- Odds Against Tomorrow
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Odds Against Tomorrow 
Theatrical release posterDirected by Robert Wise Produced by Robert Wise
Co-producer:
Harry BelafonteScreenplay by Abraham Polonsky
Nelson GiddingStory by William P. McGivern Starring Harry Belafonte
Robert Ryan
Ed Begley
Gloria GrahameMusic by John Lewis Cinematography Joseph C. Brun Editing by Dede Allen Distributed by United Artists Release date(s) October 15, 1959 (United States) Running time 95 minutes[1] Country United States Language English Odds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions,[2] a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky used a front, John O. Killens, a black novelist and friend of Belafonte's. In 1996, the Writers Guild of America restored Polonsky's credit under his real name.[3]
Odds Against Tomorrow is the first noir with a black protagonist.[4] It was the last time Wise shot black-and-white film in the standard aspect ratio, which "gave his films the gritty realism they were known for".[1]
Contents
Plot
David Burke (Ed Begley) is a former policeman who was ruined when he refused to cooperate with state crime investigators. He has asked hard-bitten, racist, ex-con Earl Slater (Robert Ryan) to help him rob an upstate bank, promising him $50,000 if the robbery is successful. Burke also recruits Johnny Ingram (Belafonte), a nightclub entertainer who doesn’t want the job but who is addicted to gambling and is in debt.
Slater, who is supported by his girlfriend, Lorry (Shelley Winters), finds out Ingram is black and refuses the job. Later, he realizes that he needs the money, and joins Ingram and Burke in the enterprise.
Tensions between Ingram and Slater increase as they near completion of the crime. Burke is seen by a police officer leaving the scene of the raid, and is mortally wounded in the ensuing shootout with local Police, so he commits suicide by gunshot. Ingram and Slater escape and chase after each other over fuel tanks. They exchange gunfire and ignite the fuel tanks and cause an explosion. Afterward, their corpses are indistinguishable.
Cast
- Harry Belafonte as Johnny Ingram
- Robert Ryan as Earle Slater
- Shelley Winters as Lorry
- Ed Begley as Dave Burke
- Gloria Grahame as Helen
- Will Kuluva as Bacco
- Kim Hamilton as Ruth Ingram
- Mae Barnes as Annie
- Richard Bright as Coco
- Carmen De Lavallade as Kittie
- Lew Gallo as Moriarty
- Lois Thorne as Edie Ingram
- Zohra Lampert as Girl in Bar
- Allen Nourse as Melton Police Chief
Production
Principal photography began in March 1959.[5] All outdoor scenes were shot in New York City and Hudson, New York.[2] According to director Robert Wise:[6]
- I did something in Odds Against Tomorrow I'd been wanting to do in some pictures but hadn't had the chance. I wanted a certain kind of mood in some sequences, such as the opening when Robert Ryan is walking down West Side Street...I used infra-red film. You have to be very careful with that because it turns green things white, and you can't get too close on people's faces. It does distort them but gives that wonderful quality—black skies with white clouds—and it changes the feeling and look of the scenes.
Music
Composer John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet, contributed the film's jazz score, played by an orchestra that included Milt Jackson on vibraphone, Percy Heath on bass, Connie Kay on drums, Bill Evans on piano, and Jim Hall on guitar.[1]
Reception
Critical reception
Bosley Crowther called Wise's direction "tight and strong" and the film a "sharp, hard, suspenseful melodrama" with a "sheer dramatic build-up ... of an artistic caliber that is rarely achieved on the screen."[2]
Time magazine wrote, "The tension builds well to the climax—thanks partly to Director Robert Wise (I Want to Live!), partly to an able Negro scriptwriter named John O. Killens, but mostly to Actor Ryan, a menace who can look bullets and smile sulphuric acid. But the tension is released too soon—and much too trickily. The spectator is left with a feeling that is aptly expressed in the final frame of the film, when the camera focuses on a street sign that reads: STOP—DEAD END."[7]
Variety said "On one level, Odds against Tomorrow is a taut crime melodrama. On another, it is an allegory about racism, greed and man's propensity for self-destruction. Not altogether successful in the second category, it still succeeds on its first."[8]
Forty years after its release, Stephen Holden called the film "sadly overlooked."[4]
Awards
The film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Motion Picture Promoting International Understanding, losing at the 17th Golden Globe Awards to The Diary Of Anne Frank.
