Rockers

Basically devoid of anything as utterly redundant as a plot, storyline or a script (bah!) we dive into everyday life of rastas, their music and challenges they face. Instead of setting out a story we muse the town hustling with drumming legend Horsemouth (almost everyone here plays themselves and several scenes even go as far as to break the fourth wall), as he borrows money, buy a bike, starts distributing CDs, gets robbed, recaptures his bike, gets beaten and finally enacts sweet Robin Hood-esque vengeance on the big boys responsible.

Accompanying by a crew of rasta's of worldwide fame, like Jacob Miller, Gregory Isaacs, Robbie Shakespeare and so forth he has Jah on his side and enough laid back love attitude to capture the hearts and minds of unsuspecting viewers. At times utterly hilarious, else just fascinating, even if half the time is spent on deciphering Jamaican patois (which is actually vastly enjoyable in itself) into something slightly recognisable. Features a classic scene, where Richard 'Dirty Harry' Hall occupies a DJ booth and then resists Babilon with true rastafari class.

Techincally astute with some beautiful shots, as well as some classy laid-back artistry. Essential watching as a world cinema cinematographic gem. Especially if you want to end up all gushy-gooey feel-good after viewing, sight?

In this movie we have the thinnest thread of a plot. A young man makes a living as a drummer while he uses a newly-purchased motorbike to sell records to shops around Kingston.

Then his bike is stolen. And he steals it back. When the mafia types ("mafia" being the reggae patois for any gangster) catch up to his and beat him up he swears to get justice. And, with a little help from his friends, he does.

The big attraction here is the music, not the plot. The soundtrack includes Peter Tosh, Robbie Shakespeare, Burning Spear, Gregory Isaacs, Jacob Miler & Inner Circle, Bunny Wailer, Kiddus I and Leroy Wallace (who plays the protagonist). The DVD has seven extra audio tracks which are accompanied by stills from the production.

The DVD also has a nice essay on Rastafarian culture, as well as a glossary of the rasta patois.

A lot of fun. Buy it. Play it. The play it again.

You don't have to be a reggae fan to enjoy this film (it's not a concert film); the scene compositions are unobtrusively beautiful and thoughtful, and sucked me in. This might seem unsurprising since the director has an art photography background, but he achieves in his directorial debut what most directors only dream about. The plot, acting and music combine to make a very fun, laid back movie and a pleasure to watch. It's a shame it's the director's only film.

I saw this movie when it premiered in 1977. Its as good today as it was then. If you're a reggae fan then this film will have you grinning the entire time.

Its great to see all my favorite reggae artists. People like Robbie Shakespeare, Dirty Harry Hall, Gregory Issacs, Jacob Miller and Jack Ruby in a robin hood type film. The acting isn't great, but its still charming. The music is wonderful and the performance clips are a lot of fun.

I suggest seeing the 25th anniversary edition of this film. A lot of cool things in it!

REMOVE YA! --Dirty Harry

One of my all time favorites! I've been looking for this one for a long long time. Having very strong documentary features, this film keeps surprising the viewer every minute. It is (at least for the first half an hour or so) as if someone just shouldered a camera and followed Horsemouth around Kingston doing his daily hustlin' business. Most of the the main characters are real people, playing themselves, esp. reggae artists and producers, and most of the locations are real as well. Later the plot turns into kind of a Robin Hood scenario, when the ghetto people strike back against the upper class mafia guys. What I like most about this movie is its many layers. It's like a deep insight into Jamaican society of the late 70's, the golden era of roots reggae, in all its many aspects like class struggle, Rastafari, family and religious issues. Several times, like in the opening scene or when Horsey gets punched by Sunshine's father, characters directly address the viewer personally by facing the camera which I've never seen used like this anywhere else. Technically it's remarkably well done (apart from some pretty dark underexposed moments), for instance they manage to have many songs of the soundtrack coming from actual sources in the picture.

In one word: Great stuff, not only if you're into old school dub and reggae. If you have it, treasure it! If you don't, get it and then treasure it.