The Harder They Come (1973)

I found this Jamaican film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I had no idea of anything about it, but I recognised the name of the leading actor, the singer of the 1993 version of "I Can See Clearly Now", I was hoping it would be worthy of the book placement. Basically poor Jamaican man Ivanhoe 'Ivan' Martin (Jimmy Cliff) is searching for a job, after the death of his grandmother he leaves his rural home to live in Kingston with his impoverished mother, and there he meets Jose (Carl Bradshaw). Excited by urban life Ivan at first fails to find work, but he finally gets a job working for a record producer running errands, but the bicycle he is using belongs to someone else, they argue over this and Ivan ends up slashing his throat, as punishment for his crime he is whipped. Ivan sparks the interest of the record producer with a song he writes and performs, "The Harder They Come", he does not make much money from it, and the influence the producer has in the music industry means he is condemned to earn small income, Ivan dreams of stardom, but to make the money he wants he is given an opportunity by Jose to deal marijuana. Some time later Ivan has issues with the pay and the conditions of the job, Jose therefore informs the police about his actions, on one trip to deliver the drugs a policeman tries to stop him, in panic Ivan shoots the officer, then after a night with a woman in a hotel room he is surrounded by more police, and he shoots his way out, killing three officers in the process. Now on the run, Ivan shoots and wounds the woman he slept with, he then pursues and tries to shoot Jose, who manages to escape, the police catchup to Ivan when he returns the countryside, following another shootout and escape he hides out with a drug dealer friends, the police warn the dealers that pressure will remain on them unless they give Ivan up. Meanwhile "The Harder They Come" is re-released and rapidly becomes a hit because of his notoriety, with requests and replays on the radio stations, and with his newfound fame he gets himself photographed holding two guns in gangster poses, these are sent to the press, and he steals a flash car to drive around in. A drug dealer friend suggests to Ivan he should escape to Cuba, he attempts to board a speeding ship leaving port by swimming to it, but unable to grab the ladder on the side he heads back ashore and rests under the shade of trees, the next morning however police are aware he is close by, following a final shootout of policemen with rifles and Ivan with revolvers it ends abruptly with him shot several times and dropping to the ground, and a woman's torso gyrating to his song playing. Also starring Basil Keane as Preacher, Janet Bartley as Elsa, Winston Stona as Detective Ray Jones, Bobby Charlton as Hilton the record company manager, Ras Daniel Hartman as Pedro and Adrian Robinson as Newspaper editor. It is absolutely fair enough that Cliff became a huge star following this cult hit film, the documentary like capturing of the exotic and dark side of Kingston is interesting to watch, I agree that repetitive killing of police officers is perhaps silly, and the blaxploitation is obvious, but it is indeed the soundtrack that makes this film entertaining enough, with memorable songs by Cliff, including "You Can Get It If You Really Want", "Many Rivers to Cross" and of course the title song, it is advisable to have subtitles on because it has such strong Jamaican accents, not a bad crime drama. Worth watching!

In September 1948, outlaw Ivanhoe 'Rhygin' Martin, entered Jamaican folklore after dying in a hail of bullets during a shootout with police in Lime Cay. 25 years later, reggae star Jimmy Cliff appropriated the rude boy's name and legend for his lead role in Jamaica's first feature film, a rough 'n' ready expose of homegrown corruption, class war and poverty. And homegrown. (Had this film been rendered in smellovision they'd have had to stretcher out entire audiences in stunned but happy droves.) A much-loved cult item since release, it also boasts one of the greatest soundtracks in the business, featuring the Maytals, Desmond Decker and, naturally, Jimmy Cliff.

Jamaica's first feature film certainly left its successor with something to live up to even though, by more advanced standards, it's pretty raw film-making that lacks focus at times. Where the film does score is in giving the viewer an insight into a side of life that is hardly ever glimpsed – the crime-ridden slums of the impoverished island's cities and the tyrannical power of music producers over the country's music industry.Jimmy Cliff plays Ivan Martin, a country boy fleeced of his belongings within hours of arriving in the city to advise his mother of the death of her sister. Martin has dreams of becoming a reggae star, but can't find anyone to record his song and quickly finds himself depending on a local preacher who treats him harshly. This treatment gets worse when the preacher discovers Ivan is carrying on an affair with a girl he has possibly been grooming for himself. Ironically, thanks to the Machiavellian deceit of a big-shot record producer, Ivan finds himself sucked into a life of crime just as his music finally begins to take off.This film plays like a Warner gangster film transplanted to the Caribbean and infused with copious amounts of ganja. This being the 70s, it isn't Cagney or Bogart that Ivan models himself on but Franco Nero's incarnation of seminal spaghetti western anti-hero, Django. Probably the cutest moment of the film comes during its climax as director Perry Henzell intersperses shots of Ivan's come-uppance with the earlier shots of the cinema audience laughing and cheering at the carnage unleashed by Django and his gatling. The difference is, Ivan's guns are empty, and he is almost entirely bereft of principles or redeeming features. Somewhere during the course of the film he turns from victim to victimiser and yet Henzell expects the audience to retain its sympathy for him as he embarks on a cop-killing spree as bloodthirsty as it is pointless. Unfortunately, he and co-writer Trevor D. Rhone aren't skilled enough to pull it off.The soundtrack, as others have noted, is superlative, even though the tunes are not always played at optimum moments (what's Many Rivers to Cross doing there at some relatively insignificant moment to which it bears no relevance?). Gritty seems to be the word most other viewers choose to describe this flick, and it certainly has echoes of the meanest of the early 70s blaxploitation films. Had its production values and locale been more appropriate it may even have become the same kind of talismanic film that De Palma's Scarface became to urban gangster of the 90s.

"The Harder They Come, 12 February 2005 Author: Bored2Tears from United States This movie might be a little too complex for simple minds like the review I just saw above..." This idiot had the temerity to complain about somebody else's review, as well as rubbishing nearly everyone else for their lack of savvy regarding Jamaican culture and Reggae music.This jerk, who can't even spell, is the one who should be barred from owning a computer, if this is all he can manage to do with it.This is an awesome film; it is also very flawed, but the flaws don't necessarily detract from it. It is a very raw look at a very real slice of life in the Caribbean. If you like Reggae, then there's something wrong with you if you haven't already seen this.If you don't like Reggae, and/or you don't want to strain your ears for 100 minutes trying to follow the dialog, then don't bother with this.Everyone else will most definitely get something out of this amazing film.