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Odds Against Tomorrow a crackling crime caper with an undercurrent of racial tension combines the desperation of three men--two of whom hate each other--and the culmination of that desperation in the form of a robbery. The film which includes a fantastic jazz score by pianist John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet is a film noir gem. David Burke (Ed Begley) a former policeman who once served a prison sentence has asked bigoted southerner Earl Slater (Robert Ryan) to rob an upstate bank with him promising him $50000 in small bills if the robbery is successful. Burke also recruits Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte who also helped prod
Odds Against Tomorrow a crackling crime caper with an undercurrent of racial tension combines the desperation of three men--two of whom hate each other--and the culmination of that desperation in the form of a robbery. The film which includes a fantastic jazz score by pianist John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet is a film noir gem. David Burke (Ed Begley) a former policeman who once served a prison sentence has asked bigoted southerner Earl Slater (Robert Ryan) to rob an upstate bank with him promising him $50000 in small bills if the robbery is successful. Burke also recruits Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte who also helped produced the film) a nightclub entertainer who doesn t want the job but who is hopelessly addicted to gambling and is in debt. At first Slater who is supported by his girlfriend Lorry (Shelley Winters) finds out Ingram is black and refuses the job but realizing he needs the money decides after all to join Ingram and Burke in the venture. When they embark on the robbery however all hell breaks loose as danger--and the tension between Ingram and Slater--mount.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 027616899583 Manufacturer No: 1005697
After seeing Odds Against Tomorrow, it's hard to understand why Harry Belafonte made so few movies. He's superb as Johnny Ingram, a nightclub singer with a bad gambling debt. To pay it off, he agrees to take part in a bank heist with an ex-cop (the great character actor Ed Begley) and a racist ex-con named Earl Slater, played with consummate bitterness by Robert Ryan. But this isn't a standard crime caper--the movie carefully explores the pressures each man is under. Ingram's debts have begun to threaten his ex-wife and child, while Slater's pride has been eaten away by age and failure; Slater finally has a relationship that matters to him (with Shelley Winters, in one of her wonderful, desperate performances), but not as much as proving himself. As the plan slowly falls into place, the tensions between the men get more extreme until everything falls apart. Gloria Grahame, one of the great B movie femme fatales, has a small but memorable role. Director Robert Wise's long and wildly varied career includes The Haunting, The Sound of Music, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but Odds Against Tomorrow is one of his best. This bleak, powerful movie is considered by many critics and film historians to be the last true film noir, and it's a fitting close to the genre. --Bret Fetzer
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Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release date: 2 December 2003
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 9780792859055 UPC: 027616899583
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