Jim Jarmusch - All His Films Ranked

Short Biography:

Jim Jarmusch (James Robert Jarmusch, born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter.

He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), Dead Man (1995), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Broken Flowers (2005), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), Paterson (2016), and The Dead Don’t Die (2019). Stranger Than Paradise was added to the National Film Registry in December 2002.

As a musician Jarmusch has composed music for his films and released three albums with Jozef van Wissem.

Here is a rundown of his movies, with the score based on the average from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes (public votes only) and Letterboxd, from lowest ranked to highest:

Number of Qualifying Films:

Career Average Rating:

7.41

Total Career Box Office:

Total Combined Budgets:

Total Career Profit or [Loss]:

Average Career Return on Every $1 Spent:

13 – The Dead Don’t Die (2019)

IMDb:

5.4

RT Users:

3.8

Letterboxd:

5.42

4.87

Comedy, Fantasy, Horror

Top Billed Cast:

Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones

SYNOPSIS:

In the sleepy small town of Centerville, something is not quite right. The moon hangs large and low in the sky, the hours of daylight are becoming unpredictable, and animals are beginning to exhibit unusual behaviours. News reports are scary, and scientists are concerned, but no one foresees the strangest and most dangerous repercussion that will soon start plaguing Centerville: the dead rise from their graves and feast on the living, and the citizens must battle to survive.

12 – Permanent Vacation (1980)

IMDb:

6.2

RT Users:

5.5

Letterboxd:

6.06

5.92

Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Chris Parker, Leila Gastil, Sara Driver, Charlie Spademan, Jane Fire

SYNOPSIS:

In downtown Manhattan, a twenty-something boy whose Father is not around and whose Mother is institutionalized, is a big Charlie Parker fan. He almost subconsciously searches for more meaning in his life and meets a few characters along the way.

11 – The Limits of Control (2009)

IMDb:

6.2

RT Users:

4.3

Letterboxd:

7.50

6.00

Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Isaach De Bankolé, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Gael García Bernal, John Hurt

SYNOPSIS:

A mysterious stranger (Isaach De Bankolé) works outside the law and keeps his objectives hidden, trusting no one. While his demeanor is paradoxically focused and dreamlike all at once, he embarks on a journey that not only takes him across Spain, but also through his own consciousness.

10 – Broken Flowers (2005)

IMDb:

7.2

RT Users:

7.0

Letterboxd:

7.08

7.09

Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Romance

Top Billed Cast:

Bill Murray, Julie Delpy, Sharon Stone, Tilda Swinton, Jessica Lange, Jeffrey Wright

SYNOPSIS:

When his latest girlfriend (Julie Delpy) leaves him, retired computer magnate Don Johnston (Bill Murray) has no greater ambition than to sit around the house. When he receives an anonymous letter from a former girlfriend claiming he has a 19-year-old son he’s never met, Don doesn’t even think to follow up. It’s not until his neighbor, a mystery fan, encourages him that Don resolves to visit the exes who seem the most likely candidates and find out the truth.

9 – Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)

IMDb:

7.0

RT Users:

7.5

Letterboxd:

7.24

7.25

Comedy, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, Joie Lee, Steve Buscemi, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits

SYNOPSIS:

This 11-vignette film focuses on the human interactions that happen while partaking in the everyday indulgence of coffee and cigarettes. Featuring well-known actors and other artists as themselves or some version thereof, the film highlights the nuances and subtle hostilities that can be a part of seemingly normal conversations. Bill Murray waits on the Wu-Tang Clan, Iggy Pop and Tom Waits get on each others’ nerves and Jack and Meg White of the White Stripes discuss Nikola Tesla.

8 – Paterson (2016)

IMDb:

7.3

RT Users:

7.2

Letterboxd:

7.72

7.41

Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, Barry Shabaka Henley, Method Man, Chasten Harmon

SYNOPSIS:

Paterson (Adam Driver) is a hardworking bus driver in Paterson, N.J., who follows the same routine every day. He observes the city and listens to fragments of conversations while picking up and dropping off his passengers. Paterson also writes heartfelt poems in a notebook, walks his dog and drinks one beer in a bar after his shift is over. Waiting for him at home is Laura (Golshifteh Farahani), his beloved wife who champions his gift for writing.

