User reviews

I had heard about this film long before I ever saw it. I had heard that it was banned in it's home country of Jamaica due to it's possibility of inciting youths to "hooliganism". I had also heard it had great music and so I picked up the movie soundtrack on LP and enjoyed every song on it. It took video for me to finally see this movie years later and I enjoyed it very much. The movie puts you right in the middle of unfamiliar territory from the start, a busload of Jamaican country people coming into town, with their heavy accents, this is one of the few English movies to have been given english subtitles. From this setting you are taken into the life and ambitions of Ivan Martin, a man willing to stop at nothing to achieve success as a reggae star. He makes it, but there is a high cost. Great music, great performances, including a rare look at Prince Buster DJing a party. If you are a reggae fan, particularly early ska, rocksteady and pre-Bob Marley, this is a movie for you.

Jimmy Cliff comes to the city with dreams of becoming a recording star. It's a tough racket and he sells the rights to his first record for $20 -- Jamaican dollars. He falls into the ganja trade. When the authorities, at the urging of the United States, bears down, and Cliff withholds the protection money he's been paying. When the higher-ups bear down, he goes on a spree, and the notoriety puts his record on the hit parade.

It's a very good movie, except for a lot of ancillary issues. It was the first movie for Cliff, for the director, and for a Jamaican movie in the patois. It also has a fine musical score, including some hits by Cliff and his band, including the title song and "You Can Get It If You Really Want." It played internationally, and did very well; its view of Jamaica and Jamaicans remains unique to this day.

The Harder They Come is a seminal gangster film from Jamaica. It is not a very good film, being low budget with amateurish acting. Even some of the songs are recycled throughout the film.

Ska legend Jimmy Cliff plays Ivan Martin, a young singer from the country who comes to Kingston to make a name for himself. In his first day in town he is robbed, he loses his bike and he realises to survive he better toughen up fast.

He gets his bike back, he is punished by the police and he takes on the unscrupulous music mogul who exploits the artists he signs up (rather common in Jamaica at the time.)

Before long Ivan becomes an outlaw and his record becomes a big hit but the police are on to him.

The story is banal in places but the film has an infectious energy, it has attracted a cult following and is regarded for popularising reggae music to the world.

Look out for a cameo by another Ska legend Prince Buster who plays a club DJ. Ironically both Prince Buster and Jimmy Cliff became Muslim converts.

Though the low budget of this film is obvious, it is an amazing story, nonetheless so because it's based on a true one! It's also sometimes quite beautifully filmed.

What seems like it will be a simple country-boy-makes-good-in-the-city fairytale turns into a darker story of ego, searing poverty, class warfare, and a lust for fame. At first we're drawn to the Ivan, then gradually repulsed.

The compelling plot is built on a fantastic set of characters that weave a chillingly accurate portrayal of Jamaica in the late 60's -- a tapestry of desperately poor but infinitely resilient people.

To those IMDb reviewers who thought the story immoral - would you say the same thing about Bonnie & Clyde, Scarface, or Cagney's Public Enemy? This movie examines the effect of despair, desperation, and ambition. It's not a fairytale -- grow up.

This is rightfully regarded as a cult classic. It's a pretty unique movie on account of its setting. In fact, the geographical backdrop is one of the very best things about this one. It takes a raw look at life in poverty in Jamaica, with its story of a would-be singer who arrives in Kingston from the countryside. He soon gets involved in criminal behaviour after being ripped off by the local record company boss and becomes a folk hero off the back of these activities plus the popularity of his record 'The Harder They Come'.

Jimmy Cliff stars in this one as the central character Ivan and he is excellent in the role. Particularly impressive given that he isn't a trained actor at all. There is a real authenticity to his performance. In fact all the characters here have a gritty realness to them, with the Jamaican setting on the whole presented in a nuts and bolts no nonsense manner that gives the film a highly authentic feel. It's this very unglamorised, truthful presentation that gives this film its edge for me. Additionally, this was the film that seriously increased the popularity of reggae out-with Jamaica. Aside from the superb title song there is 'You Can Really Get It If You Want It' as well as a handful of others by various other stars of the genre. The story is pretty simple but this straightforward narrative is used as a means of saying a lot of truthful things. The result is a highly distinctive genre film, with great flavour.

NB: despite being English language, this one will require English subtitles for most people on account of the very heavy Jamaican patois used by many of the characters.

