Movie of the Week: THE HARDER THEY COME

Perry Henzell's masterpiece THE HARDER THEY COME begins as a curio from a country not known for cinema — Jamaica — soon becomes an irie artifact of its era, and then pulls it all together with a hat trick: a classic gangster story about Making It against the odds, a genuine and angry cry for equality, and a classic soundtrack. Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff stars as Ivanhoe Martin, a bumpkin who ventures to the big city to become a reggae singer but, in response to the gangster ways of the industry, turns to crime and becomes the land's most wanted man. “You can get it if you really want,” he sings, and indeed he does. He also sings, “The harder they come, the harder they fall,” and that figures in too.

THE HARDER THEY COME is so much more than the subculture film it appears to be, despite what on paper reads as a trite skeleton of a genre story. It's a taste of Jamaica that's contrary to the resorts built for Yankees, a tour of a different sort that leads us into the ganja trade and beyond, all the while aware of the thrills of its genre. Yet even as the film glorifies Ivan's violence, it also emphasizes how he simply craves the attention it brings, and almost (just almost) justifies his actions by way of a struggling everyman angered by the inequity of The System, taken for a ride by the lures of fame and fortune, and mad as hell and not — well, you know the rest. Reggae is the punk rock of the Caribbean, and Henzell's film safety-pins its Fuck Yous to its sleeve, loud and proud.

Yet the movie remains aware that it is a representative not only of its people but of a movement. And that's where the music comes in. Cliff's lilt makes up a fair portion of what you hear, but appearances by classic island artists like The Maytals, Desmond Dekker, and The Melodians make the soundtrack album a required sampler plate of reggae that isn't by Bob Marley.

This Friday, the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles is showing THE HARDER THEY COME as the second feature in a bill headlined by NO PLACE LIKE HOME, Henzell's almost-lost follow-up that features equally stellar music and features the likes of Grace Jones and P.J. Soles.

WHAT: NO PLACE LIKE & THE HARDER THEY COME

WHEN: Friday, March 19, 7:30 pm

WHERE: American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Also of interest in Los Angeles this week:

• Through March 21, the Egyptian also has the RED RIDING TRILOGY and two Werner Herzog double features with the filmmaker in attendance
• March 19-25, the Downtown Independent is showing SXSW doc favorite 45365, and March 21-22 is the 2010 International Surrealist Film Festival
• Through April 10, LACMA has a series of films by Jean Renoir
• Saturday at 7:30pm, Cinefamily has Max Ophuls' THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE…