Product Description

Reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff is Ivan, a rural Jamaican musician who journeys to the city of Kingston in search of fame and fortune. Pushed to desperate circumstances by shady record producers and corrupt cops, he finally achieves notoriety- as a murderous outlaw. Boasting some of the greatest music ever produced in Jamaica, The Harder They Come brought the catchy and subversive rhythms of the rastas to the U.S. in the early '70s. Criterion is proud to present this underground classic in a new Director Approved special edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40439 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-10-31
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.com
Director-producer Perry Henzel's all-Jamaican-made 1973 classic, one of the most beloved and longest-running of all international cult favorites, fiercely expresses the live-wire Jamaican spirit--an impoverished Africa tuned to American radio. The film also incorporates an archetypal passion for "outlaw" justice common to American Westerns, which were a staple of the Caribbean theater circuit at the time. Released just 12 years after Jamaica achieved independence, The Harder They Come also reflects the disenchantment that soon followed a massive post-independence exodus from the island's country hamlets to the tropical ghettos of Kingston, where a more grinding urban poverty awaited. Brilliantly shot, directed, written, and acted, especially by singer Jimmy Cliff in the leading role and Carl Bradshaw as his archenemy, the film tells an anthemic Jamaican story to seductive rhythms of a soundtrack that became a reggae bestseller. Ivan, a country boy who dreams of fame as a singer, rides into Kingston on a rickety country bus in the opening scenes, only to meet with disaster heaped on disaster, always at the hands of those masked as friends. In a breathless defining climax, Ivan finally breaks from his passivity and begins to wreak his revenge. Soon Kingston's music Mafia and the equally corrupt authorities are after him, but like the real-life people's hero (a man named Rhygin) on whom this character is partially based, Ivan leads them on a maddening chase--much to the delight of the people--eluding capture until the movie's shocking final moments. --Elena Oumano

DVD features
If you are used to seeing The Harder They Come on video, or even in the theater, the clarity of the DVD's digital transfer will blow you away. And the classic soundtrack that helped to popularize reggae never sounded better. The commentary track by director Perry Henzell and star Jimmy Cliff (recorded in 1999-2000 exclusively for the Criterion Collection) nicely complements the film, providing rich substance to the story. Henzell discusses Jamaican politics, social issues, and culture, explaining how he incorporates these elements into the film scene by scene. In an exclusive 10-minute interview, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell discusses his support, involvement, and admiration for the film. The dialogue in The Harder They Come is such an authentic representation of the Jamaica vernacular it is often difficult to understand what is being said, so it's a shame a subtitle option was not included. However, this drawback is minor considering the richness of the DVD transfer. --Rob Bracco

Blender Magazine
Among the "Top 100 Rock & Roll Films"

Customer Reviews

a film that inspired may things
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

Jamaica's first feature film is also the most famous. The film made reggae music popular in the US, influnced people to vout out the conservative government in Jamaica, and brought singer Jimmy Cliff to international stardom.

The film is about a young man aspired to become a famous singer. He performs for a record company, but is offered only $20 for the song. He thinks it is worth more but finally agrees on the $20. He later gets in trouble with the law and becomes even more famous as an outlaw.

I strongly recommend that you watch the film with subtitles, as many of the characters speak in a thick Patois accent.

The film has a R rating for profanity, violence, sexual content, and nudity.

The soundtrack to the film remains a big hit even today and it is said that even Bob Marley would be an unknown if it weren't for this film.

The criterion DVD has an exclusive interview with Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records.

There are also biographies and discographies of several musicians who helped witht he film's music. It also has full-length audio commentary by actor Jimmy Cliff and Perry Henzell, who wrote and directed the film.

This film is a must see for reggae music lovers!

Not anamorphic! Save your money!
I was extremely disappointed, on buying this DVD, to discover that the new, restored version is not an anamorphic transfer. It blows my mind that in this day and age, a historic film like this would be restored, remastered and released without using the best possible format.

More's the pity, as it appears that the actual transfer is an improvement over the earlier Criterion version. Nonetheless, this is an expensive "Deluxe" release, and those with widescreen TVs will undoubtedly want to wait until there is an anamorphic version (I should note that if you watch this on a widescreen TV, and zoom in so the picture fills the screen, you will not be able to read all the subtitles!). Those without fancy home-theater equipment are probably better off looking for a used copy of one of the previous releases.

It's truly sad that so much work was apparently put into the restoration of the actual film, and then a second-rate DVD was produced from it. I honestly can't recommend this DVD for anyone, especially given the list price, and would recommend that people wait for (and demand) a definitive anamorphic release of this all-time classic.

Hero...Outlaw...Musician----Raw Power
The Harder They Come is raw power. Filmed in Kingston, Jamaica, the film stars Jimmy Cliff as Ivan, a country-boy who comes to the big city to make a better life for himself. Ivan wants his life desperately to matter for something; he wants to be somebody. This movie is about that journey---a journey to be somebody; to matter.

Ivan's dream is to be a singer and to make records, but he soon finds himself a pawn in the ganja (marijuana) trade. In his journey, Ivan bears witness to the record industry, the church, the police, and the drug traders. And within them all he sees institutional corruption and oppression of the poor. Ultimately, Ivan becomes an outlaw hero with gun in hand.

The movie infuses drama and music to great effect. Reggae, of course, is the music of The Harder They Come. In addition to Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytalls are featured as musicians within the movie. "The Harder They Come" is not only the name of the movie, but it is also the name of hero Ivan's hit record within the movie. The making of that record (when Ivan dons the gold-star shirt) is one of my favorite music-in-movie scenes. It is just plain real; Real music, real vibe...and real darn good.

The DVD features a commentary by the director Perry Henzell and star Jimmy Cliff. They are recorded separately and offer up some fascinating details about not only the film, but life in Jamaica in general. They also touch on The Harder They Come's impact on Jamaica's being a cultural and artistic force in the world today. The director's struggle to keep the production as unprofessional (and hence, "real") is both admirable and nearly comical. He actually winces at the performance of one of the few professional actor's in the production (Lucia White, who plays Ivan's mother). The DVD also features an interview with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell. The ten-minute-or-so interview mainly touches on the film's importance in sharing with the world Jamaica as a cultural exporter.

The picture quality is very good but shows considerable grain in some spots. The grain works for this movie. The picture, unfortunately, is not anamorphic. The sound is mono and at times betrays the movies' indie-film roots. That all said, this DVD is vastly superior to all previous releases.

One small quibble: The one subtitle track is for the deaf and hearing impaired. While the native language of Jamaica is English, the English spoken in the film is very difficult to understand to my American ears. Watching this movie without the subtitles on is not an option (at least on first viewing). However, the descriptive elements for the hearing-impaired subtitles (such as "FIRE CRACKLING" or "TIRES SCREECHING") are distracting for those simply seeking subtitled English. Two subtitle track would have been appreciated.

While it is obvious that I love The Harder They Come, it is not a perfect movie. For instance, more could have been done to establish Ivan as a musician early on. By the time the movie moves Ivan into the studio to record his record, his music is so fully realized and mature that I can't help but think that it is less Ivan in the studio than Jimmy Cliff himself. The second half of the movie takes on a wee-bit too much and the (thankfully short) chases aren't very effective. However, I cannot stress enough my love of this movie. It is flawed, but perfectly so. The Harder They Come, along with the Leone/Eastwood "Man With No Name" trilogy, ranks at the very top of outlaw hero movies.