Down by Law
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Short description
Three men who have nothing in common end up sharing a cell in a Louisiana jail. Zack is a disc jockey down on his luck, Jack is a small-time pimp, and both have landed in prison for crimes they did not commit. Their new cellmate is Roberto, an Italian tourist who speaks only a handful of English phrases, loves American movies, and wears down their irritation with relentless good cheer. When he claims to know a way out, the three attempt an escape and find themselves lost in the swamps, hungry, exhausted and unsure where to go next.
Down by Law was released in 1986 and runs 106 minutes. Jim Jarmusch wrote and directed it; it is the third of the fourteen films he has directed, following Stranger Than Paradise and preceding Mystery Train. Tom Waits plays Zack, John Lurie plays Jack, and Roberto Benigni plays Roberto, with Nicoletta Braschi, Ellen Barkin and Billie Neal in supporting roles. The production, mounted by Island Pictures with Black Snake and Grokenberger Film Produktion, had a budget of about one million dollars and took roughly twice that at the worldwide box office.
On IMDb the film holds a critics' rating of 7.7 from 32 reviews, while on TMDB it averages 7.4 from 876 votes, so professional and general viewers sit close together in their assessment. The film mixes comedy, crime and drama within a story built on three mismatched strangers and the bayou they stumble into.
What's left behind the scenes
- To prepare for filming, Tom Waits, John Lurie, Jim Jarmusch, and Roberto Benigni spent a night in prison. While the first three felt uneasy behind bars, the indefatigable Italian was completely unaffected by the oppressive atmosphere of confinement.
- The film is dedicated to Jarmusch's friend, Pascale Ogier, who had died two years earlier from a heroin overdose complicated by cardiomyopathy.
- Roberto's monologue about rabbits was an improvisation by the actor, Roberto Benigni, based on facts from his own past. Benigni's mother used to raise rabbits.
- The line delivered by Roberto Benigni's character about the beautiful and sad world happened by accident. The script mentioned beautiful and sad music, but Benigni mixed up the words. Tom Waits (who played Zack), the director, and screenwriter Jim Jarmusch liked the line, so they left it in the film as it was.
- Jim Jarmusch wanted the place where the characters find refuge after escaping from prison to have bunk beds, so that it would look like a prison cell. Fortunately, they found a filming location that was exactly like that.
- When Jim Jarmusch began working on the script for the sequel to his drama 'Stranger Than Paradise' (1984) starring Tom Waits and John Lurie, he met Roberto Benigni during a trip to Italy and decided to make him the central character of the film. Jarmusch wrote the first draft of the script for 'Down by Law' (1986) in Rome, where he informed Benigni that he was being cast. Subsequently, Island Pictures agreed to finance the production.
- Before writing the script for this film, Jim Jarmusch had never been to New Orleans or its surrounding areas. He based the screenplay on the plays of Tennessee Williams, pulp novels, crime films of the 1930s and 1940s, and rhythm and blues (a genre that originated in New Orleans). While driving around the city and its outskirts searching for filming locations, Jarmusch listened to Tom Waits' songs, later claiming that they helped him with the writing of the script and the pacing of the plot.
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