Half a century after its release, the breakthrough 1972 film The Harder They Come remains remarkable for its unfiltered depiction of Jamaica, its people, their speech and their music.
Produced and directed by the late Perry Henzell, The Harder They Come was the first movie made in Jamaica by an entirely Jamaican cast and crew, premiering in Kingston to an enormous, riotous crowd. When the film opened in the States in early ‘73, it introduced American audiences to rocksteady, reggae, Rastafari and conditions on the island beyond the tranquil images shown in travel brochures.
The Harder They Come was a star-making vehicle for a two-time GRAMMY winner and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Jimmy Cliff, who portrays Ivanhoe Martin — a character loosely based on the outlaw/folk hero Rhygin who became Jamaica’s most wanted in 1948 after escaping from prison; Rhygin committed a series of robberies and murders before he was gunned down by police. In the film, Ivan is also an aspiring reggae singer and low-level ganja dealer whose endeavors are met with sabotage and betrayals.
Cliff’s portrayal is riveting and authentic. Born James Chambers in a rural community outside of Montego Bay, Cliff lived in the overcrowded, impoverished communities of west Kingston in his early teens. While pursuing a career as a singer, Cliff saw firsthand the crime, violence and the survival of the fittest mindset within the ghetto areas where reggae was birthed.
"That film was the first of its kind, a masterpiece, almost like a documentary with Perry depicting what he saw going on in Jamaica, and what I saw in the ghetto," Jimmy Cliff told me in a 2017 interview following a performance at his alma mater, the Somerton All Age and Infant School. The Harder They Come delineated the glaring contrasts between the island’s elites and the poor Black masses dwelling in overcrowded, squalid tenement yards, the corruption within the island’s music industry, the police force’s control of the ganja trade and their power to ban songs when they want to defeat the message or in the case of Ivan, the messenger.
The Harder They Come is also notable for the many Jamaican music personalities that appear in brief roles. Former policeman turned rocksteady producer Duke Reid portrays, naturally, a police commissioner; artist/producer and ska icon Prince Buster plays a club selector; popular radio personality Don Topping a.k.a. El Numero Uno appears as himself. Leslie Kong — who produced the majority of the tracks on The Harder They Come soundtrack — is the sound engineer working alongside Hilton, the unscrupulous producer. (In 1962, a teenaged Cliff persuaded Kong and his brothers to venture into recording, which yielded Cliff’s breakthrough hits "Hurricane Hattie" and "Miss Jamaica," for the Kongs’ Beverley’s Records label.)
The film’s messaging was underscored by rocksteady and reggae music. While a few hits by Jamaican artists had already reached topped charts — among them Millie Small’s ska ditty "My Boy Lollipop" climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100; Desmond Dekker’s "Israelites" topped the UK charts and peaked at No. 9 in the U.S. and Dave and Ansell Collins’ cheerful, primarily instrumental track, "Monkey Spanner" was also a UK No. 1. — "those songs were seen as novelties, especially in America," Cliff continued.
"The Harder They Come put the audio together with the visuals of where the music comes from, the people who make it; it showed the music’s identity," said Cliff, whose international hits prior to the film include "Hard Road to Travel" — the film’s working title. "My character Ivan was a rebel and back then, in universities in America and in England, the youths were rebellious, too, so the movie and the music came at the right time and had a huge impact, it opened up the international market."
The Harder They Come soundtrack initially appeared in U.S. stores in February 1973 (released on Mango/Island) two months before the release of the Wailers’ seminal Catch a Fire but didn’t reach the Billboard Top 200 until 1975. Music chart metrics, however, don’t wholly reflect the impact of the soundtrack or the film. In 1973, The Harder They Come played for 26 weeks at the Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge, Ma., then returned in 1974, where it remained a midnight attraction for an additional seven years. At Manhattan’s Elgin Theater, the film was shown at midnight for 80 consecutive weekends. Besides the incidental use of reggae and rocksteady tunes to enhance many pivotal moments, the compelling scenes featuring Toots and the Maytals and Jimmy Cliff performing their songs, also elevated the profile of Jamaica’s sounds.
The Harder They Come soundtrack has topped many critics’ best albums lists over the years; in 2022 the soundtrack was selected for preservation by the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress —the second reggae release to earn that distinction.
"When Perry did The Harder They Come, no one understood Jamaican English, nobody understood reggae or knew what Jamaica really was like," comments Justine Henzell, the director's eldest child. "Perry wasn’t trying to make a movie for everyone; because it was so authentically Jamaican, he found a sweet spot between being culturally specific and universally accessible. He didn’t even know he was doing that 50 years ago but that’s what every filmmaker is looking for because audiences want to be taken into a new world, have a new experience, a cinematic journey."
