America's self-conception has been shaped by many myths and historical inaccuracies. By the end of the 20th Century, many of these myths had been shaped and warped by the Hollywood Western. Even revisionist Westerns (Little Big Man, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) may have played against the clichés, but still played with those clichés. So, criticisms that "The Harder They Fall" isn't "historically accurate" or that its reggae infused soundtrack is "anachronistic" miss the point entirely. (Did BJ Thomas record "Raindrops Keep Falling My Head" in 1902? Did I hear an electric guitar in the theme to "Bonanza"? Who cares?) So if somebody wants to make a Western with an all-black main cast and reggae music, it's probably the familiar Hollywood "feel" they pine for, not any concept of historical accuracy. This movie is about as historically accurate as most of the thousands of Westerns that went before; meaning it isn't. "The historic accuracy" some people yearn for in Western movies is adherence to the 1950's, not the 1880's.
What the movie does is take some real historical figures from the past (there were Black cowboys, bad guys and lawmen in the old West), and put them in a totally fictional story that adheres to a bunch of Hollywood themes, tropes, and clichés - showdowns and gunfights on main street, hyperviolence ala Sam Peckinpah (Tarantino didn't invent this kids, he's also constantly tipping his hat to the past)- and have a blast with them. There is an obvious sense of humor displayed by director Jeymes Samuel when we see the "White Town". If he wants to make a Western with an all-black main cast after decades of prior exclusion, underrepresentation and misrepresentation of Black and Native Americans in the genre when nobody seemed to mind, who are we to cry foul?
Taken on its own terms the movie is terrific. A stellar cast, beautifully shot, action packed. Sure, some of the shootout at the end is silly, with predictable deaths and heroes surviving exposure in the street that should have killed them 10x over. Just classic Hollywood stuff. Some of the characters are thinly drawn stereotypes (cocky gunslingers), but some are given deeper backstories of childhood and domestic abuse and survival.
In the end, it was a good story well told through great production design, dynamic direction, and terrific actors. What more d'ya want?
What the movie does is take some real historical figures from the past (there were Black cowboys, bad guys and lawmen in the old West), and put them in a totally fictional story that adheres to a bunch of Hollywood themes, tropes, and clichés - showdowns and gunfights on main street, hyperviolence ala Sam Peckinpah (Tarantino didn't invent this kids, he's also constantly tipping his hat to the past)- and have a blast with them. There is an obvious sense of humor displayed by director Jeymes Samuel when we see the "White Town". If he wants to make a Western with an all-black main cast after decades of prior exclusion, underrepresentation and misrepresentation of Black and Native Americans in the genre when nobody seemed to mind, who are we to cry foul?
Taken on its own terms the movie is terrific. A stellar cast, beautifully shot, action packed. Sure, some of the shootout at the end is silly, with predictable deaths and heroes surviving exposure in the street that should have killed them 10x over. Just classic Hollywood stuff. Some of the characters are thinly drawn stereotypes (cocky gunslingers), but some are given deeper backstories of childhood and domestic abuse and survival.
In the end, it was a good story well told through great production design, dynamic direction, and terrific actors. What more d'ya want?