NEW YORK, NY — Jeymes Samuel, director of “The Harder They Fall”, and the British musician known by the Bullits, is a huge fan of Westerns. You haven’t seen him perform “My Rifle, My Pony and Me,” from John Ford’s film “Rio Bravo.”
Samuel grins big when Dean Martin appears in a movie. It doesn’t matter what movie it is, he will find a way.
Samuel raises his head and lightly croons “Coming home sweetheart darling/ Only my rifle, my pony, and me.”
“The Harder they Fall” is currently in theaters. It will debut Wednesday on Netflix. You’d expect gunfights and train robberies, saloons and showdowns. Samuel’s film, however, does away with many of the old limitations and reinvents it for today. “The Harder They Falls” is a vibrant and energetic Black Western that moves to its own hip-hop beat.
Samuel explains that many people believe they don’t like Westerns in a recent interview with Zoom from Los Angles. “I always tell people that you can! They’re just not right. The narrow portrayal of white men is not what you like. It could be presented in a different manner, but I am sure that you would enjoy it.
Samuel, who composed the soundtrack (along with many big-name guests including Jay-Z), directs his first feature film. It’s the realization of a long-held Western dream by an artist whose recording name is a nod to the 1968 Steve McQueen movie “Bullitt”, which has always merged movies and music.
Samuel says, “I’ve always stated that I see music and hear film.”
Samuel may love the Western as much as he does, but some aspects of the genre have always bothered him. Black people were rarely seen on the Western’s screen for much of its history. And when they did, it was usually as subordinate background characters. This is not only inequitable but also inaccurate.
According to historians, as many as 1 in 4 cowboys was Black. (The term “cowboy” was originally used to describe a Black ranch worker. Samuel points out that there was decades of the Old West even after slavery ended in 1865. Bass Reeves was the first Black deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River, and the inspiration for the iconic Lone Ranger character. Hollywood has whitewashed America’s frontier for decades in a genre that served more than one purpose.
Samuel opens “The Harder They Fall” by introducing a title card that notes it’s a fiction story, but is based on historical figures: “These. People. Samuel didn’t waste time and wanted to get straight to the point.
He says, “When I tell the story of The Harder They Fall’, I’ve experienced decades of frustration.” “We won’t waste any more time. “Hi ho, Silver!” No more! The horse shined more in the Western than Black people.
“The Harder They Falls” features Jonathan Majors as Nat Love, and Idris Elba playing Rufus Buck. They are rival gunslingers who are brought together in a revenge story. LaKeith Stanfield plays Cherokee Bill, Zazie Bets plays Stagecoach Mary, and Regina King portrays “Treacherous Trudy Smith.” Although it’s an impressive cast for a feature film, Samuel, brother to the musician Seal has also shot shorts including a Western called “They Die By Dawn”.
Tendo Nagenda (VP of original film at Netflix), first read the script. Elba was the only attachment, but all song references were added throughout. Nagenda met Samuel shortly thereafter while visiting another film set here in London.
It’s difficult to forget the first meeting with him. Nagenda, a charismatic Samuel says that it felt like I knew him all my life. “The window through which you were able to experience Westerns was very narrow. His script expanded the aperture. It felt like looking at a familiar canvas through a new perspective. It’s not anti-movie. It’s a very inclusive, celebratory movie that feels fresh because of the way it’s told.”
Nagenda sees more potential for “The Harder They Fall”, which the streamer gave $90 million to. Netflix has been focusing on its own franchise growth in recent years. Samuel’s diverse cast of outlaws could be an opportunity for Netflix to expand.
Nagenda says, “Our standard was that you would be excited to see a movie about any single character and to follow them into their story, either prequel, sequel, or the same time.” “You love them enough to want to learn more about them.”
One thing that makes “The Harder They Fall” different is its non-racial focus. White characters are only briefly featured and are mainly used for comic relief. Samuel’s Western world, which is almost entirely Black, is more like a Blaxploitation Western. Fred Williamson’s 1972 film “The Legend of Black Charley” with Fred Williamson.
Black Westerns have a rich, but less well-known tradition. However, the majority of the iconography in this genre is male-dominated and white. Samuel is proud to have women prominent and powerful characters in his film.
“We love Unforgiven,” says Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman. Also, Richard Harris and Saul Rubinek. Samuel says, “That’s a wicked film.” “That’s an incredible, amazing movie. Every woman is a whore.
Sergio Leone’s film “For a Few Dollars More”, and Sergio Corbucci’s “The Great Silence” are also favorites of Samuel. He also loves John Ford’s movie “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” because it shows him what is lacking in Westerns. Two years before Ford made “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” a film starring Woody Strode, an imposing African American actor (1960’s “Sergeant Rutledge”)), Strode only appears briefly in the movie. In one scene, Strode is turned away from a pub.
“He couldn’t even get a drink at a bar. Samuel says Woody Strode was the most beautiful, godly Black man and couldn’t get a drink at the bar where John Wayne was. “Those are the things I find most disgusting about those movies.
Samuels, then 13, recalled finding another history as he perused library books on the Old West. He was amazed at how different it was from what he had previously seen.
He said, “This film is almost like a calling for me.”
