Much of the world had never seen or heard of the Jamaica that Jimmy Cliff introduced in 1972’s “The Harder They Come.”
The island nation’s first independent full-length film, directed by Perry Henzell and co-written by Trevor Rhone, reflected an authentic glimpse of Jamaica’s slums, poverty, divisions and the Rastafarian way of life.
Its accompanying soundtrack brought a global audience to reggae, which originated in Jamaica. It opened doors for Bob Marley and the Wailers to become international stars; the first time a Marley album charted in the United States was in 1973. The Library of Congress added the “Harder They Come” soundtrack to its national registry in 2020.
Cliff, who died at 81 following a seizure and pneumonia, starred in the film as the antihero Ivanhoe Martin. His spirited tenor elevated the soundtrack with notable, influential songs like “You Can Get It if You Really Want,” “Many Rivers to Cross” and the title track.
Cliff, like the character he portrayed, relocated to Kingston to chase his musical ambitions. He secured his first nationwide hit as a teenager with “Hurricane Hatty” and was already an established star when Henzell reached out after seeing Cliff’s picture on one of his albums.
“Well, I wanted a singer, of course,” Henzell told Index Magazine in 2001. “And Jimmy seemed like the most receptive person to direction. He had an album at that time where, on the front, he faced the camera and looked very stylish and handsome. And on the back, there was a profile shot, and he looked like a Rasta.”
Cliff had no previous acting experience and his catalog, to that point, consisted mostly of upbeat songs and protest music. But he figured he could step into the role because he had known enough people like Martin.
“When I got to Kingston, I was among those types of people a lot,” Cliff told Variety in 2003. “When I was shooting the movie, I even got a chance to speak to them, ask them if they would do what I was doing in the movie. So, you’re right I am a man of peace, but I knew plenty of people who were not.”
In the film, Martin, based on a real-life Jamaican gangster in the 1940s known as Rhyging, is exploited by music executives and turns to a career in criminality. The film offered a sense of realism that strayed far from the island’s reputation as a tourist haven, Cliff told The Guardian in 2012.
“Guns were just coming into the country, and some parts of Kingston were volatile, but Perry’s connections made filming safe,” he said. “He wanted everything to seem real, though. One of the actors playing a baddie was a convicted rapist. And the ganja was real, too.”
The film hit the international scene on the heels of Blaxploitation films like “Shaft” (1971) and “Superfly” (1972), and was a standout at 1972’s Venice Film Festival.
The influential soundtrack came together shortly before the deadline to get it in. The title track was the only song Cliff recorded specifically for the movie. Calling it “the album that took reggae worldwide,” Rolling Stone placed it at No. 174 on its list of greatest albums of all time in 2020, right in between works by Kendrick Lamar and Nirvana.
Cliff was supposed to choose the music for the soundtrack. Henzell told Index he did it hurriedly himself after Cliff declined as time was running out.
“I ran the film back and forth in my mind and wrote down every song that I thought would fit,” Henzell said. “So, I ended up doing the whole mix that weekend.”
As Cliff broadened his music through soul, rock and other genres after “The Harder They Come,” artists like Marley became universally known for the music Cliff brought to the masses. “He didn’t pursue his ‘Harder They Come’ image,” Henzell told Index. “It was really Bob who picked up on that and carried it.”
Jonathan Abrams is a Times reporter who writes about the intersections of sports and culture and the changing cultural scenes in the South.
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