Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Robert Wise |
Produced by | Robert Wise |
Screenplay by |
Abraham Polonsky Nelson Gidding |
Based on |
on the novel Odds Against Tomorrow by William P. McGivern |
Starring |
Harry Belafonte Robert Ryan Ed Begley Gloria Grahame Shelley Winters |
Music by | John Lewis |
Cinematography | Joseph C. Brun |
Edited by | Dede Allen |
Production company | |
Distributed by | United Artists (1959, original) MGM (2003, DVD) |
Release dates |
|
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 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]
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 shooting himself. Slater is insensitive and cavalier about the death of Burke which incenses Ingram. Slater and Ingram begin to fight each other as they try to evade capture by the police. Ingram and Slater escape and run into a nearby fuel storage depot. They chase after each other on the top of the fuel tanks. They exchange gunfire and ignite the fuel tanks and cause a large explosion. Afterwards, their corpses are indistinguishable from one another. The last scene focuses on a sign at the entrance of the fuel storage depot saying, "Stop, Dead End".
Cast
- Harry Belafonte as Ingram
- Robert Ryan as Slater
- Shelley Winters as Lorry
- Ed Begley as Burke
- Gloria Grahame as Helen
- Will Kuluva as Bacco
- Kim Hamilton as Ruth
- Mae Barnes as Annie
- Richard Bright as Coco
- Carmen De Lavallade as Kitty
- Lew Gallo as Moriarty
- Lois Thorne as Eadie
- Wayne Rogers Soldier in bar
- Zohra Lampert as Girl in Bar
- Allen Nourse as Police Chief
- Cicely Tyson as Jazz Club Bartender (uncredited)
- Mel Stewart as Hotel Juno Elevator Operator (uncredited)
- Robert Earl Jones as Jazz Club Patron (uncredited)
Production
Principal photography began in March 1959.[4] All outdoor scenes were shot in New York City and Hudson, New York.[2] According to director Robert Wise:[5]
- "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."
Musical score and soundtrack
Odds Against Tomorrow | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Soundtrack album by John Lewis | ||||
Released | 1959 | |||
Recorded | July 16, 17 & 20, 1959 in NYC | |||
Genre | Film score | |||
Length | 43:11 | |||
Label |
United Artists UAL 4061 | |||
John Lewis chronology | ||||
|
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [6] |
The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet and the soundtrack album was released on the United Artists label in 1959.[7] To realise his score Lewis assembled a 22 piece orchestra that included MJQ bandmates Milt Jackson on vibraphone, Percy Heath on bass and Connie Kay on drums, as well as Bill Evans on piano, and Jim Hall on guitar.[1][8][9] Allmusic's Bruce Eder noted, "This superb jazz score by John Lewis was later turned into a hit by The Modern Jazz Quartet. It's dark and dynamic, and a classic".[6] The Modern Jazz Quartet's album of Lewis' themes; Music from Odds Against Tomorrow was recorded in October 1959 and one of the tracks "Skating in Central Park", became a permanent part of the MJQ's repertoire.[10] It was also reused for a similar scene in the 1971 film Little Murders.
Track listing
All compositions by John Lewis
- "Prelude to Odds Against Tomorrow" - 1:44
- "A Cold Wind Is Blowing" - 1:20
- "Five Figure People Crossing Paths" - 1:40
- "How to Frame Pigeons" - 1:04
- "Morning Trip to Melton" - 3:09
- "Looking at the Caper" - 2:01
- "Johnny Ingram's Possessions" - 1:08
- "The Carousel Incident" - 1:44
- "Skating in Central Park" - 3:29
- "No Happiness for Slater" - 3:56
- "Main Theme: Odds Against Tomorrow" - 3:24
- "Games" - 2:17
- "Social Call" - 3:53
- "The Impractical Man - 3:00
- Advance on Melton"- 1:58
- "Waiting Around the River" - 3:51
- "Distractions" - 1:25
- "The Caper Failure" - 1:23
- "Postlude" - 0:45
Personnel
- John Lewis - arranger, conductor
- Bernie Glow, Joe Wilder, John Ware, Melvyn Broiles - trumpet
- John Clark, Tom McIntosh - trombone
- Al Richman, Gunther Schuller, Paul Ingram, Ray Alonge - French horn
- Harvey Phillips - tuba
- Robert DiDomenica - flute
- Harvey Shapiro, Joseph Tekula - cello
- Ruth Berman - harp
- Milt Jackson - vibraphone
- Bill Evans - piano
- Jim Hall - guitar
- Percy Heath - bass
- Connie Kay - drums
- Richard Horowitz - timpani
- Walter Rosenberger - percussion
Reception
Critical response
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."[11]
Variety magazine 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."[12]
Forty years after its release, Stephen Holden called the film "sadly overlooked".[13]
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).[14] 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.
DVD
Odds Against Tomorrow was released to DVD by MGM Home Video on December 2, 2003 as a Region 1 non-widescreen DVD.
See also
References
- 1 2 3 "Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)". American Film Institute. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- 1 2 3 Crowther, Bosley (October 16, 1959). "Odds Against Tomorrow: Race Prejudice Mars Hold-up of a Bank". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ↑ Honan, William (October 29, 1999). "Abraham Polonsky, 88, Dies; Director Damaged by Blacklist". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ↑ "Lead Man Holler". Time. March 2, 1959. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ↑ "More information on Odds Against Tomorrow". American Film Institute. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- 1 2 Eder, Bruce. Odds Against Tomorrow [Original Soundtrack – Review] at AllMusic. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ↑ United Artists Album Discography: 4000/5000 Series (1958-1972) accessed September 11, 2015
- ↑ Milt Jackson catalog accessed September 11, 2015
- ↑ Gunther Schuller discography accessed September 11, 2015
- ↑ Modern Jazz Quartet catalog accessed September 11, 2015
- ↑ "Review of Odds Against Tomorrow". Time. October 26, 1959. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ↑ "Review of Odds Against Tomorrow". Variety. 1959. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ↑ Holden, Stephen (June 11, 1999). "Bringing Home A World Of Injustice". The New York Times. 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. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
External links
- Odds Against Tomorrow at the Internet Movie Database
- Odds Against Tomorrow at AllMovie
- Odds Against Tomorrow at the TCM Movie Database
- Odds Against Tomorrow photo gallery at the American Film Institute
- Odds Against Tomorrow essay, "Robert Ryan: Letting the Demons Out" by Jeff Stafford at Turner Classic Movies's Movie Morlocks
- Odds Against Tomorrow film trailer at YouTube