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!
Review of The Harder They Come
