The Harder They Fall
Promotional release poster
Directed by	Jeymes Samuel
Screenplay by	Jeymes Samuel Boaz Yakin
Story by	Jeymes Samuel
Produced by	Lawrence Bender Shawn Corey Carter James Lassiter Jeymes Samuel
Starring	Jonathan Majors Idris Elba Zazie Beetz Regina King Delroy Lindo Lakeith Stanfield RJ Cyler Danielle Deadwyler Edi Gathegi Deon Cole
Cinematography	Mihai Mălaimare Jr.
Edited by	Tom Eagles
Music by	Jeymes Samuel
Production company	Overbrook Entertainment
Distributed by	Netflix
Release dates	October 6, 2021 (2021-10-06) (BFI) October 22, 2021 (2021-10-22) (United States)
Running time	139 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$8,292[1]

The Harder They Fall is a 2021 AmericanWestern film directed byJeymes Samuel (in hisfeature directorial debut), who co-wrote the screenplay withBoaz Yakin. The film starsJonathan Majors,Idris Elba,Zazie Beetz,Regina King,Delroy Lindo,Lakeith Stanfield,RJ Cyler,Danielle Deadwyler,Edi Gathegi, andDeon Cole. It is one of few Westerns whose principal cast members are all Black. Its characters are based on realcowboys, lawmen, and outlaws of the nineteenth-century American West.

The Harder They Fall premiered at theBFI London Film Festival on October 6, 2021.^[2] It received alimited release on October 22, 2021, prior to streaming onNetflix on November 3.

Eleven-year-oldNat Love is eating dinner with his parents whenRufus Buck and his associate Cortez arrive. Nat's father begs Buck to spare his wife and son and asks Buck for forgiveness, but Buck shoots and kills both of Nat's parents and then carves across into his forehead.

Twenty years later, Love finds and kills Cortez. Meanwhile, his partners,sharpshooterBill Pickett andquick drawJim Beckwourth, ambush the Crimson Hood gang and steal their haul from a recent bank robbery. The lone survivor tells them the $25,000 they have stolen belongs to Buck. Love travels to meet his former loverMary Fields, who runs a chain of saloons. Pickett brings news of the heist to Love.

Buck's gang, led by Trudy Smith andCherokee Bill, forcefully free Buck from a train leaving fromYuma Territorial Prison. They reveal Buck has beenpardoned, and they have been paid to kill the corruptU.S. Army soldiers guarding the prison car. After slaughtering the soldiers, Buck and his gang arrive in their formerstronghold of Redwood City, now run by Buck's associate,Sheriff Wiley Escoe. Learning that Escoe has used the position to profit at the expense of the town, Buck brutally pistol whips him and orders him to leave town. Buck gathers the townspeople and after killing a naysayer, demands that they raise $50,000 to save Redwood, threatening to kill and burn the property of any who resist.

U.S. MarshalBass Reeves arrests Love after a standoff in a saloon. However, Reeves reveals to Love that Buck has been released, and he offers him a chance for revenge. Love's gang, accompanied by Fields and her friend and enforcer,Cuffee, arrive and insist on joining. They encounter Escoe, who tells them Buck has returned to Redwood. Fields volunteers to scout Redwood under the cover of offering to buy Smith's saloon. Love proposes marriage to Fields, but she turns him down.

When Fields arrives in Redwood, Smith takes her prisoner and beats her. Love's gang arrives, and Love joins Fields in captivity to save her life. Smith has Love beaten, and he in turn asks Buck to release Fields. Buck demands Love return the money he stole plus $10,000 as 'interest', requiring him to rob a bank in awhite town. Love and Cuffee rob the bank without killing anyone and escape. However, the group recognizes that Buck is unlikely to release Fields willingly, so they devise a plan to rig a decoy wagon withdynamite.

They enter Redwood and the decoy wagon is destroyed, killing some of Buck's gang. Love prepares to hand over the money, but is interrupted by Cherokee Bill preparing to shoot him in the back. Beckwourth intervenes, challenging Bill to a quick draw showdown. Bill shoots and kills Beckwourth before he can finish counting down, causing a gunfight to erupt. Love, Reeves, Pickett, and Cuffee kill most of Buck's gang, and the money is destroyed in another explosion. Escoe infiltrates Buck's house but is killed by Buck, while Pickett and Love are wounded.

Fields is freed by Cuffee and pursues Smith, who she defeats in a hand-to-hand fight. Pickett is shot in the back by Bill, who is subsequently killed by Cuffee in a quick draw confrontation. Love finds Buck, who is unwilling to defend himself. Buck reveals that they are half-brothers, and that their father was once an abusive outlaw who killed his first wife (Buck's mother) when she tried to protect her son. After leaving Buck, their father eventually repented and married another woman and had Nat. He further indicates that driving Love to outlawry was his true act of revenge against their father. Love reluctantly kills Buck and closes his eyes out of respect.

Love and his companions bury Pickett and Beckwourth, alongside another grave marked "Nat Love" (implied to be the resting place of Rufus Buck), as Reeves states that the law will now consider Nat to be "dead." Cuffee joins Reeves as a deputy. Cuffee and Reeves ride off in one direction and Love and Fields in another. A woman holding a bowler hat looks at them from a distance.

The film's originalworking title wasThe Notorious Nine.^[6][7] The film was announced in July 2019, whenJonathan Majors was cast to star in it. MusicianJeymes Samuel co-wrote and directed the film.^[8]Idris Elba would join in November, andJay-Z, who would produce the film, was announced to be writing original music for the film.^[9] By September 2020,Zazie Beetz,Lakeith Stanfield,Delroy Lindo andRegina King would be among new cast members added to the film.^[10]

Filming had been scheduled to begin in March 2020 inSanta Fe, New Mexico, but was delayed as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[11][12]Cynthia Erivo,Wesley Snipes andSterling K. Brown, who were initially cast, had to exit due to the delays caused by the pandemic.^[13] Filming commenced in September 2020,^[14][15] but was paused on October 15 after a background actor tested positive forCOVID-19.^[16]

The film had its world premiere at theBFI London Film Festival on October 6, 2021.^[17][18] It also screened at theMontclair Film Festival on October 22, 2021.^[19] It received alimited release on October 22, 2021, prior to streaming onNetflix on November 3.^[20][21]

An originalsoundtrack and afilm score composed by Jeymes Samuel, were released on October 29, 2021 and January 14, 2022, respectively.

Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, 88% of 181 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "It isn't as bold and fearless as its characters, butThe Harder They Fall fills its well-worn template with style, energy, and a fantastic cast."^[22] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[23]

FilmmakerBaz Luhrmann praised Jeymes Samuel's direction, saying "He has taken the legacy of the American cowboy, a quarter of whom historically were Black, and flipped it into a grand entertainment, so that his point is made with broad appeal. Samuel has collected the fantastical stories of icons like Stagecoach Mary and Rufus Buck, who may never have crossed paths, and translated their spirit through an original, heightened language."^[24]

• The Harder They Fall atIMDb
• Official screenplay

• 2021 films
• 2021 action drama films
• 2021 directorial debut films
• 2021 Western (genre) films
• 2020s American films
• 2020s English-language films
• American action drama films
• American Western (genre) films
• English-language action drama films
• Netflix original films
• Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Films produced by Lawrence Bender
• Films produced by Jay-Z
• Films set in the American frontier
• Films shot in New Mexico
• Films with screenplays by Boaz Yakin
• Overbrook Entertainment films
• English-language Western (genre) films
• African-American Western (genre) films

• Accuracy disputes from March 2022
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use American English from October 2021
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Use mdy dates from November 2021
• Template film date with 2 release dates