''Rockers'' is a 1978 Jamaican film by

Theodoros Bafaloukos Theodoros Bafaloukos (May 18, 1946 – 2016) was a director, screenwriter and production designer from Greece known for his work in Jamaica and the U.S. He directed '' Rockers'', the 1970s era film about Jamaican music and culture. Bafaloukos was ...

. Several popular reggae artists star in the movie, including

Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace (born 22 August 1950) is a Jamaican drummer who worked for several years at Studio One, and has worked with numerous reggae artists including The Gladiators, Inner Circle,Hebdige, Dick (1987) ''Cut 'n' Mix: Culture, ...

Burning Spear Winston Rodney OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian and one of the most influential and long-standing roots ar ...

Gregory Isaacs Gregory Anthony Isaacs OD (15 July 1951 – 25 October 2010)Thompson, p. 127. was a Jamaican reggae musician. Milo Miles, writing in ''The New York Times'', described Isaacs as "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae".Miles, Milo (1992),RECORDI ...

Big Youth Manley Augustus Buchanan (born 19 April 1949, Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica),Thompson, Dave (2002) "Reggae & Caribbean Music", Backbeat Books, better known as Big Youth (sometimes called Jah Youth), is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his ...

Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dill ...

Robbie Shakespeare Robert Warren Dale Shakespeare (27 September 1953 – 8 December 2021) was a Jamaican bass guitarist and record producer, best known as half of the reggae rhythm section and production duo Sly and Robbie, with drummer Sly Dunbar. Regarded as ...

, and Jacob Miller.Campbell, Howard (2013)
Still Rocking at 35
, ''

Jamaica Observer ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica. The publication is owned by Butch Stewart, who chartered the paper in January 1993 as a competitor to Jamaica's oldest daily paper, ''The Gleaner''. Its founding editor i ...

'', 18 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013 Rockers was originally intended to be a documentary but blossomed into a full-length feature showing the reggae culture at its peak. With a budget of JA$500,000 (about $40,000), the film was completed in two months. The film features authentic culture, characters and mannerisms. The main rocker Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, for example, is shown living with his actual wife and kids and in his own home. The recording studios shown are the famous Harry J Studios where many

roots reggae Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the honoring of God, called Jah ...

artists recorded during the 1970s including

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

. The film includes Kiddus I's recording of "Graduation In Zion" at the studio, which he happened to be recording when Bafaloukos visited the studio. ''Rockers'' premiered at the 1978

San Francisco Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

and had a theatrical release in the US in 1980. Samples of the film's dialogue were used in the early 1990s jungle track, "Babylon" by Splash, "Terrorist Dub" by

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

n ragga-metal band Insolence, in the track "Zion Youth" from the 1995 album Second Light by

Dreadzone Dreadzone are a British electronic music group. They have released eight studio albums, two live albums, and two compilations. Career Dreadzone were formed in London, England in 1993 when ex- Big Audio Dynamite drummer Greg Roberts teamed up ...

and in 2012 in the song "Smoke" by

Inner Terrestrials Inner Terrestrials (also referred to as iT!) are a British punk band from South London, England. Originally formed by Jay Terrestrial and Fran Webber, their first gig was in February 1994. Their music is a mix of punk, dub, ska and a touch of f ...

. In 2018, Wallace, Kiddus I, and Big Youth came together to perform two shows in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, Brazil, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the film.

Plot

Horsemouth, a drummer living in a ghetto of Kingston plans to make some extra money selling and distributing records. He buys a motorcycle to carry them to the

sound systems In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

around the island. The film starts as a loose interpretation of Vittorio de Sica’s ''

The Bicycle Thief ''Bicycle Thieves'' ( it, Ladri di biciclette; sometimes known in the United States as ''The Bicycle Thief'') is a 1948 Italian neorealist drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It follows the story of a poor father searching in post-World War ...

'' and turns into a reggae interpretation of the Robin Hood myth.

Cast

as himself * Richard "Dirty Harry" Hall as himself * Gregory "Jah Tooth" Isaacs as himself * Jacob "Jakes" Miller as himself * Robert "Robbie" Shakespeare as himself * Frank Dowding as Kiddus I (himself) * Winston Rodney as

(himself) * Manley Buchanan as

(himself) * Lester Bullocks as

(himself) *

Jack Ruby Jack Leon Ruby (born Jacob Leon Rubenstein; April 25, 1911January 3, 1967) was an American nightclub owner and alleged associate of the Chicago Outfit who murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was accused of th ...

as himself * Peter Francis Honiball as Mr Honeyball (himself). Part of the film was shot at Honiball's home, called Hightide at Rosemount in the Parish of St James.

References

External links

* *

Pop Matters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fil ...

revie
link
*

Reggae Films Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

websit
link

{{Authority control 1978 films Jamaican comedy films 1978 comedy-drama films Reggae films Films set in Jamaica Stoner films Jamaican drama films 1970s English-language films

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links