The Harder They Come (1972)

Jimmy Cliff: Ivanhoe "Ivan" Martin

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Ivan is fighting his boss over a bike] 

  Ivan Martin : You want dead? I will kill you, clot!

  [he punctuates these words with knife-blows to his boss's face:] 

  Ivan Martin : Don't! Fuck! With! Me!

• Ivan Martin : [singing in the recording studio]  Well, the oppressors are trying to keep me down / Making me feel like a clown / And they think that they have got me on the run / I say, "Forgive them, Lord, they know not what they've done" / For as sure as the Sun will shine / I'm going to get my share now, what's mine / And the harder they come, the harder they fall / one and all...

• Mother : Why you no bring mango from country?

  Ivan Martin : Mango season bad this year.

• Mother : What you come to town for?

  Ivan Martin : Grandma dead.

  Mother : Dead? Dead? How she can dead and I never know?

  Ivan Martin : We tried to get you, but the telegram came back.

  Mother : And when she going to bury?

  Ivan Martin : She buried already, Momma.

  Mother : Bury already? Buried already and I never get to go to the funeral? Oh, God. Oh, God...

• Mother : What happened to the place?

  Ivan Martin : Grandma sold the place before she died.

  Mother : And what happened to the money?

  Ivan Martin : She said she wanted a big funeral.

  Mother : And she took all the money for her big funeral and I didn't even get to go?

• Ivan Martin : I'm staying in town.

  Mother : You think town is easy? How you gonna live?

  Ivan Martin : I could make a record. I can sing, you know, Momma.

• Ivan Martin : I can get a job, then.

  Mother : What kind of job you can get, outside turn criminal?

  Ivan Martin : Why you say a thing like that? Why you say a think like that about me?

  Mother : Don't ask me any feisty question. Go back to country.

• Ivan Martin : What's showing at Rialto?

  Jose Smith : What you know about Rialto, you just come from country?

  Ivan Martin : I read about it, man.

• Ivan Martin : [referring to the Preacher's bicycle]  I can fix it up. Maybe you and I could go for a ride.

  Elsa : I don't think so, you know.

  Ivan Martin : Just a ride.

  Elsa : Perhaps. Depends.

  Ivan Martin : Depends on what?

  Elsa : It you're a true Christian. The rest of boys too rude.

  Ivan Martin : Some Christians rude too.

• Housewife : What's the matter with you young, healthy boys? All you know to do is beg, beg, beg. That's all you can do, just beg? How you got in here, anyway?

  Ivan Martin : The gate was open, ma'am.

  Housewife : Well, when you go outside, you make sure you lock the gate behind you.

  [Ivan leaves, to the servants in the house] 

  Housewife : Who left the gate open?

• Longa : You have a pretty hat this morning.

  Ivan Martin : You like it?

  Longa : You really look like Johnny Too Bad. You gotta have a gun though to look like Johnny. But before you get a a gun, get the broom and come sweep out the shop.

• Pedro : You're gonna make the Lord come back and find you doing this?

  Ivan Martin : Doing what, Preacher?

  Pedro : Boogie-woogie and twistin' up yourself in my yard.

  Ivan Martin : They don't have boogie-woogie anymore, you know, Preacher. That finished long ago.

  Pedro : I don't car what you want to call it! I don't want it in my yard!

• Ivan Martin : I can sing too, you know, sir. I'd like the chance to make a record.

  Hilton : Everybody want to make a record...

  Ivan Martin : But I have a boss song, you know, sir. This one must sell.

• Ivan Martin : You're not gonna live in Preacher's house all your life. You're not gonna live with him as man and wife. You're a big girl now, you know. You're not a child anymore. You have to make up your mind - between me and Preacher.

• Ivan Martin : When this song hits, you know, you know what it mean for you and me? This is my big chance. The is what we waiting for even since I come to town. Nothing can stop me know, you know. I don't have to worry no more. We'll have this song hit for you and me.

• Ivan Martin : What the meaning of this, sir?

  Hilton : That means you get $20 for the record.

  Ivan Martin : $20, sir? That don't sound right

  Hilton : How much do you think it's worth, then?

  Ivan Martin : I don't really know, you know, sir.

  Hilton : Come on, you must have an idea. What do you think it's worth?

  Ivan Martin : Well, I think at least about $200, you know, sir.

  [Hilton chuckles] 

  Ivan Martin : I don't think I'm signing this for $20, you know, sir.

• Ivan Martin : Give me $2 for tonight.

  Elsa : Where I must get it from?

  Ivan Martin : You have it in your bosom, man.

• Ivan Martin : Don't worry about money, man. After my record...

  Elsa : You sold out the record to Hilton for $20. You don't have any more to get.

  Ivan Martin : Just wait until the other producers hear my record tonight. We'll drive away from this place tomorrow.

• Ivan Martin : You want me to go and beg work for $10 a week for the rest of my life? I try that. I'd rather die. And I don't have to, because I'm gonna make it.

• Elsa : Ivan, you're a dreamer.

  Ivan Martin : Me? Dreamer? Who's a bigger dreamer than you? Always talking about milk and honey in the sky. Well, no milk and honey in the sky! No, not for you, not for me. It's right down here, and I want mine now, tonight!

• Ivan Martin : Big night tonight, you know. Look what I buy you.

  Elsa : Ivan, you mean you take your money and buy that?

  Ivan Martin : It's a mini. Sexy!

• Pedro : Freddie. Him get a job on a boat. And him can get you to Cuba. And you'd get a big welcome there.

  Ivan Martin : Yes. Revolutionary to raas. Could get a doctor to fix me shoulder too.

  Pedro : True.

• Ivan Martin : Somebody makin' plenty money. Not us. I only gettin' spit. Who makin' all the money?

  Jose Smith : Ask no questions, tell no lies.

• Ivan Martin : There's nothing on the radio now except music. You soon hear a news flash about me later.

• Elsa : They say they hold a plane in Florida loaded with ganja. They say it come from here too.

  Ivan Martin : Let me see.

  [takes the newspaper from Elsa] 

  Ivan Martin : One hundred thousand dollar.

  Elsa : One good thing. They say the U.S. Government will aid the army to clamp down on them.

  Ivan Martin : Where's Pedro?

  Elsa : I don't know.

  Ivan Martin : All right. I soon come.

  [leaves] 

• Elsa : Where are you going now? Where are you going to hide?

  Ivan Martin : Hide? I not hidin'.

  Elsa : But everybody will be looking for you.

  Ivan Martin : You didn't believe me? Didn't I tell you I was going to be famous one day?

  Elsa : You're mad.