Product Description

Starring Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace and Richard "DirtyHarry" Hall, ROCKERS is a Robin Hood style story of oppressed Jamaican musicians getting even with the "mafia types" in the business. Featuring Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, Third World, Peter Tosh, Ja

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20728 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-06-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Compilation, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Writer-director Theodoros Bafaloukos responded to Jamaica's siren call all the way over in Greece and came to the island to make this 1977 movie about a band of Rasta men/Robin Hoods getting their own back at the expense of those perennial bloodsuckers, the "uptown top rankings," as men of money and position are called in Jamaica. The reggae star-studded cast is undoubtedly the movie's most rewarding feature, though some reggae fans have objected to the demeaning sight of the incomparable late singer Jacob Miller threatening a friend with a knife over a purloined chicken leg or the equally great singer Gregory Isaacs exacting chump change for unlocking a tourist's rental car. However, these and other great reggae figures are also seen here in full and glorious performance at their peak. In fact, this film provides our only extended visual record of Miller's kinetic performance style and one of the best pieces of footage on Isaacs. Although Rockers doesn't approach the multilayered complexity of The Harder They Come and it does betray a little superiority now and then to its characters, there are plenty of laughs as well as insights into life at the time for Jamaica's growing Rastafarian movement. Drummer Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace makes an unlikely though quintessentially Jamaican leading man as he moves between wooing the rich man's virginal daughter and making pit stops at the shack he shares with his wife and children. His band of accomplices is priceless, and the scene in which each struts in his own "stylee" to Peter Tosh's "Stepping Razor" is alone worth the price. --Elena Oumano

Customer Reviews

Cinema Verite Look at the Art of Creative Survival in JA
Rockers is a rough, rugged and raw look at Jamaica in the mid 70s, a time of extreme political unrest and economic desparation.

Horsemouth (played by real life musician, Leroy 'Horsemouth' Wallace) is a Kingston drummer, known to be one of the best session players around. But times are hard inna the ghetto and Horsemouth can't get enough work to feed his children. After he convinces his very patient wife to give him her life savings, he purchases a motorcycle and travels the island as an independent promoter, distributing the hottest reggae tunes to the record stores starved for the latest rhythms. Everything is going smoothly until Horsemouth accidently stumbles upon a massive burglary ring run by some shady "mafia boy" businessmen.

But no worries, Rasta cyaan fail. With the help of his musical bredren (including Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear, Jacob Miller, and a host of other reggae legends) Horsemouth triumphs in the end.

Cinema verite look at the art of creative survival in JA
Rockers is a rough, rugged and raw look at Jamaica in the mid 70s, a time of extreme political unrest and economic desparation.

Horsemouth (played by real life musician, Leroy 'Horsemouth' Wallace) is a Kingston drummer, known to be one of the best session players around. But times are hard inna the ghetto and Horsemouth can't get enough work to feed his children. After he convinces his very patient wife to give him her life savings, he purchases a motorcycle and travels the island as an independent promoter, distributing the hottest reggae tunes to the record stores starved for the latest rhythms.

Everything is going smoothly until Horsemouth accidently stumbles upon a massive burglary ring run by some shady "mafia boy" businessmen.

But no worries, Rasta cyaan fail. With the help of his musical bredren (including Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear, Jacob Miller, and a host of other reggae legends) Horsemouth triumphs in the end.

Loved it!
I loved Rockers. Authentically captures the magic of Rasta and the Reggae scene at its heyday. Great acting, delighful and chaotic Jamaican dialogue, and well filmed. The musical performances are just awesome, especially the hauntingly beautiful acapella version of Jah No Dead by a young Burning Spear.
The patois glossary in the extras is fun if a bit cheesy, and although the interview with the director is a bit slow it is still interesting for its insight into the Jamaican music scene at the time.
This film is a one of a kind and very satisfying for lovers of Reggae, Rasta and Jamaica.