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Odds Against Tomorrow [VHS]

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Director Robert Wise is probably most identified with his two Oscar winning musicals, West Side Story and The Sound of Music. Wise's Odds Against Tomorrow, a 1959 film produced at the end of the noir cycle should have earned him his first Oscar, but that year Ben Hur's eleven Academy Awards left little in the wake of cinematic honors. Odds Against Tomorrow may have been slighted by the Academy and the box office, but it unassumingly remains as one of the first films to address racism towards blacks in American society. Wise's casting of African American Harry Belafonte as Johnny Ingram and Robert Ryan as the bigot Earl Slater revealed the racial tensions that marked the social undercurrent of the 1950's. Odds Against Tomorrow may have been an emblematic precursor to the racial violence that exploded into the consciousness of mainstream America during the 1960's. The film's plot is structured around a planned bank hiest involving a retired police detective (Ed Begley), a gambling, jazz musician (Belafonte) and a psychotic loner (Ryan). The three protagonists are drawn together by the lure of money; each thinking that a big score will erase the haunting failures of their past. Unlike other noir films in which lust, greed, or deception caused a downward spiral for the protagonist, our trio's well devised plan unravels from within. Earl's seething malevolence and resentment towards Johnny causes the caper to disintegrate. James Coburn deservedly won an Oscar for his role as an alcoholic, abusive father in Affliction; Ryan's portrayal of an emotionally unstable, violent, racist is equally noteworthy. Noir critics cite the Richard Widmark characterizations of Tommy Udo and Alec Stiles as the most devious, psychotic criminals to shock film audiences; but it is Ryan armed only with a cold stare and a few callous words who could really bring burning hatred to a violent boil. In Odds Against Tomorrow, Ryan's scenes in the tavern, elevator, and gas station, are but a few glimpses into the mind of an unstable, dangerous man. Shelly Winters is cast as the insecure loner who desperately smothers Earl with love that is not returned. Gloria Grahame appears as the strange apartment neighbor who inexplicably is drawn to the abusive Earl. Director Wise craftfully places characters in scenes that drip with realism. The mob boss, the homosexual henchman, the bartender, the black elevator operator, and Jonny's estranged wife create a multi-dimensional atmosphere that does not distract from the central flow of events. Wise's camera work is exceptional as he allows viewers quick images of hallways, city streets, and concrete highrises. The opening shot of a fire hydrant on a desolate street corner which is suddenly invaded by wind swept newspaper is chilling. Wise is also not adverse to draw his camera away from city settings where noir scenery could easily be captured. Instead he mixes urban concrete and smokey club interiors with panned shots of open highways and cold Novemember landscapes dotted with leafless trees. Wise also contrasts the concepts of day and night into the picture's climax. Not constrained within the limits of shadows, darkness, and night, which characterize most noir films, Wise utilizes the impending nightfall as a scenic metaphor. Odds Against Tomorrow is one of the greatest noir pictures ever made. It may have been the last exemplar of screen noir in American film making.

"Odds Against Tomorrow" was recommended to me by Netflix, based on some of the other films I rented recently. I had never even heard of the film before but am glad that I saw it.

Dave Burke (Ed Begley, "12 Angry Men"), a disgraced former cop now living in a dingy one-bedroom apartment, asks Earle Slater (Robert Ryan, "The Professionals"), a bigoted white Southerner recently moved to New York, to meet him. Earle is anxious to get some money of his own; he doesn't want to depend on his girlfriend (Shelly Winters) for financial support. Dave's plan is to rob a bank in Melton, a small town in upstate New York. He assures Earle that the plan is foolproof, like snatching candy from a baby, and will net each of them at least $50,000. (The film was made in 1958.) Earle doesn't want to have anything to do with it. Dave then meets with the other member of the group, Johnny (Harry Belafonte), a singer with a small jazz group. After hearing the plan, Johnny also passes. But events in the lives of Earle and Johnny conspire against them, forcing them to take part. When they meet, racial conflicts arise threatening the job and their lives.

Directed by Robert Wise ("The Day The Earth Stood Still", "The Sound of Music"), "Odds Against Tomorrow" is not really the crime drama it is billed as, which is a surprise and benefits the film greatly. Almost two thirds of the film is about the lives of the two central characters, Earle and Johnny. Because so much time is devoted to them, we really get a sense of who they are, we get to know them, and they become real.

