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The Harder They Come
:. Director: Perry Henzell
:. Starring: Jimmy Cliff, Janet Barkley
:. Script: Perry Henzell Trevor D. Rhone
:. Running Time: 2:00
:. Year: 1973
:. Country: Jamaica
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The Harder They Come, Perry Henzell's 1973 film, stars reggae great Jimmy Cliff as a Jamaican country boy turned Kingston gangster who'll stop at nothing to make an album and die a legend.
The film is a cult classic for several reasons: it helped introduce reggae music to the U.S. and made Jimmy Cliff a superstar with its exceptional soundtrack, it's a a study of life in gritty, urban Kingston in the seventies produced by Jamaicans for Jamaicans, and finally, it quickly veers into a gangster movie that is part spaghetti western, part blaxploitation film with a heavy dose of the burgeoning marijuana trade. Several facets of the film prove fascinating as so few films come out of Jamaica and this one was the first one made after her independence.
Jimmy Cliff's perfomance is solid as a country hick looking for a chance to make it big with his special brand of music. From his employer, to the preacher to the record producer, there is no end of people trying to take advantage of him. He's paid $20 to make his hit record and must somehow supplement his nonexistent income. Off to the marijuana trade he goes and from there it's a quick jump to violence and ultimately becoming a folk hero outlaw á la Jesse James. From the looks of it Quentin Tarantino has seen this film more than once. One of the most memorable scenes is Jimmy Cliff yelling "Don't fuck with me!", with each syllable accentuated by the knife in his hand cutting up the face of his former boss. The Harder They Come lies somewhere between Scarface, City of God and Black Orpheus mixed in with a little Sergio Leone.
Apart from reggae and beaches, how much do we know about Jamaica? The shootout scene with Jimmy Cliff on the shore takes the notion of beautiful white sand and azure water and turns it upside down. Converted into a den of deceit (with a Rasta Judas of course), an anti-hero finale can only mean one thing, to quote from Cliff himself: "For as sure as the Sun will shine / I'm going to get my share now, what's mine/ and the harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all. " A must-see for fans of reggae and Scarface.
Anji Milanovic
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The Harder They Come review
