When you think of a Western movie, what is the first thing that comes to mind? I think of the Lone Ranger or John Wayne, a man of justice with sharpshooting in the Wild West, where anything goes. What movies don’t tell you is that many of these lawmen, cowboys, and outlaws in western America were African-American. “The Harder They Fall” creates a story from people like Nat Love, who lived during the late 1800s. It spotlights the Black people that lived and fought for their place in an unforgiving and wild land.
The film opens with a family sitting down to eat when they were rudely interrupted by an outlaw named Rufus Buck who murders the two parents and carves a cross in the forehead of their son. That son ends up being Nat Love, an outlaw who robs other outlaws. His gang steals $25,000 intended for someone else–intended for Rufus Buck. Love then hears that Buck is soon to get out of prison instead of serving the life sentence that he was supposed to fulfill, due to a pardon signed by a general. He sets out with his gang and a marshal to take his and his parents’ revenge and finish his quest to kill all those who crossed him. Love and his gang find Buck and his gang in the town owned by Love, without money and desperate to rebuild his empire. Love’s group faces setbacks with losing a member, Stagecoach Mary, as a hostage and being forced to repay the money by robbing a bank, something they had never done before. A showdown for the ages upturns the dusty streets and thins the herd. In the end, a secret is revealed, changing the purpose of revenge.
One of the best parts of this movie is the use of people who actually existed in the past. People like Cathay Williams, an African-American woman who enlisted in the United States Army during the Civil War, put their all into a country that has consistently forgotten them. I love that we are starting to remember the people that shaped the U.S., along with the Founding Fathers. It also helps that the movie has a beautiful backdrop and a killer soundtrack with names like Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Lauryn Hill, and Koffee.
“The Harder They Fall” is on Netflix right now to stream.
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