Starring two musicians, Tom Waits and John Lurie, and one Italian actor who a few years later would become an international star, Roberto Benigni, Down by Law tells the story of three men in jail who plan an escape and go about their lives. That's right, it's not about the escape at all, as anyone familiar with prison break movies would assume, it's about the three men and jail is simply the way to connect them to each other.
We view the three characters through the piercing lens of cinematographer Robby Müller, who had already photographed some of the finest shots ever committed to film, including the beautiful Paris, Texas just two years earlier. His tracking shots of rural Louisiana create a solid visual universe that the film inhabits right from the opening credits through to the stunning final shots of two of the characters looking down two divergent roads.
John Lurie had worked with Jarmusch on his previous film and been working in music for years when he teamed up with Jarmusch to do the music for Down by Law as well as star in it. After Down by Law, he composed scores for several other films over the next fifteen years.
Tom Waits, the other musician starring in the film, was already a familiar voice to anyone paying attention to music in the seventies and eighties but he was increasingly becoming a familiar face too. Before Down by Law, Waits had already appeared in half a dozen films and did the complete song score for Francis Ford Coppola's infamous, and vastly underrated, One From the Heart.
The female leads in the film included Ellen Barkin in an early role before her breakout stardom later that same year in The Big Easy. Nicoletta Braschi plays Robert Benigni's lover and, indeed, the two fell in love in real life and married. Finally, Billie Neal, a Broadway and film actress, plays Lurie's lover. Sadly, she would die at the young age of 44 from cancer.
Jim Jarmusch continues to make movies that are challenging, quiet, and unique. Though Stranger Than Paradise is the film that brought him his first real recognition, it was Down by Law that confirmed he was no one hit wonder. For someone who has yet to make a bad movie, saying one of his movies is one his best is saying something indeed. And Down by Law is still one of his best.
Director: Jim Jarmusch Screenplay: Jim Jarmusch Producer: Alan Kleinberg Music: John Lurie Cinematography: Robby Müller Film Editor: Melody London Production Design: Janet Densmore Costume Design: Carol Wood Cast: Tom Waits (Zack), John Lurie (Jack), Roberto Benigni (Roberto), Nicoletta Braschi (Nicoletta), Ellen Barkin (Laurette), Billie Neal (Bobbie), Rockets Redglare (Gig), Vernel Bagneris (Preston)
By Greg Ferrara
