The past ten years have introduced many new western classics that stand alongside the all-time greats, such as The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Django Unchained, The Revenant, and Hostiles. Netflix’s latest big-budget western The Harder They Fall debuted Wednesday, and the exciting action thriller is already establishing itself as a future generational favorite.
Directed and co-written by British hip hop artist Jeymes Samuel, The Harder They Fall has many hallmarks of the classical westerns of the ‘40s and ‘50s. However, it's told from a perspective that wasn’t spotlighted during that time, and features an almost entirely black ensemble. While Samuel incorporates modern elements, including stylized cross cutting and untraditional soundtrack choices, the shootouts, train robberies, and sweeping landscapes are entirely old-fashioned.
The Harder They Fall follows the outlaw hero Nat Love (Jonathan Majors), who fights for honorable bounties across the west with his partners Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi) and Jim Beckwourth (RJ Cyler). As his gang steals from a group of rivals, Love travels to a mysterious saloon to meet his former romantic partner Mary Fields (Zazie Beets). While relaxing, he’s approached by the local U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves (Delroy Lindo), who takes him hostage for his crimes. However, it's revealed that Reeves is actually looking for an alliance; an even more dangerous figure than Love is on the loose.
Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) is the most fearsome killer in the west. He’s held captive on a train, but escapes thanks to a violent heist led by his allies Trudy Smith (Regina King) and Cherokee Bill (Lakeith Stanfield). The Buck gang aims to take their home town of Redwood captive and lead an independent society. Any noble intentions are shattered pretty early, as Buck terrorizes the local residents into paying him and silences any that disagree with a bullet. Love, Reeves, Mary, Bill, Jim and Mary’s accomplice Cuffee (Danielle Deadwyler) team up to bring the murderers to justice.
The Harder They Fall opens with an intriguing title card that reads "While the events of this story are fictional... These. People. Existed." The characters are based on real historical figures, and although they may not have all interacted with each other in real life, Samuel took inspiration from actual historical documents.
The heroism of Nat Love was inspired by a real Tennessee cowboy, who chronicled his adventures in his autobiography Life and Adventures of Nat Love, Better Known in the Cattle Country as 'Deadwood Dick,' by Himself. Similarly, Elba’s performance as Rufus Buck was modeled after the real Buck gang leader who was hanged in 1896 for crimes of murder and rape.
However, not all of the characters in The Harder They Fall are depicted with the same historical accuracy. The real Mary Fields, known as “Stagecoach Mary,” wasn’t an outlaw, but she played an important role in history nonetheless and was the first African American woman employed by the U.S. Postal Service. Trudy Smith wasn’t a known associate of the Buck gang, but the real Smith was a feared killer in her own right, and earned the nickname “Treacherous Trudy.”
Some of the figures in The Harder They Fall are renowned within history. Cherokee Bill was a known outlaw, and unique among historical icons for his mixed-race African and Cherokee heritage. Bass Reeves was the first black Marshal to serve in the western territories, and made over 3,000 arrests amidst his lengthy career. Cuffee was modeled after Cathay Williams, who did disguise herself as a man, as The Harder They Fall depicts. However, the real Williams secretly enlisted in the U.S. Army under the pseudonym “Will Cathay.” She was the first black woman to serve, but wasn't known for her interactions with gunslingers.
Alternately, the real Bill Pickett and Jim Beckwourth weren’t gunslingers at all. As chronicled in his 1856 autobiography The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth: Mountaineer, Scout and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians, Beckwourth escaped slavery in Virginia and sold furs as a mountain man. Pickett was a successful rodeo cowboy and stage performer; he was even included in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1989.
So, is The Harder They Fall based on a true story? Not exactly. But it's not entirely fictional, either.