Film Forum

Perry Henzell’s THE HARDER THEY COME

Perry Henzell · 1972 · Jamaica · 109 min

IMDBLetterboxdTrailer

Music by Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, The Slickers, The Maytals “In Perry Henzell’s riveting, unforgettable musical drama, reggae legend Jimmy Cliff shines as aspiring singer Ivanhoe Martin, a country boy who comes to Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, with dreams of becoming a superstar. Pushed into dire circumstances by encounters with corrupt police and unscrupulous record producers, Ivanhoe finds notoriety as a swaggering, murderous outlaw. In the history of cinema, few films can lay as strong a claim to helping globally popularize a type of music as Henzell's masterpiece. In close parallel with the global ascent of Bob Marley, THE HARDER THEY COME's sensational soundtrack propelled reggae—then a relatively recent national genre emerging from a lineage of mento folk music, ska, and rocksteady—into the stratosphere.” – Ashley Clark, The World of Black Film: A Journey Through Cinematic Blackness in 100 Films AN AMERICAN GENRE FILM ARCHIVE RELEASE