- Actors: Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Ellen Barkin
- Directors: Jim Jarmusch
- Writers: Jim Jarmusch
- Producers: Alan Kleinberg, Cary Brokaw, Jim Stark, Otto Grokenberger, Russell Schwartz
- Format: PAL
- Language English
- Subtitles: Dutch, French, German
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: 12
- Studio: Kinowelt
- DVD Release Date: 25 Feb 2003
- Run Time: 103 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00007MCGX
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 40,950 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law is in the same minimalist, oddball, black-and-white groove as his classic of American independent cinema, Stranger than Paradise (1984). The setting is Louisiana, where two losers (musicians Tom Waits and John Lurie) find themselves stuck in a jail cell together. One day they are joined by a boisterous Italian (Roberto Benigni), and the chemistry changes--suddenly an escape attempt is on the horizon. Conventional drama is not Jarmusch's intention; one of the emotional high points of this film is the three guys marching around their prison cell shouting, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" Yet the deadpan style creates its own humorous mood, underscored by melancholy (also underscored by the music of Lurie and the gravel-voiced songs of Waits). This was the first American film for Italian comedian Benigni, (Life is Beautiful), and he lights it up with his effervescent clowning. Jarmusch has said that Down by Law forms a loose trilogy with Stranger than Paradise and the subsequent Mystery Train (1989)--a triptych of disaffected, drifting life in the United States. Few filmmakers have ever surveyed ennui so entertainingly. --Robert Horton, Amazon.com
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Far from being only a story about three guys in prison, this is amazing movie. Zack and Jack and Roberto (Waits, Lourie and Benigni)are in the prison for being in wrong place at wrong time, and maybe a bit because of doing wrong things. The story of escape is developed through the rich play of characters (no Speed-like actions... graciously, just people in time). My personal highlights: All of Tom Waits. Looking at the window drawn on the prison cell wall. I-screaming. Roberto's story of his dreams of his mother catching a rabbit. Terribly funny and inspiring.
Of course, when you dig Jarmusch, Waits, Lourie, Benigni.
Of course, when you dig Jarmusch, Waits, Lourie, Benigni.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Jarmusch is often consigned to the critically lazy category "acquired taste". His films are usually slow-paced, seemingly directionless, often focusing on dead-beats, outsiders, foreigners and other socially marginalized figures. As he's said himself, if he see's a character taking a phonecall and arranging a meeting, a cut, then the meeting itself, he wonders what the character might have done in the interim to amuse himself. Was he bored? Nervous? Did he watch some tv? Sing along in scat to a crackly jazz record on the radio?
If these kind of questions interest you, most likely Jarmusch will. 'Down By Law' is a visual treat, a fact quickly prefaced by its opening shots of New Orleans, seemlessly concluded with the final, symmetrical frame of the protagonists going their separate ways. If the performances are very natural but also very idiosyncratic, that might be because John Lurie and Tom Waits are principally musicians, not actors. And because Roberto Benigni genuinely knew very little English when the film was made.
The music, and the story, are enchanting, surprising and resistant to full narrative closure or an obvious moral. Benigni was not then the worldwide star he is today, and he has to fight on screen for air-time. It's worth the wait when the master comic raconteur gets going.
So here are some tips:
(1) if you like Benigni in this, check out a later Jarmusch film 'Night on Earth'. He gets a full half-hour solo as a chattering taxi driver. More adult than 'La Vita e Bella'. Funnier too.
(2) if you like John Lurie and Tom Waits, listen to their music. Between them they've scored a subtantial amount of Jarmusch's oeuvre. Lurie also stars in 'Stranger Than Paradise', an earlier Jarmusch film.
(3) if you like the style and pace of Jarmusch, dig a little deeper and watch some of the filmmakers who influenced him. John Cassavetes and Yasujiro Ozu I'd particularly recommend.
(4) if you wonder "who is Jim Jarmusch?", watch Wayne Wang and Paul Auster's 'Blue in the Face'. You'll get a good 5-10 minute cameo riff from the man himself on the merits of smoking.
But 'Down By Law' is a great place to start. It's a top dollar showing from Jarmusch's penniless down-and-outs.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is one of the best films I have ever seen. The photography is stunning throughout, atmospherically filmed in b&w, capturing both the seedy side of New Orleans in the 1980s and the beauty of the Louisiana bayous. It is essentially a black comedy about the interplay between the three central characters (Tom Waits is Zack, the unemployed DJ, John Lurie is Jack the small time pimp and Roberto Benigni is Bob, the wacky Italian tourist) who for dubious reasons all find themselves thrown together in a New Orleans jail. The film is beautifully understated - there are many periods when nothing much is happening, but it's magnificently enacted, adding comic tension, creating extra dynamic between the characters. The director, Jim Jarmusch said about the film: "I would call the style of the film 'neo-beat-noir-comedy', with a story line that openly accepts conventions and an atmosphere that is part nightmare and part fairy tale" That about sums it up. If I had to single out just one favourite passage it would probably be Bob's "rabbit" monologue - watch out for it - it's simply genius. A totally fantastic, hilarious film. Pass the popcorn and let's see it again.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Down By Law (1986)
In 1986 Jim Jarmusch directed a black and white independent film called 'Down By Law'. It starred musicians Tom Waits and John Lurie, and comedy actor Roberto Benigni. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Ghost
A brilliant, grey & magical masterpiece
The photography is great. The music is genius. The actors are awesome. The story is very original. The director is amazing. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Antonia Tejeda Barros
A Wonderfully Oddball Gem
This is, for me at any rate, easily one of Jarmusch's best movies, with Mystery Train and Stranger Than Paradise being my other two top picks from the director. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Sebastian Palmer
you can get this and two other films for less in the collection
I'll not disagree with any of the nice things that people have said about this film, it is really wonderful, but at time of writing you can actually get Down by Law along with two... Read more
Published 16 months ago by tallmanbaby
A STUDY OF ENNUI
IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN BLUE YOU WOULD NOT UNDERSTAND THIS,SO SAVE YOUR MONEY BUT HEEEEYYY THIS IS PLANET EARTH RIGHT?WATCH IT JUST IN CASE, YOU NEVER KNOW EH, GREAT MOVIE.
Published 21 months ago by A. Hussain
Down by Law, not quite!
As an avid fan of Jim Jarmusch, I find 'Down by Law' not quite up to the mark. Which mark?... The Jarmusch mark! Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2010 by BarringtonD
i ham a good egg!
this is a wonderful little film, typical Jarmusch and i was not disappointed.
the region 1 dvd offers a lot of extras such as an extensive Q&A with Jarmusch about the film,... Read more
the region 1 dvd offers a lot of extras such as an extensive Q&A with Jarmusch about the film,... Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2005 by BA Baracus
One of my favourites, if not the best!
If you like Benigni or like good movies, then this is a must!
Published on 16 Mar 2004 by StrayDog
not enough space to swing a cat
Roberto Benigni amazing English skills are a must together with Tom Waits' painfully messed up DJ character and John Lurie as the good looking but deceived pimp. Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2004
Whats that all about ...
Very sllloooowwww film, When it get's going ... it stops? Funny Jail scene though ...
Published on 12 Jan 2004 by Mr. S. Pritchard
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