This film is a perfect example of the Jamican city struggle, this film is a real depiction of Jamaican people. Technically it is poorly shot and edited, but if you can look past these issues you will have a greater understanding of Jamaican people, the struggles faced and a realization of how the ghettos developed. I lived in Kingston Jamaica in the 80s as a youth, through innocents I loved every part of Jamaica the music, food, people, beaches and weather but not the history or politics which a later learned more about. Jamaica has developed a society through mislead innocents of the youth, selfish politicians who cared for money and power created what Jamaica is today. Imagine coming in from the country as so many did in the 60's & 70's and learning the only work you could find was selling drugs or robbing, Oh no you wouldn't do that? but when a human being begins to starve they will do almost anything to survive it is instinct. This movie is about exactly that survivalist instinct and tendencies.

Musician Jimmy Cliff plays the lead role. He is coming to the new town. He is in search of a job. Food-less and homeless, he wanders around in search of a job. Finally, he comes to a preacher. He takes up the job as a mechanic. He meets a young girl there and falls in love.

The movie is a cult entertainer. There are so many mistakes of beauty. Music and violence leads the movie a entertaining. The language may be little hard for normal audience, in that case better to watch with sub titles.

"You Can Get It If You Really Want..." this should be in your minds after watching the film.

#KiduMovie

Good music but weak plot and performances.

Jamaica. A young man from the country, Ivanhoe "Ivan" Martin (played by Jimmy Cliff) heads into the city after his grandmother dies. He tries to get work, with little success, but his dream is to become a music star. He gets a single recorded but, though the song is popular, he doesn't get much out of it - the record company has the upper hand. In desperation he turns to crime.

A reasonably historic film in that this was the first feature film produced in Jamaica. The movie also introduced reggae music to a wider audience.

On that note, the music in the movie is great, and gives the movie a great vibe.

However, the rest of the movie leaves much to be desired. Plot is pretty basic. It started off struggling to find a focus, but then when it does, it is pretty unoriginal, predictable and one- dimensional.

No real character depth. You don't really feel that engaged with the character of Ivan. What little engagement you had goes out the window once he starts shooting people.

Jimmy Cliff is okay in the lead role but the remaining cast are pretty wooden. Some quite cringeworthy acting at times.

amazing film. i'd seen it in the movies when it first came out. this is the film that really introduced me to reggae music. for a film that was obviously made on a limited budget, it has everything. it touches every emotion and teaches many life lessons with a beautiful backdrop of real and raw Jamaican life. the plot is basically a poor boy who dreams of becoming famous through his music - regardless of the price. to me it represents the epitome of human nature. i think it also typifies the music industry worldwide and the frustrations and obstacles artists must overcome. i've recently purchased the film on DVD and now, years later, it's just as awesome as the first time i saw it!

Ivan is a country boy in Jamaica who comes to see his Grandmother and `make it big' by recording a record. However when he finds himself exploited by a record producer he turns to drug running to make money. When he kills a cop who is in on the trade he goes on the run and finds fame as an outlaw standing up against `the man'.

I first saw this in a cinema in 1995 and it was fully subtitled, I watched it again last night and it had no subtitles. It was slightly hard to follow some of the very thick dialogue so I suggest if you have the choice that you go for the subtitles unless patwa is a very familiar dialect to you.

The plot takes swipes at the exploitative music business but also the nature of celebrity and the problems of drugs. However at it's heart it's a reggae gangster movie that is gritty and enjoyable. The story is involving but really it's the detail of the setting that carries the film. The camera allows a great sense of place and really captures the mood and place well, using crowd shots and wandering shots to music. Really the best scenes are all natural as music plays in the fore ground.

The music is one of the strongest aspects to the film – where the gangster element is sprawling and relaxed, the music allows us to accept this whole chilled out vibe as just part of the film. The cast also helps greatly by being very realistic without much effort, not trying to make the accent easier is a brave move if you want to sell the film! Cliff is easily believable and very watchable, likewise almost all the cast are great – many not being actors.

Overall the plot may wander in the way only a Jamaican can! But the music and the vibe more than make this a cult film that is well worth watching whether with subtitles or not!

I had first intended to watch this when the Criterion DVD went out-of-print but I only managed to get to it now that the director has passed away! I'm not one of Blaxpioitation's biggest fans - even less so of Reggae music - but this is surely among the best I've seen; unfortunately, the heavy Jamaican accents make the dialogue unintelligible at times (even if I was watching the film with the benefit of Italian subtitles)!

Though the plot offers nothing new - a young man moves from the country to the city hoping to make it as a singing performer but, seeing how he's being exploited by his manager, resorts to crime in order to make a fast buck with the inevitable tragic outcome - the vividness of the ethnic culture and setting make it seem fresh and exciting (thanks in large part, too, to the great soundtrack, providing thought-provoking lyrics amidst unusual rhythms); sure, it's rough and raw film-making, but the end result is frequently disarming and exhilarating.

