Posted by CurtOdds Against Tomorrow
(1959) with Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters, Ed Begley, Gloria Grahame & Harry Belafonte. A brutal, tough, bitter film that was well directed by Robert Wise, and like his previous movie from 1958, I Want To Live!, he pulls out all the stops in this picture and never lets the viewer go until the slam-bang finale, which was lifted from the classic gangster epic White Heat (1949). Robert Ryan is Earl, a hard core racist who constantly antagonizes one of his partners, Johnny Ingram, played with great flair and style by singer Harry Belafonte. These two men, along with ex-police captain Ed Begley who masterminds the bank caper, decide to take down a small, out-of-way bank in Pennsylvania for $150,000. Of course, Begley believes he has the entire robbery planned down to a T. He wants a black man (Belafonte) to impersonate this other black coffee delivery man, so that they can get in the back door. But the whole bank job goes to pieces, as Begley ends up getting gunned down by the cops as they leave the bank and Ryan and Belafonte turn on each other like snakes and chase one another down in a oil refinery and finally shoot each other and blow themselves up along with the oil tanks in a fiery conclusion to this picture.
The music in this superb noir which was composed by John Lewis of The Modern Jazz Quartet, sets the mood, atmosphere and tempo for this film perfectly. The soundtrack, which was a seamless blending of both jazz and classicial music influences had never been used in any motion picture before to the best of my knowledge, and as far as I'm concerned, the music made this movie work on all levels from beginning to end. Odds Against Tomorrow is a sour, unpleasant view of life in America in the late 1950's and Robert Wise explores the underbelly of it with brutal violence, racial bigotry, tramp women, desolate highways, cold, lonely landscapes and dark, wet streets. This is America at it's finest and the cold, hard unforgiving truth revealed in this film is very difficult to swallow. This was the final film (imho) made during the end of the classic noir period. Be glad we have it.
4 comments:
You know what I remember best about this one? That windy day when Ryan visits the tall apartment building, after mentioning the "pickaninny" girl. The way it rattles around and makes noises... It's not metaphorical or anything... just memorable... to me... - Wes Clark
You can download an MP3 of the very cool jazz theme here: http://7and7is.blogspot.com/2007/04/modern-jazz-quartet-odds-against.html
One of the very few film noirs, along with "Bad Day At Black Rock" to deal with racism, it has never got the acclaim it truly deserves. The fact that it is rarely shown probably hasn't helped it. Even so, it is a great film which is worthy of having in your collection.
Robert Ryan is truly repellent, which is very ironic because in real life he hated racism passionately. He was also a magnificent actor who never really got the recogntion he should have had. This may be his finest moment.
Check out the pathos he brought to films such as "Act Of Violence" and "The Wild Bunch". An excellent overview of a neglected classic.
Saw this last night at the NOIR CITY Festival, Castro/San Francisco, courtesy of Noir Film Foundation, with a filmed message from Harry Belafonte, who couldn't attend. Wow what a film! Last words of the officers on the scene really pack a wallop. Great script, acting, casting, music, direction, cinematography. No idea it existed. Thanks NFF.
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