By Steve Crum
I know western movies. Believe me. The Harder They Fall is unlike any western ever produced. Yet, it is LIKE so many of the westerns. What a paradox. That is because this revisionist work takes so much from a slew of the genre’s memorable moments. To say The Harder They Fall is cliché is putting it kindly. It is upfront and in your face a parody of Sergio Leone oaters, particularly The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West.
And a virtually all black cast is featured.
Don’t get me wrong, this film is no comedy spoof. Outside of a couple of humorous touches, it is not even tongue in cheek clever. Blatant mirroring is more like it. THTF is big budget production that obviously spent a ton of money on gunshot squibs and digital graphics—buckets of blood splatter, an obvious take from 1969’s The Wild Bunch carnage.
Let’s consider the plot line before exploring more nuances. The Harder They Fall opens some time in the late 1800’s in an
undisclosed western town. The local preacher sits down for Sunday dinner with his wife and young boy. Bad guys invade his residence, killing the reverend and his wife in front of their traumatized son. Years pass, and the grown son, Nat Love (Jonathan Majors), is on a quest to hunt down and kill his family’s killer, gang leader Rufus Black (Idris Elba).
Enter REVENGE, a basic cowboy movie plot device. Remember Harmonica’s (Charles Bronson) vengeance in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) as he pursues Henry Fonda’s Frank for killing his father? Look for closeups of squinty eyes in THTF too.
As Act II progresses, the primary characters multiply to the point of confusion. Love, 
now an outlaw, teams with Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi) and Jim Beckwourth (RJ Cyler) in more robberies and ambushes. They stop by the saloon of Stagecoach Mary Fields (Zazie Beetz), Love’s ex-lover. And on and on it goes as more characters are introduced. The convoluted plot includes the elder Marshal Bass Reeves (the always good to see Delroy Lindo), who arrests Love. Add to that the town boss, Escoe (Deon Cole); Regina King’s Trudy Smith; Cherokee Bill (Lakeith Stanfield); Cuffee (Danielle Deadwyler); and Damon Wayans Jr. as Monroe Grimes.
It is a hefty cast of capable actors—and they are all portraying Old West, African American heroes, heroines and outlaws who actually existed. (However, they probably never crossed paths, having lived in different time periods and locations.) That alone makes the movie unique.
THTF rapidly turns into a faction vs faction, gang vs gang flick. To drive the point home, why not include “mother f” dialogue with references to “Crips and Bloods”? Why not add a character sporting gold teeth as in 1980s’ 
inner city gangster? At least Love chews on a cigarillo a la Clint Eastwood.
The shootouts, knifings, and beatings go on and on for 139 minutes…accompanied by a mixed music score of Hip-Hop, gospel choir, semi-classical majesty, and pop. Style half of it by way of copying Ennio Morricone, Sergio Leone’s favorite composer.
Stir in a big pinch of religion to the batter with Nat Love’s quest for revenge tempered by a crucifix that has been carved into his forehead.
A strange amalgam is The Harder They Fall.
The film’s creator—in nearly all aspects—is Jeymes Samuel. He wrote the story basis, co-wrote the screenplay, co-produced it, and directs. Egad, Samuel outdoes does Orson Welles by also composing the score—and what a bizarre combo of sounds he has created!
Camp or otherwise, The Harder They Fall is more so a Guinness Book inclusion than a significant western film.
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GRADE on an A-F Scale: C