Odds Against Tomorrow
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Movie Reviews of Odds Against Tomorrow
Movie Review: Between 1950s Film Noir and 1960s Social Conscience Films.
Summary: 4 Stars
"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.
Movie Review: A nostalgic look
Summary: 4 Stars
Odds Against Tomorrow
Not being a real critic, I can only write of my personal reaction after seeing this movie for the first time in 50 years. Being a jazz buff I bought this movie because John Lewis (of the MJQ) wrote the score which included "Skatin in Central Park", and because I remembered it as a good movie and an early use of the zoom lens in movies. I was unaware that it was also considered the last of the Film Noir genre, and I had forgotten Belafonte miming Milt Jackson's vibes solo.
Those elements for which I bought the movie were not nearly as predominant as I remember them, but the movie stood up well in spite of its age, and neither the script nor the acting were cringeworthy. The story moved relentlessly towards its conclusion, and the black and white shots of New York streets added a chill that reinforced my premonition of a disastrous outcome. I realised that I had forgotten the story.
It is an excellent movie and it stands up well in spite of the years, and does so without the assistance of colour, surround sound, digital enhancement or gratuitous violence.
If my "review" is coloured by nostalgia, that is a condition common in those of advanced years and possibly an aid to enjoyment. However I would like to know what younger viewers, seeing it for the first time think of it.
Movie Review: Noir with a social conscience
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Movie Review: Dated period piece
Summary: 3 Stars
An ex-cop, a chronic loser, and a lounge singer with a serious gambling problem join forces to commit a crime. Ed Begley plays the ex-cop, who is also an ex-con and the mastermind of a robbery planned against a bank in a small city in upstate New York. To pull it off Begley recruits two accomplices. The first is Robert Ryan, an aging, two-bit hood who views the job as his last, best chance to make a big score. Presently he's a `kept' man, tenuously attached to Shelley Winters. The second is Harry Belafonte, a jazz singer whose addiction to the ponies has put him deeply, and dangerously, in debt to Bacco, the local loan shark.
Robert Wise directed the black-and-white ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW on the mean streets of New York City in 1959. The movie is appropriately seedy and run-down looking, a quality that is enhanced by the kool jazz scoring of pianist John Lewis. There's a certain ragged edginess to the look and music which, unfortunately, is undercut when the `message' of the movie hijacks the plot.
You see, Robert Ryan's character is a racist, Belafonte's character has some tolerance issues of his own, and what looks like a juicy heist movie loses itself somewhere along the way, forgets about the crime and turns its attention to its two lead characters. What ought to be five minutes of backstory is brought to the front and consumes most of the movie. Ryan's wife/girlfriend Shelley Winters has a job - he doesn't - and she has afternoons full of housewife-y tasks for him to do. One of which she should have kept off the list was having upstairs neighbor Gloria Grahame come knocking when she needs a baby sitter. Typically Grahame plays the ripely seducible Other Woman, and ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW is not an exception. I'm not complaining. Well, not much, anyway. No actor was better at going from faux charm to sincere menace than Robert Ryan, and Grahame always had a tough fawn quality about her. Their scenes together are very good, but... they feel false, superficial, and melodramatic. The movie really didn't have to keep telling me the many ways Ryan was a creep. At least Belafonte's character, who we spend roughly the same amount of time with, is more three-dimensional. Divorced from his wife yet still a devoted and doting father, his intolerance is more subdued, more reactive, and more understandable.
ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW isn't a bad movie, but it's a little too preachy for my tastes. I enjoyed it more as an example of the treatment of race relations in the late `50s than anything else.
Movie Review: The bits are greater than the sum of the parts
Summary: 3 Stars
Right from the start of the titles you know this film has high production values. The visuals are quite rivetting backed by John Lewis' orchestrations. The film is based on (then) hot cop shop writer McGivern who also wrote THE BIG HEAT. The dialogue is crisp and witty and philosophical. The photography stylish with much of it shot on location; Add to this Mr Ryan playing an ageing ofay tortured racist ex-vet killer; Mr Begley a larger than life ex-cop out to make the one big score; Mr Belafonte cool black boy racist ex-vet; plus a gaggle of hot women including Gloria (just this once) Grahame; plus some fast cars; plus some cool jazz and a nice blues vocal from Mr Belafonte; plus a theme or two eg, racist hatred will surely have an apocalyptic end, or, when we're dead, your can't tell one man from another. Yet, it doesn't quite come off - maybe because of its didactism. Still, it's worth a look, but do not expect to be either thrilled or otherwise moved by it. A helluva lot of talent but!