It was Ivan and Jose
Carl Bradshaw shares bond with Jimmy Cliff from The Harder They Come set
What would Jimmy Cliff’s character of Ivan in The Harder They Come be without Jose, the smooth-talking hustler played by Carl Bradshaw?
Their scenes together are some of the most memorable in that 1972 movie, directed by Perry Henzell.
In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Bradshaw recalled those times with Jimmy Cliff, who died on November 24 at age 81.
He said because both of them were “naturals”, the banter between Ivan and Jose was timeless.
“We were like twins, and every time I did a scene with Jimmy my role [in the movie] expanded. It came down to my personality and how I expressed myself,” Bradshaw explained.
His role in The Harder They Come was meant to be a bit part. But his trade-offs with the film’s lead so impressed Henzell and fellow screenplay writer Trevor Rhone, that Jose became one of the major characters.
In 1969, when he first met Jimmy Cliff, Bradshaw was a physical education teacher at Excelsior High School, his alma mater. His sole acting experience was as Ringo in Smile Orange, Rhone’s hit play, which showed at The Barn Theatre in St Andrew.
Bradshaw’s first day on set was in the Standpipe community of St Andrew, where he is from. There, he met Henzell, theatre personality Yvonne Brewster, as well as Dickie Jobson and Robert Russell (later of Reggae Sumfest fame) who were part of The Harder They Come’s production team.
When the movie took off internationally, Bradshaw was not surprised that Jimmy Cliff, as Ivan, became a superstar.
“Jimmy did what he had to do…he’s a natural. He wasn’t acting, he was jus’ playing a role, jus’ like me,” he said.
While Jimmy Cliff appeared in only two more movies after The Harder They Come, Bradshaw became a ubiquitous figure in movies made in Jamaica. They include Countryman, Club Paradise, Kla$h, and Dancehall Queen.
Bradshaw shared that with Jimmy Cliff living abroad and constantly touring, it had been “some time” since they last spoke with each other.
Still, their roles in The Harder They Come made them pop culture immortals.
“Wi took di Jamaican experience to di world. Yuh can’t pay fi di exposure wi got through dat movie,” he said.
— Howard Campbell
