Down by Law

Name: Down by Law
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Crime
Released: September 20, 1986
Duration: 107 min
Rating: 75
Cast: Billie Neal, Ellen Barkin, John Lurie, L.C. Drane, Nicoletta Braschi

1986

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Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Ratings

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7.4

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7.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Island Pictures | Release Date: September 20, 1986 | R

Starring: Billie Neal, Ellen Barkin, John Lurie, L.C. Drane, Nicoletta Braschi, Roberto Benigni, Rockets Redglare, Timothea, Tom Waits, Vernel Bagneris

Summary: Two innocent people are arrested. An interesting third person, with broken English, joins them in their cell. On his idea, they decide to escape from the prison. Their journey is the rest of the movie.

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 107 min

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Critic Reviews

100

The Telegraph Martin Chilton

Alternately downbeat, witty, bleak and optimistic. Down by Law is a delight, right down to the unexpected last scene. Read full review

100

Emma Johnston

A stylish black-and-white prison romp with a sense of humour as offbeat as its perfectly cast stars (John Lurie, Roberto Benigni and singer Tom Waits). Read full review

Vincent Canby

The excitement of Down by Law comes not from what it's about. Reduced to its plot, it is very slight. But the plot isn't the point. The excitement comes from the realization that we are seeing a true film maker at work, using film to create a narrative that couldn't exist on the stage or the printed page of a novel. Read full review

Adam Lowes

In many ways, Down by Law feels like the quintessential Jarmusch. It's a perfect distillation of that strange whimsy and resolutely deadpan humour - harvested via the director's life-long passion for world cinema. Read full review

Roger Ebert

It doesn't have the inspired perfection of Stranger Than Paradise, in which every shot seemed inevitable. But it's a good movie, and the more you know about movies, the more you're likely to like it. Read full review

Bill Cosford

Minimalist, yes; post-modern self-conscious, to a fault. But giddy, fanciful and at times simply obvious. [21 Nov 1986, p.D10]

Pauline Kael

Jarmusch's passive style has its wit, but the style is deadening here until he brings in Roberto--a character out of folk humor. And without the boredom of the first three-quarters of an hour Roberto wouldn't be so funny.

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User Reviews

JLuis_001

May 7, 2023

Anyone could have told me this movie was made in the 60's and I would've believed them without question. It's impressive how Jarmusch managed to give it that visual flair even while sharing the style of its precursors.

Now that's half of the job. Here you can clearly see that there'sAnyone could have told me this movie was made in the 60's and I would've believed them without question. It's impressive how Jarmusch managed to give it that visual flair even while sharing the style of its precursors.

Now that's half of the job. Here you can clearly see that there's already been some plot growth on his side. The components stand out as more surreal and absurd but maintaining the same DNA of his previous works.

The film is simple, but not in a way that seems to say that I'm minimizing it, but rather that it doesn't seek to complexify anything by the simple fact of wanting to do so.
It's quite funny for most of its execution and the atmosphere keeps it that way. It gives it a touch that maintains it like a small world encapsulated in a moment in time.
And having a relatively young Tom Waits and Roberto Benigni in the cast adds to the overall value of the film.

This trilogy of Jarmusch's early work may have a spirit that makes it look like some average stuff, but in my opinion, if you add up how they feel, it's clear that the director knew how to make the most of what he had at hand. Maybe none of those three works are extremely defining of what he did next but origins like these add a lot to his body of work.… Expand

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