Wonderful character development!

A Major Disappointment

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I returned to NYC a couple of months ago, late September I believe. It's taken me until this Christmas week to get back into the flow of big city life. I had spent the past year living on a mountain in Northern New England.. remote and peaceful but lonely and isolated. It was surreal watching films in my cabin miles away from everyone else, films that connected me so dearly to late night local television in NYC. The loneliness eventully overwhelmed me and I realized that I will return to this mountain home later in my life.. when i am much older and less anxious.So after one full year I returned to my apartment in Harlem. I took with me 250 of my most favorite films from my 1000 DVD collection, and one of my most adored of those 250 is Odds Against Tomorrow. This past thursday I took the subway down to Greenwich Village on a job search and walked across 13th Street, from 8th avenue. It could have been the holiday season, but passing the old townhouses and quaint street level restaurants touched a place in my heart, it triggered the affection and adoration of the old New York that had been buried deep inside my emotional gut. Being I'm in my late 40's my "old" New York is the mid 1970's.. but still such an atmospheric era. In the 1970's remnants of the 40's and 50's were still vivid; the restaurants, theaters and buildings and landmarks all took you back to those late night black and white movies that came on television.This reminiscent rant does have a purpose dear readers, it really does, and thanks so much for being patient.. at times I go to these emotional places, and this moment I really wanted to share with you.Odds Against Tomorrow is one of those special films that really connects the viewer to a city which once had such sincerity, authenticity and character that you bonded with it like it was a living breathing being. No, you dont have to be a New York native to understand.. you could be from a small town in Maine watching OAT and still feel that familiarity towards the big apple. The first scene which shows Robert Ryan walking down a side block and then turning onto Riverside Drive in Harlem will draw you in immediately. From Central Park West and the park itself to other unnamed streets where our characters live and social gives you a taste of old New York's duality.. it's grit and it's hospitality.There are one hundred better reviews to read than this one if you'd like an in depth description of the plot and characters of the film, because I won't delve into those too deeply. Yes, this is a film with a grave social commentary; racism, bigotry and how it can utterly be such a factor in the demise of humanity. It also manifests the birth of an evolving period in the city, with the jazz music and the cultural shifts that began occuring at the end of the 50's. But.. what I found to be most potent in the film was the undeniable connection alll three main characters had. Ryan, Belafonte and Begley were all so very desperate, all were unique and individual but they shared a common disparity, the need of money, a chance at a big bundle of cash, one which would give each one of them a fresh start.. a new beginning. As I said, the racist Ryan posturing at Belafonte fuels the engine of the film, but there is so much more to the characters than that. There are three generations of men here, all with dilemmas and turmoil and even we the viewers are convinced that the only way these characters can win is by robbing this bank in upstate New York.I believed these men. Who they were, how they felt, they convinced me of their flaws and fears, and I honestly felt for all of them, even the hateful Earl Slater. The depiction of these men could have been based on a real story.. and I've known men this desperate in my life, and I have myself, been behind the eight ball like Ingram, Burke and Slater.The supporting actors are brilliant as well. From each character at the Jazz club and the neighborhood bar to Shelley Winters, and Ms. Grahamm to the young gas attendent in upstate NY... such inividual conviction and character is evident even in the briefest performance in the film.The cinematography, of course is incredible. The stark, grey shots, the clouds and the lights clashing and the closeups and pans of the characters and landscapes are superior. The shadows and glares show brillance in both extremes.. interior or exterior, just incredible. I read that Robert Wise used a special film which affected the darks and lights of the movie. There are a couple of shots of Ed Begley's character that are quite moving and potent, this film almost conveys art in the sense of portraits of the characters. I also believe that Ed Begleys character doesnt get enough recognition, I felt him to be the most desperate of all three men, and in trying to keep Ryan and Belafonte from being at odds (pardon the pun) and unified, doubled his burden. Watch Begleys character closely, this is truly a brilliant performance. I wont reveal any spoilers, but there is a point in the film where I cried.I have watched this film sometimes twice a year since I have purchased it ten years ago, SO, I do suggest revisitng it every year to see how brilliant and amazing it is and so you will be able to see beyond the relevant but not singular social commentary. There are so many layers to the film which I continue to discover.After leaving thirteenth street I decided to walk uptown on 6th avenue for a while. Amidst the millions of corner banks and fast food restaurants, I peeked up side streets and saw old buildings that I remembered seeing when I was young. An old store front or diner occassionally remained and I smiled. I turned at Rockafeller Center and visited the tree. People were everywhere, smiling. taking pictures and ice skating. At that moment my heart ached and i walked speedily away from the crowds before anyone could see my tears. I had felt like a child again, a brief rememberance of old New York had appeared like a holiday ghost and reminded me of how good it once was to live here. Odds against tomorrow is a film that shares visions of that remembrance and how special New York City once was..Peace to all.

This is 95% of a pretty fascinating film. Basically a heist picture, it's also a message movie: Let's all get along as brother armed robbers under the skin. The lead-up to the crime is full of great, realistic, everyday glimpses into the lives of two losers, played by Robert Ryan and Harry Belafonte. The melodrama is held beautifully in check by director Robert Wise, who gets wonderful performances out of everybody in the supporting cast, especially Ed Begley and Gloria Grahame, the latter of whom was still a complete knockout at age 35. It's the message part that trips up the picture during the last few minutes, as Ryan and Belafonte get to wrangling racially when in more plausible circumstances they'd be running like rabbits in opposite directions.