Books
A screenplay book, Odds Against Tomorrow: A Critical Edition (ISBN 0963582348), was published in 1999 by The Center for Telecommunication Studies, a university press sponsored by the Radio-TV-Film Department at California State University, Northridge (CSUN).[9] The book includes the film's complete script (which "blends" the shooting script and the continuity script), and critical analysis, written by CSUN professor John Schultheiss, based on interviews with Wise, Belafonte and Polonsky.
References
- ^ a b c "Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)". American Film Institute. http://www.afi.com/wise/films/odds_against_tomorrow/odds.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ a b c Crowther, Bosley (October 16, 1959). "Odds Against Tomorrow: Race Prejudice Mars Hold-up of a Bank". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C06E0DC143DE73ABC4E52DFB6678382649EDE. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ Honan, William (October 29, 1999). "Abraham Polonsky, 88, Dies; Director Damaged by Blacklist". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/29/movies/abraham-polonsky-88-dies-director-damaged-by-blacklist.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ a b Holden, Stephen (June 11, 1999). "Bringing Home A World Of Injustice". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?res=9803E6DD1638F932A25755C0A96F958260. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ "Lead Man Holler". Time. March 2, 1959. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,892273,00.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ "More information on Odds Against Tomorrow". American Film Institute. http://www.afi.com/wise/films/odds_against_tomorrow/info/info.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ "Review of Odds Against Tomorrow". Time. October 26, 1959. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864987,00.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ "Review of Odds Against Tomorrow". Variety. 1959. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117793645.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ "Rare Film Screening Offers Chance to Talk with Writer Abraham Polonsky, Director Robert Wise". press release. California State University, Northridge. April 22, 1999. http://www.csun.edu/~hfoao102/press_releases/spring99/odds.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
External links
- Odds Against Tomorrow at the Internet Movie Database
- Odds Against Tomorrow at the TCM Movie Database
- Odds Against Tomorrow photo gallery at the American Film Institute
- Odds Against Tomorrow film trailer on YouTube
- "Robert Ryan: Letting the Demons Out" by Jeff Stafford at TCM's Movie Morlocks
Films directed by Robert Wise 1940s Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) · The Curse of the Cat People (1944) · The Body Snatcher (1945) · A Game of Death (1945) · Criminal Court (1946) · Born to Kill (1947) · Mystery in Mexico (1948) · Blood on the Moon (1948) · The Set-Up (1949)1950s Two Flags West (1950) · Three Secrets (1950) · The House on Telegraph Hill (1951) · The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) · The Captive City (1952) · Something for the Birds (1952) · Destination Gobi (1953) · The Desert Rats (1953) · So Big (1953) · Executive Suite (1954) · Helen of Troy (1956) · Tribute to a Bad Man (1956) · Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) · This Could Be the Night (1957) · Until They Sail (1957) · Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) · I Want to Live! (1958) · Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)1960s West Side Story (1961) · Two for the Seesaw (1962) · The Haunting (1963) · The Sound of Music (1965) · The Sand Pebbles (1966) · Star! (1968)1970s The Andromeda Strain (1971) · Two People (1973) · The Hindenburg (1975) · Audrey Rose (1977) · Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)1980s Rooftops (1989)Categories:- 1959 films
- English-language films
- 1950s crime films
- American films
- Black-and-white films
- Crime drama films
- Film noir
- Films based on novels
- Films directed by Robert Wise
- Heist films
- United Artists films
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