Dead Man, Mystery Train, and Down by Law

The most striking similarity between the films that immediately caught my attention was that they all featured main protagonists that have had or are having trouble with the law. In Dead Man, our lead character is falsely accused of killing and a price is placed on his head by the head of the factory. In Mystery Train, mainly in the third story, Johnny ends up robbing a place and to lay low from the police for the night, he and some others, hide out at a hotel and by morning are fleeing from cops who aren't looking for them. In Down by Law, two of our main characters are set up for a crime they didn't commit, and are sent to prison.

All three films also focus more on the characters interactions between each other, rather than what should be the prior issue. William in Dead Man focuses more on his interactions with Nobody, Zack and Jack in Done by Law, and Johnny and Charlie in Mystery Train. Each film also seemed to skip over information in order to give more time to the development of characters, with events sometimes feeling shoehorned in. The overall direction of the films seems unclear, with no concrete plot in place. Each also features traveling in some way, whether it be William fleeing with his head or Zack and Jack escaping from prison. Women tended to fall in love almost instantly and aren't given a lot of screen time.