Fifty years on, this crime drama of a headstrong singer shooting for his chance of success is as raw and energetic as its reggae soundtrack
Perry Henzell’s visceral 1972 Jamaican crime drama exists between the two moods of its two most famous tracks: the aspirational lesson of You Can Get It If You Really Want and the disillusioned downfall-premonition of the title song. The desperado here really wants it, really gets it, comes hard and falls hard. It’s a movie with Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde in its DNA, as well as Sergio Corbucci’s spaghetti western Django, which in one scene is shown getting a rowdy screening at a Kingston cinema.
Singer Jimmy Cliff plays Ivan, a gawky country boy who comes to the Jamaican capital Kingston yearning to be a famous reggae star, having lived with his grandmother who has just died; he is virtually penniless...
Perry Henzell’s visceral 1972 Jamaican crime drama exists between the two moods of its two most famous tracks: the aspirational lesson of You Can Get It If You Really Want and the disillusioned downfall-premonition of the title song. The desperado here really wants it, really gets it, comes hard and falls hard. It’s a movie with Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde in its DNA, as well as Sergio Corbucci’s spaghetti western Django, which in one scene is shown getting a rowdy screening at a Kingston cinema.
Singer Jimmy Cliff plays Ivan, a gawky country boy who comes to the Jamaican capital Kingston yearning to be a famous reggae star, having lived with his grandmother who has just died; he is virtually penniless...
- 8/3/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Way back in pre-pandemic 2015, Jimmy Cliff was on tour in Japan and missing his family. After one show, he sat down at a piano backstage and quickly wrote a song, “Human Touch,” about longing for personal connections: “I like the way I can keep in touch when you’re far away … There’s nothing like your smiling face and your warm embrace.”
Cut to six years later, and Cliff, finishing up his first album in nearly a decade, realized that in the Covid-19 era, the message of “Human Touch” took on a new meaning.
Cut to six years later, and Cliff, finishing up his first album in nearly a decade, realized that in the Covid-19 era, the message of “Human Touch” took on a new meaning.
- 8/6/2021
- by David Browne
- Rollingstone.com
Variety is reporting the 1972 Jamaican classic “The Harder They Come” will be remade the production companies of United Kingdom-base Xingu Films, Canada-based Conquering Lion and with producer Justine Henzell (“Ghett’a Life,” “No Place Like Home”). The original film was written and directed by Henzells father Perry Henzell. Conquering Lion’s producer Damon D’Oliveira described the remake as “a re-imagining that will move to contemporary reggae and reggae-influenced grooves. “Next year is the 50th anniversary of Jamaica and the 40th anniversary of the original film, so the timing is perfect,” said D’Oliveira to Variety. “’The Harder They Come’ was the first film to bring the real Jamaica to the world, and that spirit informs this new version.” The original film starred Jimmy Cliff, Janet Bartley and Carl Bradshaw. Its plot involved a Reggae singer pushing his singing career in the city, but finds it harder than he thought.
- 4/12/2011
- LRMonline.com
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