Odds Against Tomorrow

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Odds Against Tomorrow
Odds Against Tomorrow(1959 film) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Robert Wise
Screenplay by Abraham Polonsky
Nelson Gidding
Based onOdds Against Tomorrow
1957 novel
by William P. McGivern
Produced byRobert Wise
Starring Harry Belafonte
Robert Ryan
Shelley Winters
Ed Begley
Gloria Grahame
Will Kuluva
Kim Hamilton
Mae Barnes
Carmen De Lavallade
Richard Bright
Lew Gallo
Cinematography Joseph C. Brun
Edited by Dede Allen
Music by John Lewis
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • October 15, 1959 (1959-10-15)(United States)
Running time
95 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Odds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 American film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise and starring Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan and Ed Begley. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel of the same name by William P. McGivern. Blacklisted in those years, Polonsky had to use a front and John O. Killens was credited. Polonsky's screenwriting credit was restored in 1996 in his own name.

Contents

Plot

David Burke is a former policeman who was ruined when he refused to cooperate with state crime investigators. He asks Earle Slater, a tough ex-con and racist, to help him rob a bank, promising him $50,000 if the robbery is successful. Burke also recruits Johnny Ingram, a nightclub entertainer, who doesn't want the job but who is addicted to gambling and deeply in debt.

Slater, who is supported by his girlfriend Lorry, learns that 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.

On the night of the robbery, the three crooks are able to enter the bank and abscond with stolen money. Burke is seen by a police officer when leaving the scene of the raid and is gunned down in the ensuing shootout. He then shoots himself to avoid capture. Slater and Ingram fight each other while evading the police. They escape and run to a fuel storage depot, chasing each other onto the top of the fuel tanks. When they exchange gunfire, the fuel tanks ignite, causing a large explosion. Later, when police survey the scene, Slater's and Ingram's burned corpses are indistinguishable from each other. The film ends with a shot of a sign at the entrance of the depot reading "STOP—DEAD END".

Cast

Production

The film was produced by HarBel Productions, [2] a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. He selected Abraham Polonsky as the screenwriter. Polonsky was blacklisted by the House Unamerican Activities Committee at the time, which had conducted extensive hearings on communist influence in the film industry. He used John O. Killens, a black novelist and friend of Belafonte, as a front to be the credited screenwriter. In 1996, the Writers Guild of America restored Polonsky's film credit under his own name. [3]

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:

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. [1]

This film was the last in which Wise shot black-and-white film in the standard aspect ratio. This technique "gave his films the gritty realism they were known for." [1] After this film, Wise shot two black-and-white films, both in the cinemascope (2.35:1) aspect ratio: Two for the Seesaw and The Haunting .[ citation needed ]

Musical score and soundtrack

Odds Against Tomorrow
Soundtrack album by
John Lewis
Released1959
RecordedJuly 16, 17 & 20, 1959 in NYC
Genre film score
Length43:11
Label United Artists
UAL 4061
John Lewis chronology
Improvised Meditations and Excursions
(1959)		Odds Against Tomorrow
(1959)		 The Golden Striker
(1960)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [5]

The film score was composed, arranged, and conducted by John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. The soundtrack album was released on the United Artists label in 1959. [6] To realize his score, Lewis assembled a 22-piece orchestra, which included MJQ bandmates Milt Jackson on vibraphone, Percy Heath on bass, and Connie Kay on drums along with Bill Evans on piano and Jim Hall on guitar. [1] [7] [8] 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." [5] The Modern Jazz Quartet's album of Lewis' themes, Music from Odds Against Tomorrow , was recorded in October 1959. The track "Skating in Central Park" became a permanent part of the MJQ's repertoire [9] and was recorded by Evans and Hall on the album Undercurrent . It was reused for a similar scene in the 1971 film Little Murders .

Track listing

All compositions by John Lewis

  1. "Prelude to Odds Against Tomorrow" - 1:44
  2. "A Cold Wind Is Blowing" - 1:20
  3. "Five Figure People Crossing Paths" - 1:40
  4. "How to Frame Pigeons" - 1:04
  5. "Morning Trip to Melton" - 3:09
  6. "Looking at the Caper" - 2:01
  7. "Johnny Ingram's Possessions" - 1:08
  8. "The Carousel Incident" - 1:44
  9. "Skating in Central Park" - 3:29
  10. "No Happiness for Slater" - 3:56
  11. "Main Theme: Odds Against Tomorrow" - 3:24
  12. "Games" - 2:17
  13. "Social Call" - 3:53
  14. "The Impractical Man - 3:00
  15. Advance on Melton"- 1:58
  16. "Waiting Around the River" - 3:51
  17. "Distractions" - 1:25
  18. "The Caper Failure" - 1:23
  19. "Postlude" - 0:45

Personnel

Reception

Critical response

The film has an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times described Wise's direction as "tight and strong" and the film as 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. [10]

Variety wrote: "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." [11]

Forty years after the film's release, critic Stephen Holden called it "sadly overlooked." [12]

Awards

The film was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Motion Picture Promoting International Understanding.[ citation needed ]

Books

A book of the screenplay titled Odds Against Tomorrow: A Critical Edition ( ISBN   0963582348) was published in 1999 by the Center for Telecommunication Studies, sponsored by the Radio-Television-Film department at California State University, Northridge. The book includes the film's complete script, blending the shooting and continuity scripts, and a critical analysis written by CSUN professor John Schultheiss, who conducted interviews with Wise, Belafonte and Polonsky. [13]

Home media

Odds Against Tomorrow was released on DVD by MGM Home Video on December 2, 2003 as a Region 1 full-frame DVD. [14] The film was released on Blu-ray disc by Olive Films on May 29, 2018. [15]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)". American Film Institute . Retrieved December 9, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Crowther, Bosley (October 16, 1959). "Odds Against Tomorrow: Race Prejudice Mars Hold-up of a Bank". The New York Times . Retrieved March 21, 2009.
  3. ↑ Honan, William (October 29, 1999). "Abraham Polonsky, 88, Dies; Director Damaged by Blacklist". The New York Times . Retrieved March 21, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Lead Man Holler". Time . March 2, 1959. Archived from the original on September 12, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
  5. 1 2 Eder, Bruce. Odds Against Tomorrow [Original Soundtrack] – Review at AllMusic . Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  6. ↑ "United Artists Album Discography: 4000/5000 Series (1958-1972)" (PDF). bsnpubs.com. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Milt Jackson catalog". jazzdisco.org. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Gunther Schuller discography". Jazz Discography. Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Modern Jazz Quartet catalog". jazzdisco.org. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Cinema: The New Pictures, Oct. 26, 1959". Time . October 26, 1959. Archived from the original on February 1, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Odds Against Tomorrow". Variety . December 31, 1958. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  12. ↑ Holden, Stephen (June 11, 1999). "Bringing Home A World Of Injustice". The New York Times . Retrieved March 21, 2009.
  13. ↑ Polonsky, Abraham (1999). Schultheiss, John (ed.). Odds Against Tomorrow: The Critical Edition. Center for Telecommunication Studies, California State University. ISBN   9780963582348 . Retrieved December 9, 2024.
  14. ↑ "Odds Against Tomorrow Blu-ray - Robert Ryan". www.dvdbeaver.com. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Odds Against Tomorrow Blu-ray Release Date May 29, 2018". bluray.com. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
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