The Harder They Come’s musical journey begins with "You Can Get It If You Really Want," produced by Leslie Kong, one of four songs written and sung by Cliff in the film. In the opening scene, Ivan is traveling on a rickety, crowded country bus that’s making its way through wet, mountainous roads en route to the capital city, Kingston. Over a fluttering reggae beat, Cliff’s crystalline vocals deliver lyrics that reinforce his character’s determination to make it as a singer: "You can get it if you really want but you must try, try and try, try and try, you’ll succeed at last."
Cliff initially released "You Can Get It If You Really Want," in July 1970; Desmond Dekker’s rendition of the song reached No. 2 on the UK charts shortly thereafter and Cliff re-recorded the song for the film/soundtrack.
Ivan steps off of the bus on a busy Kingston street, and within minutes, a pushcart vendor runs away with all of his possessions, including the mango he brought for his mother. Playing underneath the chase scene is Scotty’s "Draw Your Brakes," an adaptation of the 1965 jaunty ska hit, "Stop That Train," by the Spanishtown Ska Beats (also known as the Spanishtonians), produced by Prince Buster. The song incorporates the vocals from Keith and Tex’s 1976 cover of "Stop That Train," while Scotty’s expressive patois lyrics provide a livelier take on the original’s theme of a lover’s betrayal.
Vocal trio the Melodians had a No. 1 hit in Jamaica in 1970 with the exquisite "Rivers of Babylon"; the song’s verses reference Psalm 137 and its bridge quotes Psalm 19, drawing parallels between the Biblical exile of the Israelites in Babylon and the oppression suffered by poor Black Jamaicans. The song is first heard when Ivan arrives in Kingston to break the news to his mother that her mother has died. Ivan also reveals he wants to remain in the city but his mother tells him he should return to the country because she lacks the resources to help him.
"Rivers of Babylon" spoke to the issues faced by Rastafarians, whose lifestyle — including their worship of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I as Lord and Savior — was much maligned at the time and their settlements intermittently razed by authorities. Rastafarians use the word Babylon to identify police or any system they deem oppressive.
Upon its release, "Rivers of Babylon" was banned from airplay in Jamaica: the authorities considered the song’s direct references to Rastafari "subversive." Producer Leslie Kong challenged the embargo, saying the lyrics paralleled the scriptures recited in the island’s churches on Sundays; the ban was lifted, and the song soared to the top of local charts. Artists as diverse as Willie Nelson and Sublime have covered "Rivers of Babylon," while a 1978 disco rendition by Germany’s Boney M topped the UK charts for five weeks and cracked the U.S. top 40.
The Slickers — brothers Derrick and Sydney Crooks, Winston Bailey, Roy Beckford and Abraham Green — recorded "Johnny Too Bad" in 1970 for producer Byron Lee; here, their voices are complemented by a bubbling reggae beat, and dynamic organ riffs, said to be played by the late Winston Wright. The narrative of "Johnny Too Bad" corresponds with Ivan’s transformation from impetuous rude boy to hardened criminal, and is heard when as the Slickers croon: "Walking down the road with a pistol in your waist, Johnny you’re too bad…you’re just robbing and stabbing and looting and shooting, now you’re too bad."
In the film, the song plays from a radio as Ivan is doing small repair jobs for Preacher, who has taken him in. Wearing a bright yellow hat tilted to one side Ivan’s coworker Longa tells him, "yuh really look like Johnny too bad," meaning Ivan has the demeanor of a tough guy, a rude boy, "but you gotta have a gun to look like Johnny." Ivan does indeed get a gun, but before that, he slashes Longa’s face in a fight over a stolen bicycle.
On the run from the authorities, Ivan, nonetheless, wants his photo in the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper. He arrives for a photo session attired in '70s gangster chic: leopard print shirt, black vinyl vest, striped pants, a white cap and a gun in each hand. Underpinning the scene is Desmond Dekker and the Aces' quintessential rude boy anthem "007 (Shanty Town)," another Leslie Kong production.
Initially released in 1967, "007 (Shanty Town)" became Dekker’s first international hit, reaching No. 14 on the UK singles chart. The song begins with the chiming guitar chords of Nearlin "Lyn" Taitt (the late Trinidad born guitarist considered an architect in the development of Jamaica’s rocksteady beat) which gives way to an irresistibly easy-skanking rocksteady rhythm. "007 (Shanty Town)" references 1960s movies popular with rude boys (Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack’s Ocean’s Eleven, James Bond’s 007) and offers details of their pursuits in the notorious west Kingston ghettos called shanty towns: "dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail, a shanty town."
The despair heard in the epic "Many Rivers to Cross" as Ivan contemplates "committing some dreadful crime" foreshadows his sinister actions in the film. However, Cliff wrote the gospel flavored ballad when he returned to Jamaica after four years of living in England (he references traveling over "the white cliffs of Dover"), frustrated because he didn’t achieve the success he envisioned there. "I've been licked, washed up for years," he wails, "and I merely survive because of my pride."
