The Harder They Come (1972)

NOTE: yeah we forgot to cut out the clip between deciding our rating and and adding it to our list. So you hear some "click clack" and the sound of Angela blowing her nose. It's about a minute long of extra RAW material. We're leaving it in. Fuck it. We were a mess on this one. But that's not the only mistake...

OK we fucked up. When picking films for February’s theme, BODY AND SOUL, we aimed for Black Directors and Black Leads. We actually don’t have too much blacksploitation era movies on the docket as many of them had white directors. Today’s discussion slipped through our fingers but can you blame us? When you hear about a Jamaican movie made by a Jamaican director, if you had to assume you wouldn’t think that Jamaican director would be white. This iconic musical Neo-noir by is made by the late Perry Henzell, a native Jamaican who is white. But it’s not too hard a pill to swallow as this classic film starring reggae legend Jimmy Cliff was a smash hit in Jamaica in its day and an essential cultural artifact for important musical movements. It’s a lot of movies this month that earned their place in cultural history, well know or otherwise, and the 1972 film “THE HARDER THEY COME” is as essential to film art as it gets. Musically, all killer no filler. Heavy with crime elements as well as tranquil scenes of family and fantasy. This flick hits a lot of emotional layers and explains certain aspects of Jamaican society of the time in an insightful way. There’s a lot of links online. We’ll throw you this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGQ6gUe04A

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