Three men, previously unknown to each other, are arrested in New Orleans and placed in the same cell. Both Zack, a DJ, and Jack, a pimp, have been set up, neither having committed the crime for which they have been arrested. Their cellmate, Bob, however, although the only true innocent of the three, is in fact guilty of the manslaughter for which he has been arrested. Zack and Jack soon come to blows and thereafter try to avoid speaking to each other. Bob, however, has an irrepressible need for conversation and will not be silenced by the immature, sulking ne'er-do-wells. Bob hatches a plan to escape, and before long the three are on the run through the swamp surrounding the prison.



Early on, Mr. Jarmusch's characters, and the world they inhabit, remind one of the plays of Sam Shepard, but the similarity is superficial. Unlike Mr. Shepard's characters, who have their roots in the theater of Ibsen, Mr. Jarmusch's travel light. They carry very little in the way of historical baggage. Their pasts are unimportant. They take their shapes from their present circumstances, and from the way they are seen by the camera in their environment -mostly at a comparatively cool distance.



Mr. Shepard's Americans have cut themselves loose from the safety of middle-class life, and must come to terms with their sense of dislocation. In ''Down by Law,'' Jack, Zack and Roberto seem to have been classless forever, floating always (as they are seen in the film) off the shore of a foreign land they've never known or understood, where a logical system of rewards and punishments still exists. They give us not the actuality of life but a dream impression.



The excitement of ''Down by Law'' comes not from what it's ''about.'' Reduced to its plot, it is very slight. But the plot isn't the point. The excitement comes from the realization that we are seeing a true film maker at work, using film to create a narrative that couldn't exist on the stage or the printed page of a novel.



''Down by Law'' works on the mind and senses in a completely different fashion. It's an unqualified delight, from its elegiacal opening shots to to its unexpected last scene, which is funny in itself as well as a wicked pun on ''Bob'' Frost's now somewhat tired ''Road Not Taken.'' Vincent Canby, The New York Times.



Jim Jarmush vuelve a realizar una pieza sencilla, esta vez construyendo un escenario de delito en el que tres hombres “estorbos del sistema” buscarán romper la ley. Jarmush se concentra en la figura del antiheroe, seres que generan desconfianza en el espectador y que no cambian sus personalidades sino que corrompen la de su audiencia. Este sutil encantamiento que propone el autor hace que Down by Law perturbe positivamente la concepción de lo malo, negativo, incorrecto. Sus tres personajes saltarán obstáculos, y buscarán un lugar de encanto en el que no hay polos opuestos, ni dogmas establecidos.



La música fue compuesta por Tom Waits y John Lurie, quienes interpretan los dos delincuentes americanos. Por momentos actuarán egoístas, en otros se quitarán sus mascaras y dejarán ver sus debilidades. El italiano es interpretado por Roberto Benigni quien no sabía realmente hablar inglés en el momento del rodaje. Jarmush partió de ideas generales pero permitió que sus colaboradores aportaran a la historia. El alemán Robby Müller, fotógrafo de Wim Wenders, realizó una hermosa propuesta en blanco y negro en la que priorizó planos de conjunto para que los personajes pudieran desenvolverse sin temor a quedar fuera de foco o de los haces de luz. Müller planteó un austero esquema y realizó junto a Jarmush una buena investigación de locaciones sencillas pero bastante agradecidas visualmente: la prisión en la cual no hay diferencia entre el día y la noche, el pantano deshabitado o las calles nocturnas de New Orleáns.



Réunis dans une cellule de prison par "erreur", trois "innocents" se rencontrent sans n'avoir rien en commun. Ils se voient forcés de se supporter surtout quand vient la possibilité d'une évasion. Alors, des liens plus forts vont se souder. La plus grande partie du film est basée sur les interactions entre ces personnages, contrairement aux codes du genre des films d'évasion où c'est l'acte et sa construction qui sont mis en avant. Comme souvent chez Jim Jarmusch, beaucoup de silence mais aussi une lente progression vers la folie qui guette les évadés. Paranoïa, faim, perte de l'orientation seront les clés de cette progression. Une belle démonstration de l'affection entre "copains de galère" au sens propre comme au figuré.

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