This review is going to be a lot shorter than my others. The Harder They Fall, an ahistorical Western movie based on the names of various black gunslingers, is really not all that complicated. Nat Love, a gang leader who robs robbers, has spent his life trying to track down the man who murdered his parents, Rufus Black. He discovers Black has taken over a local town, so he heads off to go get revenge. That's all you need.
The biggest problem with The Harder They Fall is the talking. There is so, so much of it, peppering every page of the script. Someone was clearly scared about the run time, using dialogue to turn what could have been a tight 90 minute action movie into a plodding, boring, poorly paced two hours and twenty minutes. Every character - and there are a hell of a lot of characters in this movie - has to have a protracted badass speech or three, often in the midst of an action scene, and it ruins the rest of the film. I think back to the likes of ensemble movies like The Magnificent Seven, where James Coburn's character had only 11 lines in the entire movie, and how those all counted. In The Harder They Fall, we are subjected to constant verbal diarrhea. If it was hoped to be adding depth or nuance to the characters or script, then it ends up being utterly counterproductive.
The Harder They Fall is largely a film of style over substance. Lots of cool looking heroes pull off fancy trick shots and poses, showing a wild disregard for trivial concerns like getting into cover from oncoming gunfire. The gunfights look good, and there are some great actors in this film who are doing a far better job than the movie needs or deserves, but you won't really get to enjoy any of it because, again, your patience will have been thoroughly exhausted by the time you ever get to the finale. If you want a recommendation, simply enjoy the best bits of the movie via rewatching the trailers or action scenes on youtube.
If You're Gonna Shoot, Shoot. Don't Talk.
This review is going to be a lot shorter than my others. The Harder They Fall, an ahistorical Western movie based on the names of various black gunslingers, is really not all that complicated. Nat Love, a gang leader who robs robbers, has spent his life trying to track down the man who murdered his parents, Rufus Black. He discovers Black has taken over a local town, so he heads off to go get revenge. That's all you need.
The biggest problem with The Harder They Fall is the talking. There is so, so much of it, peppering every page of the script. Someone was clearly scared about the run time, using dialogue to turn what could have been a tight 90 minute action movie into a plodding, boring, poorly paced two hours and twenty minutes. Every character - and there are a hell of a lot of characters in this movie - has to have a protracted badass speech or three, often in the midst of an action scene, and it ruins the rest of the film. I think back to the likes of ensemble movies like The Magnificent Seven, where James Coburn's character had only 11 lines in the entire movie, and how those all counted. In The Harder They Fall, we are subjected to constant verbal diarrhea. If it was hoped to be adding depth or nuance to the characters or script, then it ends up being utterly counterproductive.
The Harder They Fall is largely a film of style over substance. Lots of cool looking heroes pull off fancy trick shots and poses, showing a wild disregard for trivial concerns like getting into cover from oncoming gunfire. The gunfights look good, and there are some great actors in this film who are doing a far better job than the movie needs or deserves, but you won't really get to enjoy any of it because, again, your patience will have been thoroughly exhausted by the time you ever get to the finale. If you want a recommendation, simply enjoy the best bits of the movie via rewatching the trailers or action scenes on youtube.