The Harder They Come
Perry Henzell:
The Harder They Come (Jamaica, 1972)
99 min. – Beta – English.
Age limit 15+
1972 originally released The Harder They Come has established a cult status within the fans all over the world. Now you can see newly released and restored, complete version of the film.
For many people The Harder They Come was a first glimpse of Jamaica and reggae music. The Harder They Come soundtrack is maybe more famous than movie itself, but it doesn’t mean that movie is only some kind of musical. Quite opposite, the movie is a true masterpiece and influenced strongly by neo-realism, blaxploitation and spaghetti westerns.
Main character of the movie is Ivan, inspired by true, legendary criminal Ivanhoe Martin from the fifties. Following his dream to become a singer and a reggae artist he moves from country to the city. Soon as he enters the busy streets he gets robbed. Without money he ends up working for a strict reverend. Ivan falls in love with reverends adopted daughter and end up in a knife fight with one of reverends other employee. Reverend kicks the devil’s music (reggae) listening Ivan out and he gets a whipping punishment from the state. Here begins the journey toward the reggae stardom, ganja dealing and finally armed showdown with deceitful friend and cops. "The harder they come, the harder they’ll fall, one and all!"
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Perry Henzell
Perry Henzell was born in Jamaica but went to school in Canada. He graduated from McGill University in Montreal. Henzell directed only two movies, The Harder They Come and No Place Like Home. Both of them are awesome works and they show true skills in movie directing. No Place Like Home was premiered after Henzell had already passed away. The film was started to shoot over thirty years ago but it was aborted. Henzell found the old material and finished the movie in 2006. Henzell has also written two novels, The Power Game (1982) and Cane (2001). He produced theatre show from the life of Marcus Garvey and it was shown in Ward theatre in Kingston Jamaica.