Odds Against Tomorrow

1959 - 96 mins - Director: Robert Wise - Cast: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan - b&w - DCP

Disgraced ex-NYC cop Dave Burke (Ed Begley) masterminds a piece-of-cake bank robbery, but to pull it off, he requires the cooperation of two dangerously mismatched cohorts: hot-headed war veteran Earle Slater (Robert Ryan) and gambling addict jazzman Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte). Their racist antagonism threatens to thwart a seemingly foolproof plan. Odds Against Tomorrow is an all-time classic heist thriller—and much more.

Silent producer Belafonte hired blacklisted screenwriter Abraham Polonsky to adapt William P. McGivern’s novel, specifically to subvert the sanctimony of The Defiant Ones (1958), a “feel good” movie about racism. Robert Wise’s direction is as fresh and expressive as anything being done by the French New Wave of the period, and the score by John Lewis’ Modern Jazz Quartet is innovative and exhilarating. With vivid supporting performances by Shelley Winters, Kim Hamilton, and Gloria Grahame.

CREDITS
Director: Robert Wise
Cast: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters, Ed Begley, Gloria Grahame, Kim Hamilton
Screenplay: Abraham Polonsky, Nelson Gidding
Cinematographer: Joseph C. Brun
Music: John Lewis
Production: HarBel Productions
Original Distributor: United Artists
Presentation: DCP / b&w / 1.85: 1