‘The Harder They Come’ (1972) Review
'The Harder They Come' (1972) Review: A Classic Sitting In Limbo When you hear about the greatest films of all time, you will inevitably come across a few typical names. Taxi Driver, The Godfather, Chinatown to name a few. Films that examine their setting with a critical eye, and give a new perspective to the norm. They challenge audiences. Make us question the society we live and take part in. They show us the world as it is, and leave it to us to consider what is right and what isn’t. These movies justify cinema, and one of the most challenging of them all is the indisputable classic 1972 film, ‘The Harder They Come’. My first instinct is to call ‘The Harder They Come’ timeless. Yet as accurate a description as that might be, it feels misleading. ‘The Harder They Come’ was made on a budget of US$200,000 (The Godfather was released in the same year for US$6 Million), and was released almost 50 years ago. There are scenes where the film is so dark the characters are indistinguishable from the environment, and one particular fight scene looks like it was filmed as quickly as possible sparing as much film as they could. Yet despite these aesthetic qualms, ‘The Harder They Come’ is chock full of picturesque cinematography that are not only beautiful, but inform the telling of its complex and compelling story. That is the story of Ivanhoe Martin, a young…