The Harder They Fall hit Netflix on November 3, 2021. This film marked the feature directorial debut of the British singer-songwriter, who is also known as The Bullitts. Jeymes Samuel grew up as a fan of the Westerns, but he always knew that the genre lacked certain things. Cowboys were not just white males, they were as diverse as any other field today.

In The Harder They Fall, he is here to give those things to us, i.e., Representation. It is his attempt at putting a spotlight on those groups of people who went unnoticed.

There has always been a trend to show minority groups as acquiescent, and that is something that always bothered him. “Traditionally in Hollywood westerns, Black people, Chinese people, other people of color, and women were always shown as subservient,” said Samuel.

It was tough to bring ‘The Harder They Fall’ to the world

Samuel talked about how difficult it was to convince people about this movie. He remembers people telling him that he can never make this movie and that he should try making something different and small. While in a chat with The Playlist, the director also talked about how a guy offered him $5 million to make some other movie.

Despite that offer, Samuel said, “‘Thank you for that offer of $5 mill, but this is the movie I’m making first. I’m going to make it.’ And, ‘Why you say this? Why, why?’ ‘Because I wrote it. I’m making ‘The Harder They Fall.” At no point did I doubt if I was making it.”

Eventually, Netflix gave him the freedom he needed.

The main purpose of the movie

Jeymes is a big fan of the Westerns. While expressing his love for it, he said, “I loved Westerns so much growing up that when they invented Google I began to research all these great characters that we never got to learn about through movies.”

But biggest and the only problem Jeymes ever had with the Western movies was representation; it showed women, black people, and other people of color as subservient, which definitely was not the truth.

Netflix’s The Harder They Fall is an attempt at correcting the narrative and telling the story of the black cowboys. It is a step to bring the spotlight back to the real-life figures. Produced by the legendary rapper Jay-Z, who has also worked on the soundtrack of this movie along with Jeymes himself; this movie is studded with an amazing star cast, and it is ready to sweep us right off our feet.

Jeymes has a great vision for this film. While talking about it he said, “After this movie, no one will ever say there were no people of color in the Old West. So we had to remember as we were making this movie: it would be fun to make but also a true historical statement. Black people, Asian people, all people of color, and women deserve a film like this that is done on an epic scale.”

Audiences can stream The Harder They Fall on Netflix from November 3, 2021.