The film was produced by Harbel Productions, a production company owned by Harry Belafonte. It is easy to see why he was so interested in the project. Produced in the late 50s, "Tomorrow" uses the story of a bank robbery as a vehicle to tell the tale of two men and their racial conflict. This seems a more effective way of getting the message across; gradually introducing it, creating characters, letting their conflict seep into the storyline. So often, films with `morals' or `messages' make these all encompassing, beating the viewer over the head. Think back to your school days. If a teacher assigned a book like "To Kill A Mockingbird" to you, it probably felt like you had to struggle through every word. If you discovered it on your own, you probably realized what an outstanding piece of literature it is. The same is true of film, perhaps even more so. If we enjoy the film, the story, the setting, are interested in the characters, we are probably more likely to retain any messages or morals the film might be trying to convey.

Earle is the first person we meet and he immediately uses a racial slur. This is shocking and unexpected, more so because of the delivery and the circumstances, robbing the scene of artificial theatricality. Ryan's portrayal of Earle is very interesting; on the one hand, he is a deeply bigoted man, on the other; he is in a very dysfunctional relationship. The dysfunctional relationship with his girlfriend, Lorry (Shelly Winters) balances out the occasional outbursts his character displays.

After we meet Earle and Lorry, we witness how their relationship works. She is desperate to love him, but recognizes that he is also flawed. She wants him to have the independence a job and an income of his own would grant him. But since he doesn't, she isn't above asking him to pick up her dress at the dry cleaners. She is working a job and he isn't. Why shouldn't he help out with the errands? There is also a next door neighbor (Gloria Graham), a lonely woman who flirts incessantly with Earle.

Johnny (Belafonte) is also created with a vividness we often don't see in films. A member of a jazz combo, there is almost a feeling that if he didn't have all of the extraneous influences on his life he might be a famous singer. (Gee, that's a stretch.) But Belafonte brings a quiet earnestness to the role which helps the character become three dimensional. Johnny is divorced, but still very much in love with his wife, and still very involved in her life due to their daughter. He spends as much time with his daughter as possible, taking her to parks, merry go rounds, the like. He loves his ex-wife, but is a little bothered by her attempts to become assimilated with the mostly white PTA of their daughter's school. Their relationship is difficult, but it is evident that each still holds feelings for the other.

As Johnny's life becomes influenced by elements at the nightclub, everything becomes increasingly unsettled; he is an alcoholic, using liquor to quell his problems, he is a gambler, always hoping for the next horse to win big, to settle his loses. But his bookie becomes anxious and this ends up working to Johnny's disadvantage.

After we spend a significant amount of time with each of the characters, we can see the noose tightening around each of their necks, forcing them to take part in Dave's plan.

When they eventually make the journey to Melton, the film becomes a more traditional heist film. This part also works well because Wise takes great pains to make the setting and place very realistic. We have all seen small towns like Melton and know of the large central bank, where all of the tellers know all of the customers. Dave learns of a kink in the system which they intend to take full advantage of.

Robert Wise directed some of the most popular films of our time, yet people aren't aware of him as much as they are aware of other film directors. I think the key to this is that Wise directed a wide range of films, covering many genres and other directors became famous for concentrating in a particular area. Wise has directed science fiction ("The Day The Earth Stood Still"), musicals ("West Side Story", "The Sound of Music"), horror ("The Haunting", a film and book which both still give me chills), drama ("Executive Suite") and of course, crime dramas. Did you know that he started out as a sound editor working on "Top Hat" and "The Gay Divorcee", two of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers best films? Then he moved on to film editing, working on "Citizen Kane" and "The Magnificent Ambersons" with Orson Welles. A pretty impressive pedigree. It seems a shame that a film director who worked in a variety of genres should be remembered less well because of this. More film directors would benefit from working on a series of different films. Wise is a director worth remembering, a director who made a series of very impressive, very memorable films.

"Odds Against Tomorrow" is a forgotten gem. Check it out.

Excellent, hardbitten crime drama brilliantly directed by Robert Wise about three men planning a bank robbery. Ex-cop Burke (Ed Begley) recruits bitter, aging racist Earl Slater (Robert Ryan) and urban jazz muscian/singer Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte) for the big heist. The money will change and better all of their lives for different reasons. Ingram especially, as he's indebted to a brutal gangster with his gambling debts. Burke is hopelessly enthusiastic but Slater and Ingram are skeptical and don't trust each other because of Slater's blatant racism towards Ingram. As the tension of the planning of the robbery mounts, so does the antagonism between the two men. That such ignorance should exist between people who have the same goal is intelligently played out with a realistic script. Belafonte, Ryan and Begley give convincing performances as do Shelley Winters, Gloria Grahame and Kim Hamilton as the women in Slater's and Ingram's lives. Haunting b&w photography expresses the bleak and depressing world of the men and the individual anxieties experienced by each. A smoky jazz club, stark city streets, cramped apartments, the stares of strangers---all contribute to the claustrophobic atmosphere of the film. The tense, moody jazz score underlies the tense feeling that something is going to go horribly wrong. When it does, the brewing hatred between Slater and Ingram finally and (literally) explodes. Don't miss this exciting film if you like good, gritty adult noir crime dramas. The DVD is a good print and you can't beat the price.

