The Harder They Fall

 2021, d. Jeymes Samuel - netflix

I'm not that guy who questions "A Black western?" because of course there not only have been Black westerns but also recognizes there is a need for more Black westerns.  I am, however, that guys who doesn't know anything about the history of Black cowboys (and cowgirls), and just like it raised my awareness of the Tulsa massacre, it was the TV mini-series Watchmen that drew my attention to the existence of Bass Reeves, the first  Black *U.S. Marshal**.

If I was surprised that there were Black lawmen and Black outlaws in the old West, it's only because they are basically never discussed in pop culture while I was growing up.  From the top of my head I can think of only Possee, Wild Wild West as Black-led western films before the year 2000, which I know is not all of them but are the two most prominent, and that is a pretty poor track record.  (A quick search turns up about a dozen 70's-era westerns like Thomasine and Bushrod, Joshua, Duel at Diablo, Buck and the Preacher, and Audios Amigo, as well as a pair of 30's-era films Harlem on the Prarie and Two-Gun Man From Harlem... again a very small number against the proliferation of other westerns over the past 100+ years of American cinema).

The Harder They Fall is Jeymes Samuel's first major feature, and it's a bold, sit-up and pay-attention debut, not just with the superstar roster, but with vibrant visual style that enlivens both action and dramatic sequence, and a dedication to set and wardrobe detail that shows that he definitely learned from working with Baz Luhrmann.   To see Samuel in person, he's gregarious, energetic, and clearly passionate individual which all is on display in the film.  What he clearly wanted, and succeeded at creating, was a rousing, exciting, entertaining film where Black men, and even moreso Black women, are shown with exceptional agency in the Old West, but also without fully disengaging from the harsher realities, the tragedies and segregation (the film stars almost exclusively Black actors, with the exception of one sequence taking place in a white town, which is hilariously exemplified with the buildings, the wardrobes, and even the dirt on the ground all being stark, stark white.  It's a visually shocking and almost unwelcome intrusion into the film.)

The story opens in flashback with a shadowy stranger showing up at the Love residence and murdering both Nat Love's father and mother, and then scarring the boy by engraving a cross into his forehead.  20 years later, Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) has just finished hunting down the last man involved with his parents death and returns to his one true love, Mary Fields (Zazie Beetz), who now runs a chain of saloons.  As he attempts to rekindle their romance (his vengeance having gotten in the way), they are both alerted to the fact that Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), the main man responsible for Nat's parent's deaths, is being pardoned from his life sentence and set free. Add to that Nat Love's former possee members have just robbed and killed an affiliate possee of Rufus Buck, stealing $25,000 from them, and it looks like there's trouble afoot.  Further complicating the mix is Marshal Bass Reeves (Delroy Lindo) who strikes an uneasy partnership with Love to get Buck in spite of his pardon.

Buck, freed from prison (as a result of an amazing train heist sequence) by his gang, including Trudy Smith (Regina King) and Cherokee Bill (Lakeith Stanfield), returns to Redwood, the town he built, where he shames the sheriff (Deon Cole) publicly, it's as much a show of dominance as revenge for his old partner's betrayal).  Buck's vision for Redwood was as a haven for Black people, but at the same time he rules it with the authority of a mad king, murdering dissenters.  He needs the townspeople to give up all their cash, as the sherriff had basically sold the town out from under them, but there's still a huge shortfall, made worse by Love's associates having robbed his of the 25K.

Things escalate, with intrigue and parlays, but eventually it has to come down to the wild west showdown, and it is quite the doozy of a gunfight.  Through it all, Samuel never loses focus on why this is all coming to a head the way it has, and the final encounter takes a nice step back from all the violence to reassert the soul of the film.

It's a very pulpy, entertaining ride, and while I am not the right person to be doing a deep dive into Black culture criticism, I couldn't help but feel that Samuel still wanted to say something beyond just rousing entertainment, particularly about Black on Black crime, and how some people will prey on their own because there's almost easier profit in it, and also a lot less heat.  This is exemplified by the discourse leading into Love's visit to the white town (and following), with notes that there will likely be a literal army in pursuit of him, whereas Black gangs robbing Black banks get a Black marshal going after them.  It once again, indirectly, hits home the disparity and disadvantage that Black people have and have always had in America, the weighty institutional forces that are against them. 

The cast of this film is ridiculous.  Just top tier talent, backed-up with rising stars like RJ Cyler and Danielle Deadwyler.  Deadwyler plays Cuffee, who is possibly the first trans character I've seen in a western, born a woman but wanting to live as a man. Cyler's Jim Beckwourth, full of bravado around his quick-draw skills, perhaps even fancies Cuffee even before he learns of their true sex.  I wish the film had pushed this just a little more, but it's clear there was a mutual admiration at the very least.  Majors, Beetz, King, Elba, Stanfield, with supporting plays from Lindo, Cole and Damon Wayans Jr., this is just exploding with awesomeness (not to mention attractiveness).  Samuel's previous major directing credit was the short 50-minute gunslinger They Die By Dawn (2013), which features just as stacked a cast list as this one (Rosario Dawson, Giancarlo Esposito, Michael K Williams, Kelly Hu, Bokeem Woodbine and more). Clearly Samuel's energy and enthusiasm draws people into working with him, and hopefully is enough to get more projects from him sooner rather than later.

The characters in this film, by and large, all existed in history, though their exploits and relationships to each other are completely fictionalized here for storytelling purposes.  The point Samuel is trying to make is these are legendary names, and they deserve to be in the same breath as Jesse James, Wild Bill and the rest.  Bringing them together into a star-studded epic action-western is certainly a great way to do that.  Hopefully others pick up the ball and run with it.

I loved the trailer when I first saw it, and I was expecting to be blown away by the film.  Although I wasn't quite blown away, I like this film a lot.  In fact the more I think about it the better it gets, and the more desire I have to revisit it.  This one's going to resonate for some time to come. 

 (*deputy **west of the Mississippi)