That said, the characters aren't very likable (including our hero played by Reggae star Jimmy Cliff, who also composed the songs) and the film ends up being somewhat overstretched for its purpose; the finale, though, with Cliff facing-off with the militia single-handedly (inspired by a screening of DJANGO [1966] he saw in a local cinema shortly after his arrival in town) is worth waiting for. Along the road, Cliff also gets involved with a preacher and his female ward; as a matter of fact, the all-black church sequences here reminded me of GANJA AND HESS (1973) - incidentally, "ganja" (street slang for dope) turns out to be a major plot point in this film's own latter stages.

Unfortunately, it seems that the version I watched is slightly trimmed as the IMDb lists scenes and shots (notably full-frontal nudity during a beating Cliff receives at the hands of the police) which aren't present here! By the way, the film's original soundtrack was voted No. 8 among the All-Time Top 20 Soundtrack Albums in an authoritative 1995 poll.

I have always listened very much to all kind of Reggae(also ska and rocksteady) and the record "The harder they come" is one of the best record's ever. So I had really looked forward to see this film. First off all I must say that the songs are fantastic in this film with songs like for example: "Rivers of babylon", "Many rivers to cross", "Sitting here in limbo" and of course the title song.

Jimmy Cliff stars as Ivan, a country boy who comes to the big city looking for fame through music but is forced to become a "rude boy" and it will have big consequences. The film maybe is not a masterpiece but the music is and I thought it was so very funny to watch a film from Jamaica.

This is also one of the biggest cult classics ever and it is very entertaining. The ending is pretty amazing. The acting by the great singer Jimmy Cliff is actually good, and the rest of the unknown cast is also good. This film is a MUST-SEE! My rating would be a 8 or a 9/10

For quite a while, I really loved The Harder They Come. The music is fantastic. The cinematography and location shooting are gorgeous. And, most of all, I was simply fascinated by the Jamaican dialect of English exhibited in the film. A word of warning: this film is in English, but it is very difficult to understand, almost impossible at times. The Jamaicans accent their words completely differently, and their speech patterns have an entirely different cadence than ours do. And I liked the plot a lot for about half or more of the running time. I was genuinely involved with the characters and their stories. Unfortunately, after a certain point, it becomes very morally dubious. Yes, the main character, Ivan (Jimmy Cliff), is not treated too fairly by Preacher. However, it's hard to root for a hero who stabs a man in the back because he confiscated his bicycle. It would be different if the audience were not asked to root for Ivan, but we plainly are. He thinks he'd make a great singer, but the producer of his record refuses to let the radio stations play it. After a while, Ivan is forced to make a living by selling ganja - which goes really well, obviously. When a police officer attempts to pull him over for speeding, he ices the copper. Then a bit later he kills three more, and basically goes on a killing spree. All of a sudden, people want desperately to hear his record on the radio. The producer'll make tons of money, so he lets it have airtime. Instantaneously, Ivan becomes a star and a Robin Hood-esque hero to the supposedly oppressed people of Jamaica. Well, Robin Hood isn't the best example - he's much more O.J.-esque; is there anyone in the world who won't immediately conjure up the image of a white Bronco during a scene in which a dozen people cheer Ivan on when he's blasting away at a rival ganja dealer? This is really dispicable, and it becomes even moreso when, during Ivan's final stand-off, the director, Brecht-style, cuts to the movie's Jamaican audience clapping and laughing as he kills a couple of more police officers. 6/10.

It has been said of many films, but this one was indeed "ahead of its time". It is a love story, social commentary, political manifesto and comedy all rolled-in-one. You can't help but like Jimmy Cliff's character. He's trying to cut a record, romance a preacher's daughter, and "get what's his" all at the same time.

This film is especially important in the history of Black film, I would say, since the character of Ivan is clearly portrayed as a complex character. Even the cinematography conveys the idea that "black is beautiful" (remember the (semi-)nude scene in the lake? Can't say enough good things about it. See it, you won't be sorry!