7 – Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

IMDb:

7.2

RT Users:

7.5

Letterboxd:

7.54

7.41

Drama, Romance

Top Billed Cast:

Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright

SYNOPSIS:

A depressed musician reunites with his lover in the desolate streets of Detroit. Though their romance has endured several centuries, it is tested by the arrival of her capricious and unpredictable younger sister.

6 – Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

IMDb:

7.4

RT Users:

8.8

Letterboxd:

7.64

7.95

Comedy, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

John Lurie, Eszter Balint, Richard Edson, Cecillia Stark, Rammellzee

SYNOPSIS:

New York City layabout Willie (John Lurie) and his dopey sidekick, Eddie (Richard Edson), get by on TV dinners and beer financed by haphazard card-sharking. Willie gets an unwelcome visit from his Hungarian teen cousin, Eva (Eszter Balint), but, just as he warms to her, she ditches him for her aunt in Cleveland. Impulsively, Willie and Eddie take a road trip to pick up Eva, after which they head out to find fortune and paradise in Florida — or at least alleviation from their constant boredom.

5 – Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

IMDb:

7.5

RT Users:

8.6

Letterboxd:

7.74

7.95

Crime, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman, Henry Silva, Isaach De Bankolé, Tricia Vessey

SYNOPSIS:

Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) is a contract killer, a master of his trade who can whirl a gun at warp speed and moves through this world like a phantom — stealthy and evanescent. In the spirit of the samurai, he has pledged his loyalty to a small time mobster named Louie (John Tormey) who saved his life many years before.

4 – Dead Man (1995)

IMDb:

7.5

RT Users:

8.8

Letterboxd:

7.62

7.97

Drama, Fantasy, Western

Top Billed Cast:

Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, John Hurt

SYNOPSIS:

Wounded and branded an outlaw, a young accountant named William Blake flees gunmen and travels the frontier. Nobody, an outcast Native American, aides Blake along a journey beyond the frailty of life as his physical existence grows thin.

3 – Mystery Train (1989)

IMDb:

7.5

RT Users:

8.7

Letterboxd:

7.84

8.01

Comedy

Top Billed Cast:

Youki Kudoh, Masatoshi Nagase, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Cinqué Lee, Nicoletta Braschi

SYNOPSIS:

A seedy hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, provides the backdrop for three separate tales, featuring everything from a kitsch-obsessed Japanese couple (Masatoshi Nagase, Yûki Kudô) to a trio of amateur robbers (Joe Strummer, Rick Aviles, Steve Buscemi) who discover the true nature of their relationship during a botched heist. Linking the stories together is the hotel’s eccentric and creepy night clerk (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins) as well as the spirit of Elvis Presley.

2 – Night on Earth (1991)

IMDb:

7.7

RT Users:

9.1

Letterboxd:

7.84

8.21

Comedy, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Giancarlo Esposito, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Rosie Perez

SYNOPSIS:

This film presents five stories, each involving a cab ride and set in a different city around the world. In Los Angeles, no-nonsense taxi driver Corky (Winona Ryder) gets an engaging customer in the form of a Hollywood casting agent (Gena Rowlands), while a Parisian cabbie (Isaach De Bankolé) must contend with some rowdy African diplomats. Among the other tales, a standout is the Italian taxi ride that finds quirky driver Gino (Roberto Benigni) making a lively confession to an ailing priest.

1 – Down by Law (1986)

IMDb:

7.7

RT Users:

9.4

Letterboxd:

7.98

8.36

Comedy, Crime, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto Benigni, Ellen Barkin, Rockets Redglare

SYNOPSIS:

A disc jockey, a pimp and an Italian immigrant are arrested in New Orleans and find themselves housed in the same jail cell. The Italian comes up with a plan to escape, and must convince his two cellmates to join him.

Ranking Hollywood’s Directors

Jim Jarmusch - All His Films Ranked

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