Soul Jazz Records presents THE HARDER THEY COME rare film screening Fri 8 Mar 2019 7.30pm at Regent Street Cinema, London

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Soul Jazz Records presents this rare screening of the seminal The Harder They Come (1972)

Perry Henzell’s classic 1972 movie The Harder They Come, starring the singer Jimmy Cliff, is the classic reggae movie of all time. Cliff plays Ivan Martin, an aspiring young singer turned real life gangster. Martin comes to Kingston down from the countryside to seek his fame – the opening shot featuring a bus weaving its way through the Jamaican hills sets the scene perfectly. Martin wants to be a singer and after auditioning for a big music producer, he sells his song for just $20. Realising he has been cheated Dixon turns to the ganga trade when he realises he can make more money and become more famous than in the music business.

The film follows his downward demise from a young innocent man to the ultimate ‘bad boy’ anti-hero, on the run from drug dealers and the police, as Dixon emulates tries to emulate his Spaghetti-western cinema hero Clint Eastwood as the ‘wild west’ comes to the Caribbean.

The success of the film owes as much to the stunning groovy soundtrack – aside from Cliff’s seminal hit ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want It’, we also get classic tunes from Toots and The Maytals – who also appear in the movie. Also in the film there are guest appearances from Prince Buster, record producers Leslie Kong and Joe Gibbs, Bim and Bam, Carl Bradshaw and many more!

The Harder They Come is a revolutionary and ground-breaking film about reggae music and the underbelly of Jamaican life. A 100% essential and classic film!

Soul Jazz Records DJs will be playing music before and after the film and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records) will introduce the movie.