Down by Law (Italian: Daunbailò) is a 1986 American independent Southern Gothic neo-beat noir comedy film. It was written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, and stars the American musicians Tom Waits and John Lurie, as well as the Italian comedian Roberto Benigni in his first American film. The film centers on the arrest, incarceration, and escape from jail of three men. It discards jailbreak film conventions by focusing on the interaction between the convicts rather than on the mechanics of the escape.