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Down by Law

1986 · directed by Jim Jarmusch · 106 min
23,239 feet · Prominence
1,268th of 24,106 films scored
Not coveredNo Rewatchables episode on file.

How this film scores

Draw33

Lifetime worldwide gross $2m, re-releases included; about $5m in 2026 money.

Rank7,953 of 11,051In 1986124 of 141

How Draw works

Inflation-adjusted worldwide box office, on one global curve, and nothing else. It does not know whether a film was good.

Praise80

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics80 baseAwards0 signal → +0 lift

No award rows on file, usually missing data rather than missing honours. Wikidata is thin for older and non-English films.

How Praise works

Critics set the score; a tiered award record, Picture and Directing carrying the most weight, claims half the headroom above it. Praise is the verdict at the time; Legacy is the verdict since.

Legacy53

Judged directly: Criterion indie touchstone, modest traffic.

Verdict53 of 100IMDb7.7 from 56kWikipedia7k views a monthAge40 years

On the listsCriterion Collectionevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 892 of 4,039 films judged

If it does not belong in this company, the number is wrong.

How Legacy works

Legacy is a judgment, not a formula. A film can be adored by critics and culturally quiet, or lightly reviewed and permanently lodged in the culture, and no arithmetic over IMDb numbers tells the difference. Every signal behind it keeps updating.

draw 33 praise 80 legacy 53averages 55, placing it at23,239 ft
How the three become one number

Added, not multiplied, so a film transcendent on one pillar and weak on another is not zeroed out. A compression curve then squeezes the top, because the seven greatest films ever made should not be four thousand feet apart.

Whose apex this is

▲ John Lurie▲ Tom Waits

In these careers — elevation for this film

Roberto Benigni19,205 ftJohn Lurie18,539 ftTom Waits18,446 ftEllen Barkin17,870 ft