Odds Against Tomorrow

Dave Burke is a former policeman; he lost his job and has worked out a robbery. There is a bank in a small town and the town runs to a pattern; the same thing happens at the same hour every evening. He needs two men. Earl Slater is an ex soldier; he has been in prison, cannot find work, and living on what his wife earns is wearing him down. Johnny Ingram sings in nightclubs and has gambling debts; if he does not pay they will hurt his family. The plan will work, but three men have to work together. Earl does not want to work with a black man. Johnny does not want him either. Robert Wise directs. Robert Ryan, Harry Belafonte, Ed Begley and Shelley Winters are in the cast. It is an American production, made in 1959. Harry Belafonte is one of the producers; he got the film made through his own company. The screenplay was written by the blacklisted Abraham Polonsky; his name could not appear on the credits and another was used. Polonsky's name was added years later. The matter it treats is racism harming the racist; the plan collapses because of it and the film shows that directly. The photography is high contrast and uses New York in winter. The music is by John Lewis and the jazz builds the tension inside the narrative. The final scene gathers the film's argument into a single image. Its limit is pace; the robbery starts late and the first half is slow. Who it is for: viewers who like film noir and crime films with a social subject. Who it is not for: it is slow, sombre, and the ending bitter.