What’s It About
When outlaw Nat Love discovers that his enemy Rufus Buck is being released from prison he rounds up his gang to track Rufus down and seek revenge. Those riding with him in this assured, righteously new school Western include his former love Stagecoach Mary, his right and left-hand men hot-tempered Bill Pickett, and fast drawing Jim Beckwourth and a surprising adversary-turned-ally. Rufus Buck has his own fearsome crew, including “Treacherous” Trudy Smith and Cherokee Bill, and they are not a group that knows how to lose.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
I’m not a western fan, but seeing a mainly Black cast in a well-acted film was great. From the gruesome start to the satisfying end, there’s not a lot to complain about. Even the soundtrack was on point. The Harder They Fall is a fictional 2-hour revenge story about a real outlaw gang, presumably in the 1895 Arkansas-Oklahoma area. The style of this movie is a solid mixture of western atmosphere with a modern swagger with a more likely face-to-face outcome. With outlaw Nat Love on a mission to kill all responsible for his torment, he prematurely thinks he’s done before later discovering the one main outlaw responsible, Rufus Black, will be released from prison. From there, each lead outlaw, Love and Buck, assemble gangs to assist in their mission. The film is two hours long, but every scene, character, and word spoken was entertaining and relatable. Love’s path of revenge was filled with so much excitement, his charisma alone could have carried this movie. The same could be said for nearly every character. Rufus Black was a cold, straight-to-the-point, business-minded outlaw looking to regain his empire. The rest were paired up with their counterpart – The fastest draws dueled it out, both women battled, and so on. As entertaining as The Harder They Fall is, I would be surprised if they didn’t make a sequel.
OUR RATING – A LOVE vs. BUCK 9