“The Harder They Fall” is no ordinary Western. Though it’s the story of an outlaw (played by Jonathan Majors) seeking vengeance on his enemy (Idris Elba), the film’s primarily Black cast, contemporary soundtrack and modernized take on the genre make it a totally new kind of revenge story.
Jeymes Samuel is directing “The Harder They Fall” for Netflix, and he has assembled an impressive bunch of stars, led by Majors and Elba. The rest of the cast includes Zazie Beetz, LaKeith Stanfield, Regina King, Delroy Lindo, Damon Wayans Jr., Deon Cole, Edi Gathegi, R.J. Cyler and Danielle Deadwyler.
The film stars Majors as outlaw Nat Love, who discovers that his enemy Rufus Buck (Elba) is being released from prison. Nat rounds up his gang to track Rufus down and seek revenge — but Rufus has his own fearsome crew in his corner.
In the first trailer for “The Harder They Fall,” there’s a stylish sequence in which King has just broken Elba out of his captivity on a moving train. He’s got so much swagger, though, that he’s able to casually stroll through the train cars as a violent firefight breaks out all around him.
“You do know how to make a grand entrance,” Stanfield, who plays one of Elba’s gang members, says in the clip.
Samuel wrote the screenplay for “The Harder They Fall” with Boaz Yakin, and he also produced the film with Shawn Carter, James Lassiter and Lawrence Bender. Samuel has packed the film with a red-hot soundtrack that’s more 1976 than 1876, and the trailer promises a lot of stylized action, humor, blood and romance.
Netflix hasn’t set a release date for “The Harder They Fall,” but the movie will open this fall on the streamer and in select theaters.
Check out the first trailer above or go here.