Unable to find honest work in the city and underpaid by greedy record producers, an aspiring musician from rural Jamaica turns to a life of crime in this drama starring singer Jimmy Cliff. The film features an excellent reggae music soundtrack and Cliff has several strong moments, notably how he mixes bitterness and contempt when reluctantly agreeing to accept $20 for a record that he knows is worth tens times as much. There is also an interesting dynamic in how the record producer would much rather Cliff's song become a smaller hit because it would be easier for him to bask in profits that would otherwise flow to Cliff, but generally speaking, the story here is not especially compelling and Cliff becomes increasingly less sympathetic as the film progresses. Sure, he is a victim of circumstance, falling into a violent lifestyle as a means by which to survive, but knowing this does not make his actions less heinous. The supporting characters are a little lifeless too, especially a preacher's daughter who he becomes infatuated with. There is some magnificent imagery to be had though as he imagines himself basking with her naked in the sea and as the pair of them cycle together by the seaside. Still, this film is mostly of interest for the music and the historical significance of being Jamaica's first film, shining a light on the country kept out of tourist pamphlets.

I'm a great reggae and dancehall fan and travelled Jamaica, where I had the chance to watch most movies ever filmed in Jamaica(which aren't too many!)by Jamaicans. Well, if you compare Dancehall Queen, Third World Cop, Rudeboy, Shottas, Rockers - this is the best of them and the best Jamaican movie ever. Based on a true story, a country boy, Ivanhoe, looks for fortune in the city and ends up as the most wanted criminal in Kingston. Jimmy Cliff is superb in his role as a bad boy and the motives for him becoming criminal are presented very clearly throughout the movie. He is a talented artist recording many big songs and doesn't see a dime or a penny for his music, so the struggle to survive ends in violence. Well this probably happens nearly every day in the Caribbean if you look at biographies of Max Romeo for example, who never received money at the time for some big songs(except for becoming a gangster).

Features a Great Soundtrack and a really marvellous Jimmy Cliff!!!!

"The Harder They Come" begins as an engrossing story with social commentary and great music, but it makes a sharp detour into exploitation territory that left me displeased.

It's possible it wouldn't have been as successful if not for that, but I still think it could have been handled better.

The story is about Ivan, a young Jamaican man played by the first reggae star, Jimmy Cliff. He moves to the city after his grandmother dies but has trouble finding work. He records a decent song for a producer, but the guy won't pay him what he's worth, and he has the local music industry in lockdown.

So, unexpectedly, Ivan basically turns into a complete psychopath. There is very little insight into how he feels about any of this, so his sudden murderous criminality comes out of nowhere.

The beginning of the movie feels sharply observed, like the filmmakers really understand what they're talking about. The presumably pretty low budget only serves to bring you closer to the action, it makes everything feel more real. But when this character arc happens, the movie becomes a mess, like they just needed sex and violence, and to hell with the plot.

I knew it was a crime flick, but I didn't realise it was an exploitation flick. It could have been a lot better, but maybe then it wouldn't be as successful.

Apparently, when this film was shown in American theaters, it was shown with open captions because much of the Jamaican dialog is very difficult to follow. However, oddly, when the film has come on TV (such as on Turner Classic Movies) it had no captioning of any type and I just gave up watching it in frustration. Fortunately, the Criterion version does have captions....but you must choose them from a pulldown menu. PLEASE remember to activate the captions unless you are fluent in Jamaican Creole.

The story is apparently based, to some degree, on a real Jamaican bandit who became a folk hero of sorts. For the movie, they changed a lot of his life, updated the story to the 1970s and made him a singer/drug dealer...a definate anti-hero.

Technically speaking, "The Harder They Come" isn't much of a film. The cinematography is sketchy and the acting just fair...but it also was a HUGE hit when it debuted...earning back far more than the film cost to make. Much of this is because the movie became a fan favorite at late night theaters here in the States. When you look at this film today, it all seems very hard to understand why the film gained such traction. But as the expression goes, 'it's all in the timing'....and in 1972 the film was timed just right. After all, the combination of civit unrest in Jamaica, rebellion being on the rise in the industrilized world and the increased use of drugs all served to create a demand for this sort of story.

The first portion of the film shows Ivan (Jimmy Cliff) trying to make a go of it in life. But again and again, he finds people standing in his way, trying to keep him down. The Preacher is a hypocritical jerk, the record producers are simply thieves and the cops, well, they work forever pays them the most! And, eventually, Ivan has had enough and resorts to a life of crime...killing several people in the process. And, soon, the combination of one of his songs taking off on the radio and his anti-authoritarian crusade serve to make Ivan a local anti-hero...and soon he finds he has fans who offer to help hide him from the man. What's to eventually come of all this violence and lawlessness?

The best thing about this film is the music. While very repetitive, it's also very catchy and Cliff's singing is enjoyable. As for his acting, it's decent considering he really isn't a professional actor here. But the story itself is cheap...cheaply made and just okay. While the film was adored back in the 70s, it hasn't aged so well...it was just a different time and place and now that time and place has passed...making the film less enjoyable for newer audiences.