IT’S A HOT day in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as seven cowboys ride ominously into town. Their confidence is intimidat ing. Onlookers are fearful: they know better than to mess with these people. Such a scene is commonplace in many a Western. Except this time, there’s a crucial difference: all the riders are Black.

“We’re in his tent, and then he plays the playback,” recalls Idris Elba — who stars as villain Rufus Buck in The Harder They Fall — of the memorable moment on set. “Then he plays a Dennis Brown tune off his phone. I’m listening while watching the visuals and he’s nodding his head, feeling it. I was like, ‘This is unique, my guy!’”

The “he” of this joyous playback session is Jeymes Samuel, the film’s director and co-writer. As a kid growing up on the Mozart Estate in West London, Samuel quickly fell in love with cowboy films, even as he grew increasingly troubled by what he didn’t see reflected back at him on screen. “If you look at Westerns, just historically, because they were predominantly made by Caucasian men, they had to show everyone who’s not Caucasian and male as beneath them,” Samuel says. “So women are less than human, and Asians are always doing laundry.” Jonathan Majors, who plays the film’s heroic lead Nat Love, agrees. “In the Southern drama, they gave us maids and janitors and Driving Miss Daisy,” he says. “But in the Westerns, we were invisible.”

One of the few exceptions to the rule was 1993’s Posse. Directed by Mario Van Peebles and narrated by Black luminary Woody Strode, the film focuses on a squad of African-American soldiers who are betrayed by their colonel. Having multiple Black cowboys on screen in the same movie was a big statement in the 1990s. But with significant roles for white characters, and racism being a key driver of the story, it was also a product of its time. “Billy Zane was the baddie,” says Samuel. “This isn’t about that. Everyone in this movie is Black. There is no white villain.”

The Harder They Fall is indeed a different proposition. As well as a cast of Black A-listers, in Shawn Carter — aka Jay-Z — it’s backed by an all-star Black producer. And the shots are called by a hungry Black director eager to make his mark. Together, they take everything we know and love about the Old West — from the colourful characters, to the shootouts, to vengeance — and remix it, all the while exuding serious swagger. We’ve never seen a Western like this before. “The Harder They Fall is the movie that shouldn’t exist,” Samuel says. “It’s a conversation in a barber shop. It’s a conversation between friends. This time around, the filmmaker is the actual barber.” Saddle up: Samuel and co are here to give us a fresh cut.