Jimmy Cliff is the reggae-singing outlaw star of The Harder They Come, so naturally his music is featured in the soundtrack…. [The title song] deserves to be a hit. In fact, once the movie starts getting around … I don't see how anyone can stop it. The same goes for "You Can Get It If You Really Want,"… which Cliff does to perfection.

Ed Ward, "Records: 'The Harder They Come'," in Creem (© copyright 1973 by Creem Magazine, Inc.), Vol. 5, No. 1, June, 1973, p. 63.