I found this Jamaican film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I had no idea of anything about it, but I recognised the name of the leading actor, the singer of the 1993 version of "I Can See Clearly Now", I was hoping it would be worthy of the book placement. Basically poor Jamaican man Ivanhoe 'Ivan' Martin (Jimmy Cliff) is searching for a job, after the death of his grandmother he leaves his rural home to live in Kingston with his impoverished mother, and there he meets Jose (Carl Bradshaw). Excited by urban life Ivan at first fails to find work, but he finally gets a job working for a record producer running errands, but the bicycle he is using belongs to someone else, they argue over this and Ivan ends up slashing his throat, as punishment for his crime he is whipped. Ivan sparks the interest of the record producer with a song he writes and performs, "The Harder They Come", he does not make much money from it, and the influence the producer has in the music industry means he is condemned to earn small income, Ivan dreams of stardom, but to make the money he wants he is given an opportunity by Jose to deal marijuana. Some time later Ivan has issues with the pay and the conditions of the job, Jose therefore informs the police about his actions, on one trip to deliver the drugs a policeman tries to stop him, in panic Ivan shoots the officer, then after a night with a woman in a hotel room he is surrounded by more police, and he shoots his way out, killing three officers in the process. Now on the run, Ivan shoots and wounds the woman he slept with, he then pursues and tries to shoot Jose, who manages to escape, the police catchup to Ivan when he returns the countryside, following another shootout and escape he hides out with a drug dealer friends, the police warn the dealers that pressure will remain on them unless they give Ivan up. Meanwhile "The Harder They Come" is re-released and rapidly becomes a hit because of his notoriety, with requests and replays on the radio stations, and with his newfound fame he gets himself photographed holding two guns in gangster poses, these are sent to the press, and he steals a flash car to drive around in. A drug dealer friend suggests to Ivan he should escape to Cuba, he attempts to board a speeding ship leaving port by swimming to it, but unable to grab the ladder on the side he heads back ashore and rests under the shade of trees, the next morning however police are aware he is close by, following a final shootout of policemen with rifles and Ivan with revolvers it ends abruptly with him shot several times and dropping to the ground, and a woman's torso gyrating to his song playing. Also starring Basil Keane as Preacher, Janet Bartley as Elsa, Winston Stona as Detective Ray Jones, Bobby Charlton as Hilton the record company manager, Ras Daniel Hartman as Pedro and Adrian Robinson as Newspaper editor. It is absolutely fair enough that Cliff became a huge star following this cult hit film, the documentary like capturing of the exotic and dark side of Kingston is interesting to watch, I agree that repetitive killing of police officers is perhaps silly, and the blaxploitation is obvious, but it is indeed the soundtrack that makes this film entertaining enough, with memorable songs by Cliff, including "You Can Get It If You Really Want", "Many Rivers to Cross" and of course the title song, it is advisable to have subtitles on because it has such strong Jamaican accents, not a bad crime drama. Worth watching!

I love this film, few people could pull off the role of ivan with the swagger and cool that Jimmy Cliff brings to the role. He oozes charisma despite the down and out nature of his character. The film has a real tangible feel to it, bringing to life monumental themes of poverty and desperation and inequality. I heard the soundtrack of this movie before seeing it, it is a superbly complimentary and toots and the scene of toots and the maytals in the studio is fantastic especially for lovers of reggae, this also adds credibility to the story and the era, at times the film feels more like a documentary. Beware it is at times hard to comprehend what the characters are saying but this too gives the film an authentic Jamaican feel.

Eminently watchable rags to well, rags story of the country boy coming to the big city to try to make his name as a singer and getting caught up in drugs, extortion and ultimately violence as his dreams end in a tragic shoot-out that's one part "Butch Cassidy" to one part "Bonnie & Clyde". Of course what makes this erstwhile hackneyed B-Movie Hollywood tale come alive is the transposition to Jamaica, the naturalistic direction and acting styles, and last but not least the superb reggae soundtrack with Cliff himself contributing many of the key songs. It's not too often in a movie of this type that the singer's "Hear my song" plea actually is in support of a terrific song ("Dreamgirls" mediocre soundtrack immediately comes to mind) but here when the record production team and session players praise up the title track, you know they're not kidding. The rest of his songs are great too, all attesting to some kind of human struggle, even the more languid "Sitting in Limbo" and of course the self - explanatory "You can get it if you really want". Yes the story gets a bit lost with characters of varying importance drifting in and out along the way but the sheer honest exuberance of the direction (hand - held camera shots to the fore) and obviously inexperienced acting troupe deliver a convincing movie experience. What a shame that Cliff's own star got eclipsed with the rise of Bob Marley - here he shows his considerable singing, song-writing and acting skills and as I say I'm sorry he failed to kick on in any of these fields after this triumph. By the way, it helps to have the sub-titles on if you're not au-fait with West Indian patois.

Back in the day it seemed that everybody had the soundtrack to this film but very few had seen it. As years went on, THTC begin to gain a cult status and became more readily available. It is probably one of the few movies with spoken English that is sub-titled. The patois which was created by the Rastafarians to replace Jamaican English (considered the language of slaves) is very difficult to understand, so the sub-titled version is recommended.The film stars the dynamic Jimmy Cliff as the "rude boy" Ivan who gets on the wrong side of a record producer who only wants to pay him a pittance for the song he has recorded. Things go from bad to worse and Ivan kills a cop, among others. Then the song becomes a hit and Ivan becomes a folk hero, running from the police. The ending is a little bit of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" as Ivan faces down his many pursuers for one last shoot out.This is not the Jamaica that we see in travel brochures but the real thing......poverty stricken and unlovely; however it has a terrible beauty of its own. Of course, the music is something you dream about, if you are a lover of reggae, ska and rocksteady. Nobody does it like Jimmy Cliff. He is simply phenomenal. Don't miss it!!!