Not quite the last film noir--that honor would probably go to either or both of Blast of Silence (1961, Allan Baron) or Underground USA (Samuel Fuller, also 1961)--this Robert Wise-directed 1959 movie fuses racial issues into its crime story and pulls it off really well. Robert Ryan and Harry Belafonte go head to head in a heist that's planned by old retiree Ed Begley in one of his better roles; he gives just the right juice to his portrait of a bitter cop who's out to even the score.

Ryan is, as usual, terrific in his role. What's interesting about him is that in real life, he was the exact antithesis of the roles he often played, which were nasty brutal men full of hatred, cynicism, and the urge to kill. Ryan was actually a leftist, one of the first organizers of the Ban the Bomb movement in the 60s out in California. Knowing that, it's absolutely fascinating to see him portray a vicious racist in this film who, as well, gets it on with his sleazy neighbor played by none other than Gloria Grahame, sleaze queen of film noir.

Belafonte is a revelation here. This and his role in Robert Altman's Kansas City, decades later, will probably be seen as his best. Here, dressed in shades and turtleneck, he epitomizes cool, but is in deep s**t, owing a chunk of change in gambling debts. He's got every reason to join up with Begley for the heist of a bank in upstate New York, a so-called easy score.

Heists in film noir never go off as planned and this is no exception. While some of the elements here are standard noir fare (old embittered cop, heist that goes wrong), the addition of the theme of racism, as well as the brilliant acting, sets this apart from a bunch of other similar films. Odds Against Tomorrow can be perceived as a transitional film in the film noir canon, seamlessly bridging the gap from pure noir to social drama, a staple of 50s and 60s film. In that it does a great job.

Director Robert Wise, interestingly, started off his career working with Val Lewton in the great horror series typified by such films as I Walked with a Zombie and Cat People. Wise directed Curse of the Cat People and Body Snatcher in this series, then graduated to Westerns (Blood on the Moon) and film noir (Born to Kill, Odds Against Tomorrow). This last film was a transitional point; he then moved on to big budget productions like The Haunting, West Side Story, and Sound of Music. Odds Against Tomorrow is definitely some of his best work; this is a tightly plotted, crisply executed film whose actors get the whole picture and do a great job.

Great piece of film noir and at the current price, a real steal. Excellent addition to your film noir DVD collection.

Three desperate men--a racist Southerner (Robert Ryan), a gambling nightclub singer (Harry Belafonte), and a disgraced ex-cop (Ed Begley)--plot to pull off a bank robbery in a small town. In the tradition of classic film noir, luck turns against them and they wind up being in way over their heads. Director Robert Wise uses his black and white photography to great advantage. The film is fascinating as it shows us the pressures that work on the initially reluctant Ryan and Belafonte to force them into cooperation on the heist. Unfortunately, this otherwise nearly flawless film becomes too heavy-handed with its anti-racist theme in its final moments. Still, it's well worth watching.

"Odds Against Tomorrow" is based on the novel by William P. McGivern and was adapted for the screen by Abraham Polonsky, who was blacklisted at the time, so he wrote under novelist John O. Killens' name. The film is sometimes cited as the last film noir of the classic era. Moving into the 1960s, it's a crime film with a social agenda. In contrast to film noir, the most striking visual aspect of "Odds Against Tomorrow" is that it is white. Joseph Brun's cinematography often includes large areas of white or near-white, which I found unusual for black-and-white cinema and quite beautiful at times. The cinematography also tends to open spaces and wide lenses, avoiding the claustrophobia associated with film noir.

During a cold, windy winter in New York City, ex-cop Dave Burke (Ed Begley) has plotted the heist of a bank in the town of Melton, but he needs 2 men to help him pull it off. He turns to an ex-con named Earle Slater (Robert Ryan) who, like Dave, is frustrated by being penniless so late in life. For the other man, he wants jazz singer and gambler Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte) who is up to his eyeballs in debt to a bookie. Earle has never stolen anything in his life, and he at first refuses to work with Johnny because he's black. Johnny won't agree to the job until his bookie threatens him. Eventually one pathetic criminal mastermind and his two reluctant accomplices -who hate each other- set out to rob a bank.

