Scene Around: Last dance
By Bill DeYoung
Gainesville Sun - December 17, 1993

Have you caught a glimpse of "Mary Jane's Last Dance," the video for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' new song? That makes the Mad Hatter stuff in "Don't Come Around Here No More" look like a romp through the daisies with Clifford the Big Red Dog.

The film (there is no lip-synching) takes place in a morgue, among dead bodies on steel tables; Petty slips out the door with a body bag containing -- are you ready -- Kim Basinger! He drives her home, dresses her up and sweetly romances her with dinner and dancing.

She's dead the whole time, mind you, her head flopping lifelessly from side to side. It does add a somber new dimension to the song lyrics, which seems to be about a small-town girl who runs into trouble in the big city. Brilliant metaphor or twisted nonsense? You decide!

"Mary Jane," directed by New Zealander Keir McFarlane, premiered on MTV on Wednesday. The Heartbreakers do not appear in the clip.

Is this possible this is the same Kim Basinger who refused to do "Boxing Helena" because it would've been too weird for her image?