The Harder They Come

Director Perry Henzell’s 1973 hit was an instant cult classic, ignited the international reggae explosion and remains a gangsta manifesto way ahead of its time.

Updating the story of Rhygin, an outlaw whose exploits rocked 50s Jamaica, Harder follows brash, golden-voiced country boy Ivan (Jimmy Cliff) as he comes to the city hoping to make it in the music business. Refusing to be ripped off by a fat-cat producer, he drifts into the ganga trade. In no time he’s embarked on a one-man war with the cops who run the show. Though it owes something to 70s blaxploitation, Harder’s enduring vigour and edge owe more to its fundamental realism: the grass-roots panorama of Jamaican life is pungent. The iconic soundtrack beats like the pulse of the landscape itself. [Source: World Cinema Showcase 2009]

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