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Down by Law (film)

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Genre
  
Comedy, Crime, Drama

Duration
  

Country
  
United States

7.9/10
IMDb


Director
  
Music director
  
Writer
  
Language
  
English

Down by Law (film) movie poster

Release date
  
September 20, 1986 (1986-09-20) (Limited)

Featured songs
  
Jockey Full of Bourbon, Tango Till Theyre Sore

Genres
  
Comedy, Drama, Indie film, Road movie, Black comedy, Crime Fiction, Buddy film

Cast
  
(Zack), (Jack), (Roberto), (Nicoletta), (Laurette), (Gig)

Similar movies
  
Fish Tank
,
Chasers
,
Jolene
,
Blackhat
,
Five Loose Women
,
Knock Knock

Tagline
  
It's not where you start - It's where you start again.

Movie trailer 1986 down by law


Down by Law is a 1986 black-and-white independent film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and starring Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni.

Contents

Down by Law (film) movie scenes

The film centers on the arrest, incarceration, and escape from jail of three men. It discards jailbreak film conventions by focusing on the interaction between the convicts rather than on the mechanics of the escape. A key element in the film is Robby Müller's slow-moving camerawork, which captures the architecture of New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou to which the cellmates escape.

Down by Law (film) movie scenes

Down by law the rabbit scene


Plot summary

Down by Law (film) movie scenes

Three men, previously unknown to each other, are arrested in New Orleans and placed in the same cell. Both Zack (Waits), a disc jockey, and Jack (Lurie), a pimp, have been set up, neither having committed the crime for which they have been arrested. Their cellmate Bob (Benigni, in his first international role), an Italian tourist who understands minimal English, was imprisoned for manslaughter.

Down by Law (film) movie scenes

Zack and Jack soon come to blows and thereafter avoid speaking to each other. Bob has an irrepressible need for conversation. He hatches a plan to escape, and before long the three are on the run through the swamp surrounding the prison. Hopelessly lost and with a simmering hatred between Jack and Zack almost causing the party to split up, they are brought together by Bob's ability to provide food. The trio eventually chance across a house in the forest, the residence of Nicoletta (Braschi). Bob and Nicoletta instantly fall in love, and Bob decides to stay with her in the forest. Zack and Jack go their separate ways—an unspoken, begrudging friendship hanging between them as they part.

Cast

Down by Law (film) movie scenes

  • Tom Waits as Zack
  • John Lurie as Jack
  • Roberto Benigni as Roberto
  • Nicoletta Braschi as Nicoletta
  • Ellen Barkin as Laurette
  • Billie Neal as Bobbie
  • Rockets Redglare as Gig
  • Vernel Bagneris as Preston
  • Timothea as Julie
  • L.C. Drane as L.C.
  • Joy N. Houck, Jr. as Detective Mandino
  • Carrie Lindsoe as Young Girl
  • Ralph Joseph as Detective
  • Richard Boes as Detective
  • Dave Petitjean as Cajun Detective
  • Production

    Down by Law (film) movie scenes

    The cinematography is by Robby Müller, who subsequently worked with Jarmusch on Mystery Train (1989), Dead Man (1995), and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999). The film stars musician Tom Waits, along with Jarmusch regulars John Lurie and Roberto Benigni. Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi, whose characters fall in love in the movie, later got married in real life. The music for the film was written by Lurie, and the songs "Jockey Full of Bourbon" and "Tango Till They're Sore" from Waits' Rain Dogs album are also featured.

    Release and reviews

    Down by Law (film) movie scenes

    Down by Law was entered into the 1986 Cannes Film Festival. It was dedicated to Pascale Ogier and Enzo Ungari.

    Down by Law (film) movie scenes

    The film has a 90% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 29 reviews. A reviewer for The New York Times called it a "fable of poetic density", with "extraordinary performances" by the three main actors.

    References

    Down by Law (film) Wikipedia
    Down by Law (film) IMDbDown by Law (film) Rotten TomatoesDown by Law (film) Roger EbertDown by Law (film) The TelegraphDown by Law (film) themoviedb.org


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