Classic Film Kid – Down by Law (1986)

Hi guys, it’s the Classic Film Kid back again! Today we’ll be covering a recent re-release from Criterion, that of the 1986 Jim Jarmusch film Down By Law, starring Tom Waits as Zack and John Lurie as Jack, two men who are thrown in prison for crimes they didn’t commit, although they’re definitely up to stuff as shown in the first act of the film.

While in prison, they meet their cellmate Bob, who they begin bonding with and eventually hatch a plan to escape while growing as people.

Just as a bit of context before we dive into this, I have never watched a single Jim Jarmusch film, nor am I particularly well acquainted with films of the prison break genre – the closest I’ve probably got to that is when I previously reviewed Assault On Precinct 13 and even then the only similarity is the prison setting, the plot is entirely different. Having my first prison break film be one that deliberately subverts and plays with the usual tropes was a strange one to start off with, and I do have mixed feelings about it. 

First off, the most notable trope that this film breaks is how much attention is drawn to the prison break itself. The Great Escape, arguably the most iconic prison escape film ever, spends nearly three hours on breaking out. Here, it’s very secondary to the real root of this film which is the bonding between our three characters, Zack, Jack and Bob. Easily my favourite moments in the film are the scenes in the cells where these guys are just talking and we hear the back and forth between them as they laugh and reminisce. Bob is probably my favourite of the three, he had the most interesting background and definitely feels the most well-rounded.

The scenes between them are so enjoyable that you almost forget about the plan to break out – they briefly mention escaping a couple of times and the next thing we know they’re running down the sewage system with the alarms blaring. It certainly is an interesting choice to frame it like this, but it can make it a bit confusing when there isn’t a scene or two that shows the mechanics of the plan. Even little shots that set up the escape e.g stealing keys and hiding round corners,  would’ve helped in conveying this because as it stands it feels quite jarring. 

Down By Law isn’t immensely long: 1 hour 45 minutes is about average for a feature length. That said, this film simultaneously felt both longer and shorter, and I think that definitely comes down to the lack of heightened drama presented in the film, as it is very leisurely paced – in fact leisurely is an understatement, it’s a bit closer to being sedated. 

Jim Jarmusch definitely liked taking his time telling the story with this one, and while that is admirable I ultimately don’t think there was enough substance going on, really at any point in Down By Law, to facilitate it going this slowly. It does help in the start, as the opening credits roll out over establishing shots of Louisiana and a Tom Waits song to boot, that same Tom Waits song sounding like what every song of his sounds to a jaded 17-year old with a Tom Waits fan for a dad – but I digress. 

However, after that, it does feel like a bit of a slog. The main characters aren’t even thrown in prison till 35 minutes in, and while it does work on a three-act level (the first act being setup and the arrest, the second act being the prison setting, and the third act them being on the run), unfortunately, there was never enough going on to keep me invested. It didn’t feel like a fully focused story, more like a series of events.

The performances are fantastic – with a small cast like this, everyone needs to be on their A-game and John Lurie, Tom Waits and Roberto Benigni certainly were. It’s mainly down to them that the somewhat flat script comes to life, and any time they’re talking, and you’re fixed into the conversation, that is when the film comes to life. 

The first act, albeit slow, is still a good hook-in as there’s a lot of visual storytelling and shots to clue us in about the lives of the characters. We know that the characters are going through struggles of their own – Tom Waits’s Zack is seemingly in the middle of a turbulent relationship and is not coping financially, and Jack is trying to run from the cops with several women (I might as well say it, his character’s a pimp), however, both of them are arrested for different crimes because they have been set up. It’s actually a really cool subversion – we assume that Jack is getting arrested because of the inevitable shady details in his profession, but this turns out not to be the case. This could’ve been an interesting idea for both characters: them getting thrown in prison for crimes they didn’t commit, but accepting that they have done wrong in many other ways and coming out changed and with a new perspective. However, I sadly don’t think the film delves as deep into many of its themes as it really wants to.

The third act itself, once the escape has happened, feels rather sluggish. There are stretches of total silence as the trio make their way through a forest, and while I suppose that works for the atmosphere that’s not the focus of the film. The focus is about these characters developing and changing as people, and when nothing is being said and it’s just footage of our characters walking through trees, it’s serving no purpose other than padding out the runtime.

There is admittedly quite a nice scene at the end, where Zack and Jack have mostly made peace with each other and they walk off in opposite directions, but ultimately I don’t think we were given enough to care about them in order to sell this emotional resolution.

In conclusion, this was a bit of a mixed bag and you might have noticed I haven’t had as much to talk about as usual, which does sadden me a bit as I was genuinely looking forward to this. However, while I wouldn’t say that I hated or even disliked Down By Law, I ultimately came away feeling quite cold. At times it is really interesting, and Jim Jarmusch’s direction certainly has a flair and a unique vision to it, but the story felt quite thin and there was never quite enough to keep me invested beyond the great performances.

I’m going to give Down By Law a 6/10.

Well, that does it for this review of Down By Law. I’m having a lot of fun with some of these re-releases on Blu-Ray, and the next one I’ve been given is the Charlie Chaplin classic Modern Times, which is coming in just a couple of weeks so look forward to that. Meanwhile, I’ve finally developed an actual opinion on Doctor Who: Flux after months of trying to formulate what I thought of it, so look forward to my belated thoughts on that.

In the meantime, thanks once again for reading and this is the Classic Film Kid, signing off!

DOWN BY LAW – CLASSIC FILM KID’S ARCHIVE