"Odds Against Tomorrow" is a classic story of fools doing foolish things with predictable results. The film draws attention to the issue of racial bigotry by making Earle an unabashedly racist Southern farm boy, while Johnny is a suave, stylish, middle class man whose gambling habit compels him to deal with unsavory characters. But that is not the film's overriding theme. It's a character drama with three notable performances. Robert Ryan is a more 3-dimensional bigot here than he was in 1947's "Crossfire". Earle isn't a bad man, but he's an angry, egotistical hick. Robert Ryan had the extraordinary ability to evoke absolute sympathy or total hatred from his audience. Ed Begley makes his pitiful nice-guy crook sympathetic. Harry Belafonte sings (once), and Johnny is driven to desperation by his own flaws. "Odds Against Tomorrow" is a visually interesting film and a picture of doom and gloom among the desperate and criminal, which had become rare at the movies by 1959. No bonus features on the MGM DVD (2003). Subtitles are available in English, Spanish, and French.

Odds Against Tomorrow is arguably the final entry in the "film noir" genre, filmed in exquisite shades of gray and black that underscore its truly dark tale of bigotry and class alienation.
Ryan scores again in his corrosive portrait of a loser from the South strapped with Dust Bowl angst, able abetted by director Robert Wise. Wise, lest we forget, directed Ryan ten years earlier in The Set-up, another classic entry that is now compared with Raging Bull as the best film about boxing.
Ryan allied himself with Wise because the two shared the same ethical belief systems: both were avowed Liberals, and both were committed to making films that not only had a message but which also bore a distinct artistic imprint: from cinematographer John Alton's subtle exploration of black and white film to his daring use of infrared film in the film's opening minutes; to Abraham Polonsky's stark screenplay of desperate people living on the edge, Odds Against Tomorrow achieves its goals in a grim, humorless expose that indicts greed and prejudice. Holding the film firmly in his grasp, Ryan proves again that his acting skills traverse the origins of his psychopathy in a spine-chilling tour de force. Reprising his disturbing portrayal of the cagey, Jew-hating bigot in Crossfire, his role as the loser Earl Slater in Odds Against Tomorrow allows for more complexity to explain his motivations.
Besides Ryan, "noir" stalwarts Ed Begley and Gloria Grahame elevate the film considerably. Grahame, as many "noir" aficianados are aware, was also featured in Crossfire, achieving fame as one of filmdom's "noir" females, duplicitous, alienated and jaded. Ed Begley turns in another realistic portrait as the disgraced ex-cop with an axe to grind, while Harry Belafonte's down-on-his-luck gambler emerges as a man afflicted with a gambling addiction that covers up his deep insecurities. Viewers should also take note that the film is chock full of secondary players, including a very young Cicely Tyson and Wayne Rogers, along with character actors, Will Kuluva, Lew Gallo, Richard Bright (possibly the first depiction of homosexuality in the cinema), and William Zuckert. The score by the Modern Jazz Quartet is aptly spare, underscoring the grim tale. Finally, observant viewers may notice that the nightclub bouncer who lends Belafonte a pistol in a smoky Harlem nightclub bares a striking resemblance to James Earl Jones (in fact it is his brother, Robert Earl Jones). Kudos to all involved in this "noir" masterpiece.

Watch those early city scenes, they foreshadow a cultural shift then underway. The cool jazz score, the hip sports car, the dominant racial theme-- all suggest the urban chic of the Kennedy years, no longer Eisenhower's small-town middle America. Noir enthusiasts peg this film as the last true noir of the era. Certainly there are the icons: Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Ed Begley, and blacklisted scenarist Abraham Polonsky (Force of Evil; Body and Soul). But it's not classic noir.The usual light and shadow give way to a gritty gray look, the calculated result of winter filming. The bleak landscape is heavy with machinery gone to rust, mirroring the desolation of the plotters as they reach for the big score.

Given the talent involved, the results are surprisingly uneven. Gloria Grahame's role is intriguingly kinky, but dangles like a loose appendage-- a favor to someone I suppose, her looks fading now as quickly as her skills in a badly performed part. Belafonte too looks the part, a frustrated yuppie, yet he deadpans his way through the crucial robbery sequence. And whose idea was that final `message" scene . They should be forced to sit through a hammer blow, the same way as that piece of obviousness slugged the audience. Director Wise's lacklustre pacing doesn't help eirher, draining the film of much needed snap and suspense.

