Review: ‘Harder They Fall’ updates the Western, with style
Associated PressThose three words — and that very emphatic punctuation — appear onscreen at the beginning of “The Harder They Fall,” setting a definitive tone for this stylish and bold new Western by Jeymes Samuel. Samuel, the British filmmaker-musician also known as The Bullitts, is a fan of old Westerns, but he introduces much that’s new — especially an eclectic soundtrack that bends genres, time periods and moods ; gorgeous visuals that sometimes resemble paintings; and a stellar cast of Black actors, telling a story sorely underrepresented in cinema. The cast is led by a terrific Jonathan Majors as Nat Love, an outlaw bent on avenging a terrible wrong he suffered in childhood, and the prestige pairing of Idris Elba as Rufus Buck, Love’s fearsome nemesis, and Regina King as his ally “Treacherous Trudy” Smith, a tough gangster holding her own in a male-dominated world. Love’s gang includes right-hand man Bill Pickett, the humorous, fast-talking and fast-drawing young Jim Beckwourth, and his ex, the woman he still loves, the beautiful Stagecoach Mary.
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