The Harder They Come

Directed by Perry Henzell, the film The Harder They Come stars Jimmy Cliff in his first acting role as Ivanhoe "Ivan" Martin, an aspiring singer who arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, determined to live out his dreams on his own terms and make it as a music superstar. It is also a story that reflects the realities of Kingston life… in short, an assortment of predatory preachers, mercenary record producers, corrupt cops and miscellaneous hustlers, with the protagonist inspired by the life of the Jamaican outlaw Ivanhoe “Rhygin” Martin (the original rude boy, credited with the quote that gives the movie its title).

It’s all actually a lot less sunny than this wonderful soundtrack would suggest.

Few albums have altered the course of popular music quite like The Harder They Come. While reggae would eventually become synonymous with Bob Marley, Island and Studio One, this soundtrack led the charge, offering international audiences a vivid and authentic snapshot of Jamaican music before it became a worldwide phenomenon.

“I really didn’t know what was happening — and what was going to happen from one scene to the next or from one setup to the next.” 
- Jimmy Cliff

By the early 1970s, Jimmy Cliff had already established himself as one of Jamaica's leading performers, helping to define reggae's emerging identity with influences in gospel, soul and ska. Although Cliff’s name was very much front and centre, the soundtrack actually reflects the Jamaican musical ecosystem at the time, assembling songs from multiple artists and producers rather than presenting a unified studio project. The wider cast is just superb, with a cross-section of iconic Jamaican talent. Desmond Dekker had already broken into the UK charts, The Maytals were pioneers of ska and reggae (also scene-stealing as the film’s studio band), while groups like The Melodians and The Ethiopians captured the spiritual and vocal traditions that underpinned the genre. The cohesion is also one of the album’s main strengths, with a revolving but unified cast of players under the production (mostly) of leading Jamaican producers Leslie Kong and Jimmy Miller. It has the feel of a carefully curated compilation rather than a conventional studio album, while still a broad portrait of reggae at a pivotal moment in its development.

The soundtrack’s production was a great deal more orderly than the actual film production, with spontaneity and serendipity forming much of the process. Cinematographer Franklyn St. Juste noted around the film's 40th anniversary, that he never saw a script, it was mostly a series of “happy accidents.”

Many of the tracks went on to become some of the most celebrated compositions in reggae music, but The Harder They Come remains so influential as it introduced countless listeners to Jamaican music for the first time. Although there are moments of sweet melancholy - and it never shies away from the darker underbelly of the Kingston scene - The Harder They Come is a joyous collection. Seminal, inspirational, but, much as it was on release, it is all just so wonderfully celebratory.