''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,

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 a ...

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),RECORD ...

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, Robbie Shakespeare, and Jacob Miller.Campbell, Howard (2013)
Still Rocking at 35
, '' Jamaica Observer'', 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 J ...

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 ...

. The film includes

Kiddus I Kiddus I (born Frank Dowding Jr, December 1944)Katz, David (2000) "People Funny Boy - The Genius of Lee 'Scratch' Perry", Payback Press, is a reggae singer and musician, best known for his appearance in the film '' Rockers''. Biography Dowding ...

'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 Californian ragga-metal band Insolence, in the track "Zion Youth" from the 1995 album

Second Light ''Second Light'' (subtitled ''An Original Dreadzone Sound Adventure'') is the second album by the British band Dreadzone. It was released on Virgin Records in May 1995 as their first album on the label and their follow-up to '' 360°'' (1993). The ...

by Dreadzone and in 2012 in the song "Smoke" by Inner Terrestrials. In 2018, Wallace, Kiddus I, and Big Youth came together to perform two shows in São Paulo, 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'' and turns into a reggae interpretation of the Robin Hood myth.

Cast

* Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace 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

(himself) * Winston Rodney as

(himself) * Manley Buchanan as

(himself) * Lester Bullocks as Dillinger (himself) * Jack Ruby 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 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