Is The Harder They Fall based on a true story?
By Renee Hansen
The Netflix new-school Western The Harder They Fall has been creating quite the buzz. This new take on the Old West has piqued viewers’ interest, and the star-studded cast could only help the movie’s success.
As with many Old West-themed features, there is some truth to the story. The Harder They Fall is based on real characters from the 19th century Old West.
The Old West is full of outrageous people who did extraordinary things, and many of these heroes have become legends. It was a time where there were no rules to follow, and people made their own way in the world.
Director, writer, and producer Jeymes Samuel has created a movie worthy of the Old West with a soundtrack hip enough to keep it modern.
Is The Harder They Fall based on a true story?
The characters may be real, but the storyline is fiction, and historians will be saddened to know the characters aren’t 100% authentic.
That doesn’t take away from the film by any means, but it is interesting to know the stories behind these characters, who aren’t typical of what previous shows and movies have shown us the Old West looks like.
- Jonathan Majors as Nat Love, a former slave turned cowboy who is one of the most famous heroes of the Old West.
- Idris Elba as Rufus Buck, the leader of the Buck Gang, a group of men of African American and/or American Indian descent terrorized the Creek Nation territory.
- Zazie Beetz as Stagecoach Mary, who was the first African American female mail carrier in the US.
- Regina King as Trudy Smith, and there isn’t much known about Treacherous Trudy, but her real name was Gertrude Smith.
- Delroy Lindo as Bass Reeves, a former slave, and Reeves became one of the first African American Deputy US Marshalls west of the Mississippi. He worked in the Arkansas and Oklahoma area and was one of the greatest peace officers in the American western frontier.
- Lakeith Stanfield as Cherokee Bill; Crawford Goldsby would take the name Cherokee Bill and become one of the most ruthless men in the Indian territory in the late 1800s. He rode with the Cook gang and killed at least eight men.
- RJ Cyler as Jim Beckwourth
- Edi Gathegi as Bill Pickett, an African American cowboy who was the originator of steer wrestling. He and his brothers started their own business Pickett Brothers Bronco Busters and Rough Riders advertised “catching and taming wild cattle a specialty.” He was also a rodeo performer, and he appeared in many motion pictures and is credited as the first black cowboy star.
That is just a small sample of the information on these historical legends. Be sure to look them up and read more about them.
The Harder They Fall is now available to stream on Netflix.