Jimmy Cliff as Ivan in The Harder They Come. - FILE
THE HARDER They Come has been described as a 'cult classic' so many times it has become cliché. It has now been immortalised on stage, another tribute to a warts-and-all movie that showed how the other half lived in Jamaica.
The musical version of director Perry Henzell's powerful 1972 drama about a country boy who comes to town looking to break into the music business, opened at the Theatre Royal in Stratford, England two weeks ago.
With a pre-dominant Jamaican cast, the show is scheduled to end its run in the summer.
Henzell actually started work on The Harder They Come in 1970, but production dragged because of inadequate funding. When it was released, it caused a stir locally and internationally, making its lead actor Jimmy Cliff a superstar.
The Harder They Come was co-written by Henzell and Trevor Rhone.
Henzell, who had written many radio and television jingles, based Cliff's character Ivan on Ivanhoe 'Rhygin' Martin, a gunman who terrorised sections of west Kingston during the early 1940s.
"I had grown tired of making commercials, I wanted to make a move and Rhygin was a great basis for a film," Henzell told The Gleaner in 1995.
CLASS PREJUDICE, POVERTY
With the emerging reggae beat as the perfect backdrop, The Harder They Come's mix of class prejudice, poverty and payola was not only a hit locally, but internationally as well.
It played in small theatres in the United States and Europe and won Best Young Cinema at the 1972 Venice Film Festival. The soundtrack, which featured songs by Cliff, The Melodians and Toots and The Maytals, is rated as one of the best ever.
Henzell, now 70, spends much of his time in St. Elizabeth where his son operates the popular Jakes Hotels and Villas. Rhone, who produced the film version of Smile Orange in 1976, lives in Kingston.
Several cast members of The Harder They Come are dead. They include Janet Barclay, who played Cliff's girlfriend Elsa; Ras Daniel Hartman (Pedro, Cliff's sidekick); Basil Keane (Preacher) and Bob Charlton who played Hilton, the crooked record producer.
- Howard Campbell
