The Harder They Come Details

Jamaica's first indigenous feature became something of a cult hit and made a huge star of Jimmy Cliff, whose own experiences, to a degree, inform the plot of this crime drama. After a hard-hitting opening, however — in which keenly observed documentary detail captures both the exotic and ugly sides of Kingston — this reggae reworking of the old rags-to-riches story disappointingly descends into banal blaxploitation. The struggle to make it in the music business is convincingly depicted, but director Perry Henzell loses his way when Cliff resorts to cop killing to boost his record sales. Whatever the film's shortcomings, though, the music is superb.

Lively, tough drama of drugs and corruption in which the action is matched by the vigour of the music, which did much to give reggae an international appeal.