Dickie Jobson and Bob Marley knew each other very well because the families were friends and both grew up together in Saint Ann Parish. Dickie's sister was also Bob Marley's lawyer. Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, often visited Jamaica and was a friend of Dickie Jobson. So it was obvious that Dickie became the manager of Bob Marley & the Wailers and in 1972 a contract was signed with Chris Blackwell and Island Records.
In 1973 Dickie met the Countryman in Jamaica. The Countryman lived with his family on a secluded and only accessible by boat part of the island. He was a simple man who fed on fishing, dressed in a pair of bathing shorts and lived his ideology of modesty, charity, closeness to nature and lack of conflict. Dick told his friend Chris Blackwell about it and they planned to make a film about this unique Countryman.
After Bob Marley's death in 1981, the film project was directed by Dickie Jobson. The film was dedicated to Bob Marley, who also contributed most of the film music. The script was written by Dickie together with Michael Thomas, a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine. The music feature film Countryman appeared in cinemas in 1982 and is now one of the cult classics of Jamaican films.
