Toussaint Smith, Staff Reporter
CLIFF
THE GLEANER has had its fingers on the pulse of the entertainment scene for decades. Naturally, our picture archives contain many a 1000-word story about those who have given us happy, memorable moments. In our series, 'From the Archives', we pluck a pic and take a peek into the past, speaking to the central figure about the moment and subsequent events. Today, we speak to Jimmy Cliff.
The story reads: 'The Harder They Come' Still A Star: Jimmy Cliff, in a scene from the movie The Harder They Come, which will open at the New Kingston Cinema on December 16 for a limited run. The film was recently named the Third Best Rock Film ever produced by the Los Angeles Times. It shared top billing with the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night and Bob Dylan's Don't Look Back. In the 12 years since it was produced, the movie has reached into movie houses around the globe. Along with Jimmy Cliff, the movie stars Carl Bradshaw, Winston Stona, Janet Bartley, Ras Daniel Hartman and Basil Keane. It was written, directed and produced by Perry Henzell and the script written in collaboration with Trevor Rhone.
Sunday Gleaner: Tell me about the movie The Harder They Come.
Jimmy Cliff: That came about in a time in my career when I wanted a change, I was doing alright as a recording artiste and... this movie came at that time when I really wanted the change, so I wasn't reluctant to go into it. I just wanted to do it so if, yuh nuh, if they really wanted me to act because originally the director wanted me to write the music for it, then he wanted me to act in it so I just accepted and went straight for that... Well, the rest of it is history.
I did it and it wasn't that easy going through everything; we had lots of difficulty shooting it, and even getting it marketed, but once it came out it ahh ... changed my life and it changed the perspective of what people have of Jamaicans in terms of not just the musical culture, but also the spiritual culture. Because people came here to understand about Rasta because Rasta was apart of the movie, so that Harder They Come was a significant milestone in the
history of Jamaica.
SG: What was one of your favourite on-the-set moments?
JC: On the set? Ahh... one of my favourite on set moments was ahh (laughs), you know there was a scene where, after I got shot, my character got shot, and then Daniel Hartman the Rastafarian he said "everybody still talking about you" and my character said "maybe they forget about me because they don't see me again". And he said to me "no, they still waiting for you to come back". And him say "maybe you can even get a boat to take you to Cuba". And I say "Yeah. Revolutionary to r." So that is one of the moments that I like, I like that scene."
SG: Did you ever considere taking up acting as a full-time career?
JC: Yes! It is what I really love before singing; I love acting before singing, but of course it's easier to write a song and get it recorded than to get a script and then get a movie made; it's very difficult. I mean, I considered it, but it never happened as smooth as that.
Even if I took up the acting as a full-time thing, I still would like to do even a one music on the side with it, yuh nuh, because for me that is the thing that makes the two powerful, the music and the acting together, that's what brings out the real power of Jimmy Cliff.
SG: What did it feel like being the star of the third Best Rock Film ever, sharing the charts with The Beatles and Bob Dylan?
JC: Well, I didn't think of it in that context, but now that you mention it I feel gratified that I'm a part of something and I played a prominent role in this thing that has become a part of music and film history. Yuh nuh, I feel very gratified that I'm in that.
SG: What do you think are some of your most notable achievements?
JC: One is I touch people in a positive way and I've also touched people in a negative way (laughs), because my music has touched a lot of people. My music is about upliftment and I know I've uplifted a lot of people, right across, regardless of colour, creed, race. I've touched a lot of people and they have come back to me and said that. For me that's a great achievement and my journey to South Africa in 1980.
That concert is to me a great achievement even though, the ironic thing about it was like I got a lot of backlash from going to South Africa (then under apartheid rule), but for me it was one of my great achievements and being one of... the... probably I'm one of the first - I don't think probably, I am the first artiste to really go to Africa and perform all over Africa.
I mean, after that a lot of people started going, so I open that door again. South America is another place I've gone. I've opened a lot of doors. To me that is also an achievement that I'm proud of it. The Harder They Come, showing our first movie, actor on the screen, that I think is another great achievement.
SG: What are you views of the reggae industry now?
JC: I'm glad you called it industry! Because that is what it has become; it has become an industry. And I think it is healthy in terms of the creativity; I give it a balance, I think.
It's quite balanced out in terms of saying you have the positive side of the music and you have the negative side of the music, because recently we were having a lot of artistes just singing about girls and cars and superstars, not paying too much attention to morals and culture, and those type of things and it's changing now.
It's coming around again to people singing about morality and cultural things in life, while you still have the people who sing about girls and dance, so I think it is in a really healthy state now much more that it has ever been even in the 70s, because we have Black Americans who are embracing it now. We never use to have that, even when The Harder They Come came out, so I think it is in a healthy state."
SG: What can we expect form Jimmy Cliff in the future?
JC: I'm going more onto movies. I really like the movies and that's really what I want to do, so I have a few things going and once they become more concrete, maybe we can talk again.
