{"id":14,"date":"2006-03-04T14:30:10","date_gmt":"2006-03-04T21:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=14"},"modified":"2021-01-25T01:27:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T08:27:57","slug":"harder-they-come-the-1973","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=14","title":{"rendered":"Harder They Come, The (1973)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;The oppressors are trying to keep me down, trying to drive me underground.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Harder-They-Come-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Harder-They-Come-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-46953\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Harder-They-Come-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Harder-They-Come-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Harder-They-Come-Poster.jpg 657w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIvan Martin (Jimmy Cliff) moves from rural Jamaica to Kingston to record an album, but ends up trading ganja instead to survive.  When he refuses to give money to a middleman, a lethal run-in with a cop leads him underground &#8212; but Cliff&#8217;s music is a hit, and he becomes a folk hero.  <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Drug Dealers<\/li>\n<li>Folk Heroes<\/li>\n<li>Jamaica<\/li>\n<li>Musicians<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis &#8220;hard-hitting, crudely made, angry left-wing&#8221; cult film about survival on the harsh streets of Kingston was the first movie made in Jamaica <em>by<\/em> Jamaicans, and shows a side of the island &#8220;paradise&#8221; that travel agencies try hard to conceal. Indeed, as Peary notes, the film realistically depicts Jamaica&#8217;s countryside as &#8220;barren and infertile&#8221; while &#8220;Kingston, the tourist center, is overcrowded, violent, seamy, and poverty-stricken.&#8221; Although the film is undeniably downbeat, the reggae soundtrack is truly amazing, and the folk hero story is compelling. When listening to Cliff sing about &#8220;universal love, peace, the worth of the individual, and an end to exploitation, neo-colonialism, imperialism, and authoritarianism,&#8221; one realizes why reggae is such a powerful force for change.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> You may want to watch this film with the subtitles on, since the Rastafarian patois can be challenging to parse at times.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An awesome reggae soundtrack by Jimmy Cliff<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/HarderTheyCome3.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/HarderTheyCome3.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-923\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The first &#8220;indigenous&#8221; Jamaican film<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/HarderTheyCome2.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/HarderTheyCome2.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-922\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes.  This cult classic holds a special place in Jamaican film history. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0070155\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/the-harder-they-come-1973\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imagesjournal.com\/issue10\/reviews\/hardertheycome\/\">Images Journal Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The oppressors are trying to keep me down, trying to drive me underground.&#8221; Synopsis: Ivan Martin (Jimmy Cliff) moves from rural Jamaica to Kingston to record an album, but ends up trading ganja instead to survive. When he refuses to give money to a middleman, a lethal run-in with a cop leads him underground &#8212; but Cliff&#8217;s music is a hit, and he becomes a folk hero. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Drug Dealers Folk Heroes Jamaica Musicians Response to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=14\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65843,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14\/revisions\/65843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}