Off Their Rockers – 40 Years Later For Reggae Movie.
Off Their Rockers – 40 Years Later – Reggae Movie Expands Film Festival Programming By Stephen Weir To mark the 40th anniversary release of the seminal Jamaica reggae film Rocker, the Caribbean Tales Film Festival (CTFF) held a special showing last week at the downtown Royal Cinema. The screening of the remastered feature film is precursor for the CTFF 15-day movie fete which begins on September 5th. In 1978 when the Reggae musical movement was just getting noticed, the musicians of Trench Town were still scrambling for money, bookings and recording contracts. Survival meant playing as many gigs as possible, promoting records from the backs of their motorcycles and living off the generosity of their wives, lovers and families. Rockers, a bargain basement movie that was made for just $4,000 US ($500,000 JA), took the Caribbean and ultimately North America and the UK by storm when released in 1978. A reworking of the legend of Robin Hood, Rocker has good Ra...