Nonetheless, the film has the great Robert Ryan in a tailor-made part. Who else could smoulder anger or distance alienation better than this gangly near-forgotten performer. The bar scene alone is worth the viewing. Watch the subtle tics flicker across an anguished face as the rage builds. His despairing Old South confederate remains a scary symbol of decades of Jim Crow, not about to give up without a fight. There's also the telling reaction in Begley's apartment after Belafonte comes up with a clever solution. Ryan looks away, the disgust all over a pained visage-- shouldn't it be he, the white man, who solves tricky brain problems. It's just one more frustration for a man emasculated now by a wife earning a living for the two of them. Blacks and women!-- between them, he's dying inside. And underneath it all is the feeling of "the natural order betrayed", a very contemporary grudge that lives on in the likes of call-in radio.

This may not be a very good caper film, nor a very compelling example of film noir. But as a reflection of a society in transition, the powerful sub-texts endure and are well worth a look-see.

Director Robert Wise is probably most identified with his two Oscar winning musicals West Side Story and The Sound of Music. Wise's Odds Against Tomorrow, a 1959 film produced at the end of the noir cycle, should have earned him his first Oscar. Unfortunately that year, Ben Hur's unprecedented eleven Academy Awards left little in the wake of cinematic honors. Odds Against Tomorrow may have been slighted by the Academy and the box office, but it unassumingly remains as one of the first films to address racism towards blacks in American society. Wise's casting of African American Harry Belafonte as jazz musician Johnny Ingram and Robert Ryan as the bigot Earl Slater revealed the racial tensions that marked the social undercurrent of the 1950's. Odds Against Tomorrow may have been an emblematic precursor to the racial violence that exploded into the consciousness of mainstream America during the 1960's. The film's plot is structured around a planned bank hiest involving a retired police officer Dave Burke (Ed Begley), a gambling night club singer,Johnny and a psychotic loner Earl. The three protagonists are drawn together for the lure of money; each thinking that a lucrative monetary score will dissolve their personal demons. Unlike other noir films their well devised plan unravels from within. Earl's seething malevolence and resentment towards Johnny causes the caper to disintegrate. James Coburn deservedly won an Oscar for his role as an alcoholic, abusive father in Affliction; Ryan's portrayal of an emotionally unstable, violent racist is equally noteworthy. Noir critics often cite Richard Widmark's screen roles as Tommy Udo and Alec Stiles as the most paranoid psychotics to shock American morality, but it is Ryan who with only a cold silent stare or a few callous words could bring buried hatred to a bubling boil. In Odds Against Tomorrow, Ryan's scenes in the tavern, elevator, and gas station deliver convincing glimpses into the tormented mind of a dangerous man. Shelly Winters is cast as the insecure loner who desperately smothers Earl with love that is not returned. Gloria Grahame appears as the strange apartment neighbor who inexplicably is drawn to the abusive Earl. Wise craftfully places characters in scenes that drip with realism. The mob boss, the homosexual henchman, the bartender, the black elevator operator, and Johnny's estranged wife, create a multi-dimensional atmosphere that does not distract from the flow of events. Wise's extraordinary camera work allows viewers quick angle frames of hallways, city streets, highways, and city complexes. An opening shot of a desolate city street corner, marked only by a fire hydrant that is suddenly invaded by windswept newspaper is chilling. Wise is not adverse to draw his camera away from city settings where noir scenery could easily be captured. Instead he mixes urban concrete and smokey club interiors with panned shots of cold November landscapes and highways dotted with leafless trees. Wise also incorporates the contrast of day and night into the climax of the picture. Not constrained within the limits of shadows, darkness, and night which characterize most noir films; Wise utilizes the impending nightfall as a scenic metaphor for the doomed hiest. Odds Against Tomorrow is one of the greatest noir pictures ever made. It may have well been the last true noir film.

Embittered ex-detective (Ed Begley) recruits two misfits to take part in a robbery. Earl(Robert Ryan) is white, bigoted, and violent; a man with nowhere to run and nothing to lose. The other man, Ingram (Harry Belafonte) is a black musician who owes a local crime boss a great deal of money. ,and uses the robbery as his only way out. But nothing can release the tension of Earl as his bigotory threatens to destroy not only the robbery, but all of them. A well made thriller in the true traditions of film noir. This is highly recommended for any lovers of this genre. By Alan Gerrard. END