The worst part of Odds Against Tomorrow is the very end. I want to get it out of the way now before I press ahead to what I liked about it (and there are a few good things to say about it). It involves the aftermath of the fate of two of the main characters, Robert Ryan and Harry Belafonte as Earle and Johnny respectively, two guys who have no business working together (Earle is a good-ol' boy from Oklahoma and sees Johnny as, well, 'Boy' just about sums it up, maybe without the capital in 'b'), but are thrown together by ex cop David Burke (Ed Begley, being his, uh, Begley-ist) to pull a bank heist on a weekday night when 200 grand is up for grabs in a brief window of time. In this climax the two men end up running away from the cops (oh, spoiler, the heist goes bad, sorry), and because they're running around by some giant tankers, their gun shots make everything around them explode, burning them to beyond recognition.Cut to the ending of the film when the cops are looking over the corpses and one of them says to the other, "Can't tell em apart now" or something to that effect. I get why the message is there - hey, at the end of it all, you're still dead and racial hatred doesn't mean a thing - but the bluntness of that message is much too hard, especially from what has come before. This isn't The Defiant Ones, where it's about how the white and black people of the world can set aside their differences through literally being tied to one another. Odds Against Tomorrow has a more cynical worldview, that, this is a world of MEN and how they have to appear MANLY to the people around them, and part of that is a feeling of racial superiority (though I believe Robert Ryan's character is the only out-n-out racist in the film, there's an air of uncertainty at times when Johnny is playing music at the club or with the guys he owes money to, it's subtle but it's there I think). So the ending robs it of what is already a potent enough image of these two guys being blown up in the midst of their hopeless and nihilistic end.Indeed while of course it's easy to see the important of it being the first film noir with a black lead (though there was No Way Out with Poitier I'm not sure that counts like this does), and, strangely enough, considered by some to be the *last* of the "classic" era of film-noir before neo-noir would begin some years after, it's really less a movie about racism than it is about masculinity. Johnny and Earle each have paths in life that have brought them to the desperate points they're at to rob a bank, and a lot of it revolves around being flawed as men, whether it's to the women or children around them as with Johnny (he has a woman and a young child, but is in for $7,500 to people over some debts - by the way a great scene where he has to confront them and things are fine until Johnny pulls out a gun, then he's in real trouble), or with the dames in Earle's life (Shelley Winters and Gloria Grahame).A key scene to me seems to not have much to do with the main story, and is just Earle in a bar. Some younger people are screwing around tossing themselves around the bar and one of them by accident knocks over Earle's drink. Earle is mad but tries to calm down, but the guys and gal attempt to toss themselves again, and Earle pipes up to one of them. S*** gets real, one of the guys (in an army outfit - by the way, as per a quasi-noir tradition of down-n-out toughs, Ryan's Earle is a WW2 vet), and the threat of violence escalates... with Earle doing some special kind of punch that puts this kid in pain. Earle is proud of himself, for a moment, and then feels ashamed at this, and the others are like "why did you have to do that?" He leaves quickly with his suit.I wonder about this scene as being sort of an encapsulation about this movie, or this world where GUYS have to be TOUGH and do things THEIR way (sorry for the caps, but you know, it's for emphasis), and I think that's the skill Abraham Polansky and Robert Wise get with this material. Even the ex cop Begley plays is doing this "one last score" cliché in a way to prop himself up - he claims he wasn't dirty, on the force for decades, but, you know, never said a wrong word (i.e. rat on the wrong people) - and it gives him something to live for. He needs these guys perhaps more than they need him, money aside, so there's ego there too I think. Meanwhile for Johnny being a man is being able to provide for his family and not be a total screw-up as he has been. He'd rather just keep playing his music - Belafonte has a couple of good numbers in the film, one of them ties in story-wise to what's going on as it's post back-room argument over the money owed as stakes rise - but that's not going to last.If it only hadn't been for the ending, and a couple of creaky moments in the writing, it would be really special instead of simply being... good. Actually, Belafonte is better than good, and I wish he'd acted more. 7.5/10

I suppose "Odds against Tomorrow" can be classified as film noir or as a caper movie, but, whatever it is, for me the excitement of this film has to do with the characterizations, Abraham Polonsky's fine screenplay, Joseph Brun's cinematography and location shooting, and the fine jazz score by John Lewis. I would throw in the intriguing opening credits for good measure, though I'm sure I missed a lot of the impact because I saw the movie on a TV screen.Robert Ryan was a masterful actor. A good many of his characters were bad guys, but they were bad guys with the depth, subtleties, and contradictions of human beings. So it is in this picture. His Earle Slater is a tortured man--unable to contain the violent urges that had put him in prison for manslaughter, haunted by a lifetime of squandered opportunities, and pathetically dependent on his late-in-life lover as a last bid for some sort of stability. Even so, he readily betrays his lover by putting the make on Helen, a woman who lives in the building. In a terrific bar scene, he struggles mightily with his urge to pound a bragging young soldier and ultimately can stand it no longer and decks the kid with a single brutal punch.Earle's racism is only one manifestation of his explosive personality but in this movie it is the crucial factor in the fate of him and his two partners in crime.Harry Belafonte as Johnny Ingram seemed a bit out of place in a crime picture but does an adequate job. His charm and musical talent count for a lot, and the subplot involving his estranged wife and beloved little daughter is credible and interesting. Here too, as with Robert Ryan's Earle Slater, what counts is character exploration, with action put off until the very end.There are fine performances by Shelly Winters and Ed Begley. I am a longtime fan of sultry, sexy Gloria Grahame, but there was something off about her very mannered performance as the neighbor woman. For a time, I thought she was portraying someone with a speech impediment or other disability.Then of course there is the programmatic ending that everyone complains about--the desperate struggle between black man and white man amid the giant gas tanks, the explosion that reduces them to cinders so that no one knows their identities let alone their race, and the glimpse of a sign that says "Dead End"--just in case you missed the lesson about racial hatred.Nevertheless, this is a terrific movie.