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The Harder They Come (1972)

Director: Perry Henzell

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From Time Out Film Guide

The age-old story of country boy, urban corruption, and a bad end. The guy is Jimmy Cliff, the city is Kingston, the bad business is the reggae industry, and the crime is killing a cop who's in on the 'ganja' trade. The film's tone is righteously angry, but it doesn't go for the easy targets: it views Cliff's image of himself as a hero as ironically as it denounces police violence and missionary-style religion. Along the way, it offers a richly textured picture of Jamaican shanty-town life, composed with a terrific eye for detail. The action is as gutsy as the well-integrated score, which makes the movie's Hollywood-style gloss a little anomalous, but the basic humour and toughness emerge unscathed.

Author: TR 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


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