The song’s ecclesiastical organ chords provide a somber feel that underscores a scene where Ivan is rejected for work at a construction site, then sneered at by a wealthy woman sitting on her patio as he looks for any odd job as a means of survival. These interactions illustrate the condescending views of the powerful towards the powerless — a segmentation between wealthy uptown and indigent downtown that still exists in Kingston and cities throughout the world. Cliff’s heartrending vocals on "Many Rivers to Cross" are a stunning tour de force, arguably the finest performance on the soundtrack album.
As the authorities close in on Ivan for killing three policemen, the soul searching "Sitting In Limbo" plays as he spends time with his girlfriend Elsa, his Rasta bredren Pedro and Pedro’s young son Rupert before his attempted escape to Cuba. The song’s lyrics, ideally suited to Ivan’s very uncertain future, were written and recorded by Cliff before filming began.
After he left England, Cliff returned to Jamaica, where he says he was almost regarded as a foreigner, which, understandably, induced a sense of limbo. He finished writing the song in Argentina working alongside Panamanian singer/songwriter Guilly Bright, pondering what lay ahead: "I can't say what life will show me, but I know what I've seen/ I can't say where life will lead me, but I know where I've been, tried my hand at love and friendship, but all that is past and gone, this little boy is moving on."
Recorded in New York City with session players from Muscle Shoals, Alabama (heard on hits by Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin) the ballad’s gentle rhythm builds to a triumphant orchestration of layered keyboards, blasts of brass, flutes and resonant backing vocals, the sonic equivalent of Ivan’s delight in finally having an escape plan, however it works out.
The Maytals contributed two outstanding songs to the soundtrack, each exemplifying the singular, soulful talent that was the late Frederick "Toots" Hibbert and the tight knit, soaring harmonies of Henry "Raleigh" Gordon and Nathaniel "Jerry" McCarthy. "Pressure Drop" is a gospel-infused, cautionary tale about karmic retribution towards wrongdoers that’s simply phrased but yields hypnotic effects. The track plays as Ivan and José, his boss in the ganja trade, engage in a daylight shootout after Ivan realizes José has snitched and sent the police after him.
"Sweet and Dandy" is a spirited depiction of a rural wedding set to a rollicking mento rhythm. In the film, Toots and The Maytals are seen inside Byron Lee’s Dynamic Sounds studio recording the song; at the controls of the session are Hilton and Leslie Kong (who produced both Maytals’ songs). Ivan arrives at the studio and is transfixed watching them, which solidifies his ambition to make his own record.
At Dynamic Sound studios Ivan/Cliff lays down, live, the first recorded version of "The Harder They Come," backed by some of Jamaica’s finest: Gladstone Anderson (piano), Winston Wright (organ), Winston Grennan (drums), Linford "Hux" Brown (lead guitar), Ranford "Ranny Bop" Williams (rhythm guitar) and Clifton "Jackie" Jackson (bass), with Kong and Hilton at the controls. Wearing the now iconic blue shirt with a six-point yellow star, a cigarette in hand, Cliff is absolutely captivating as he intermittently throws his head back and absorbs the pulsating reggae beat that drives his spectacular, nuanced vocals.
The song’s lyrics perfectly suit the movie’s storyline but also rebel against the religious teachings Cliff was brought up with: "Well, they tell me of a pie up in the sky, waiting for me when I die; but between the day you’re born and when you die, they never seem to hear even your cry."
After delivering his breathtaking performance, Hilton offers Ivan just $20 for the song; like the other injustices Ivan has faced, this sets him on a path to "get my share now, what’s mine."
In 1971, prior to the release of The Harder They Come, Leslie Kong, 37, suffered a fatal heart attack. Cliff and Kong’s scene in the studio together represents a full circle moment in their careers as Cliff records the title track to what is arguably, the most influential project in reggae’s trajectory over the past 50 years.
In observance of the film’s golden anniversary in Jamaica, Justine Henzell curated a multi-media art exhibition inspired by the film at her former home, where many of the film’s scenes were shot and edited. In February 2023, several of those art pieces were exhibited in the lobby of New York City’s Public Theater, coinciding with their presentation of a musical adaptation of "The Harder They Come," written by Pulitzer winner Suzan-Lori Parks.
While Parks’ revisions to Henzell’s screenplay (co-written with the late Trevor Rhone) sanitize Ivan and his criminal exploits, diminishing the grit that’s so essential to the film’s story arc, the musical performances are anchored in the film's 10 song soundtrack — further proof that the the original The Harder They Come remains a glorious document of the power of Jamaican music.
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