Odds Against Tomorrow | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Robert Wise |
Screenplay by | Abraham Polonsky Nelson Gidding |
Based on | Odds Against Tomorrow 1957 novel by William P. McGivern |
Produced by | Robert 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 |
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Running time | 95 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
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.
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".
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: [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.
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 ]
Odds Against Tomorrow | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | 1959 | |||
Recorded | July 16, 17 & 20, 1959 in NYC | |||
Genre | film score | |||
Length | 43:11 | |||
Label | United Artists UAL 4061 | |||
John Lewis chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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. [7] 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] [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. The track "Skating in Central Park" became a permanent part of the MJQ's repertoire [10] and was recorded by Evans and Hall on the album Undercurrent . It was reused for a similar scene in the 1971 film Little Murders .
All compositions by John Lewis
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. [11]
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." [12]
Forty years after the film's release, critic Stephen Holden called it "sadly overlooked." [13]
The film was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Motion Picture Promoting International Understanding.[ citation needed ]
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.[ citation needed ]
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]
Milton Jackson, nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with hard bop and post-bop players.
John Aaron Lewis was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger, best known as the founder and musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. The Quartet consisted of John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Percy Heath, and various drummers, most notably Kenny Clarke and Connie Kay. The group grew out of the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie's big band from 1946 to 1948, which consisted of Lewis, Jackson, and Clarke along with bassist Ray Brown. They recorded as the Milt Jackson Quartet in 1951 and Brown left the group, being replaced on bass by Heath. During the early-to-mid-1950s they became the Modern Jazz Quartet, Lewis became the group's musical director, and they made several recordings with Prestige Records, including the original versions of their two best-known compositions, Lewis's "Django" and Jackson's "Bags' Groove". Clarke left the group in 1955 and was replaced as drummer by Kay, and in 1956 they moved to Atlantic Records and made their first tour to Europe.
Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout their long history and also worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk and Lee Konitz.
Abraham Lincoln Polonsky was an American film director, screenwriter, essayist and novelist. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Body and Soul but in the early 1950s was blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios after refusing to testify at congressional hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee in the midst of the McCarthy era.
Conrad Henry Kirnon known professionally as Connie Kay, was an American jazz and R&B drummer, who was a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
John Oliver Killens was an American fiction writer from Georgia. His novels featured elements of African-American life. In his debut novel, Youngblood (1954), Killens coined the phrase "kicking ass and taking names". He also wrote plays, short stories and essays, and published articles in a range of outlets.
Thomas S. "Tom" McIntosh was an American jazz trombonist, composer, arranger, and conductor.
European Concert is a live album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded in Sweden in April 1960 and originally released on two consecutive volumes on the Atlantic label.
Music from Odds Against Tomorrow is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring interpretations of the soundtrack score for the 1959 motion picture Odds Against Tomorrow. It was released on United Artists Records, the label that the films' production company United Artists had founded two years earlier for its film soundtracks. The album was recorded with the Modern Jazz Quartet and a 22-piece orchestra.
Pyramid is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded in 1959-60 and released on the Atlantic label.
The Legendary Profile is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet recorded in 1972 and released on the Atlantic label.
Reunion at Budokan 1981 is a live album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded at their reunion concert at the Nippon Budokan in 1981 and released on the Pablo label.
Together Again: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival '82 is a live album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982 and released on the Pablo label.
Echoes is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded in 1984 and released on the Pablo label.
Topsy: This One's for Basie is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded in 1985 and released on the Pablo label.
Three Windows is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded with the New York Chamber Symphony in 1987 and released on the Atlantic label.
MJQ & Friends: A 40th Anniversary Celebration is an album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded in New York City, Los Angeles and at the Montreux Jazz Festival with guest artists including Bobby McFerrin, Take 6, Phil Woods, Wynton Marsalis, Illinois Jacquet, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Branford Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Freddie Hubbard and Nino Tempo and released on the Atlantic label.
The Jazztet and John Lewis is an album by the Jazztet, led by trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson and featuring performances composed and arranged by John Lewis. It was recorded in late 1960 and early 1961 and originally released on the Argo label.
Dedicated to Connie is a live album by American jazz group the Modern Jazz Quartet featuring performances recorded in Slovenia in May 1960 and released in 1995 on the Atlantic label following drummer Connie Kay's death. The album was also released by Jazz Life in 1990 as Modern Jazz Quartet In Concert.