit or even some of the more cinematic clips from Lana Del Rey. It proved that a rock star didn't need to be standing in front of a Marshall stack to be "cool." He could be a weirdo. He could be a character.
Petty's career was already legendary by this point, but this video helped him bridge the gap between the Classic Rock era and the MTV Generation. He wasn't your dad’s rocker anymore; he was a contemporary artist who understood the power of a jarring image.
What You Should Do Next
If you haven't watched the video in a few years, go back and view it on a high-quality screen rather than a phone. Pay attention to the color grading. The transition from the warm, suffocating indoor scenes to the cold, blue-grey of the ocean at the end is a perfect visual representation of "letting go."
To truly appreciate the craft, look for the 4K restored versions that have surfaced on streaming platforms. The detail in the textures of the house and the subtle expressions on Petty’s face—which are mostly hidden behind his sunglasses—add a whole new layer to the experience.
Finally, check out the live performances of the song from the 1994 tour. Petty often played with the "creepy" vibe of the video on stage, using lighting and props to remind the audience that this wasn't just another upbeat radio hit. It was a story about the thin line between love and obsession.
Next Steps for Music History Buffs:
- Research the Carl Tanzler case to see just how closely the video mimics the real-life "Von Cosel" obsession.
- Compare the "Last Dance" cinematography to the work of Stan Winston or the aesthetic of The Silence of the Lambs, which came out just two years prior.
- Analyze the "Mary Jane" lyrics alongside Petty’s other 1993 tracks to see how his songwriting was shifting toward a more melancholic, storytelling style during the Wildflowers sessions.