Odds Against Tomorrow │ Kino Lorber
Courtesy of Kino Lorber
by CHAD KENNERK
Considered the first film noir to feature a leading black protagonist, Odds Against Tomorrow is a vital entry in the noir canon. Directed by legend Robert Wise and produced by star Harry Belafonte’s HarBel Productions, the gritty look at racial tension is also one of cinema’s most important films about prejudice. Created amidst growing disquiet in America, the film heralds the explosive events to come at the dawn of the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement.
The screenplay was based on the novel by William P. McGivern (The Big Heat) and secretly written by Abraham Polonsky, who penned the screenplays for films such as Body and Soul and Force of Evil. Polonsky had been blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee, so Belafonte approached black novelist and friend John O. Killens to serve as the credited screenwriter. It would take until 1996 for the Writers Guild of America to restore Polonsky's film credit under his own name. Though Nelson Gidding is also credited, Wise stated publicly that it was most certainly Polonsky’s script, with Gidding adding just a few lines and doing a general polish. The book’s story underwent important changes for the screen and the times. McGivern, a white man raised in Mobile, Alabama, presented a friendship between the characters and the idea of a racial utopia. As Belafonte jokes in the 2009 post-screening Q&A presented on Kino Lorber’s lavish special edition blu-ray, “We didn’t think it would play as written.”
A fervent activist in the Civil Rights Movement, Belafonte created HarBel Productions not only to give himself deeper roles, but to put the conversation at the forefront of his art. “I was an activist who became an artist,” Belafonte once said. “I saw theatre as a social force, as a political force.” He developed a deep friendship with Martin Luther King Jr., becoming one of his most trusted confidants. Throughout his career, Belafonte broke racial barriers and spoke out against segregation, poverty and oppression. The BFI named Belafonte’s performance in Odds Against Tomorrow among the 10 essential black performances in film noir and neo-noir. Belafonte describes the efforts of HarBel productions in the disc’s special feature as a, “black business coming at the studios at their own level.”
The story focuses on the theft of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars (which translates into over half a million in today’s dollars). Former cop Burke (Ed Begley) identifies the mark, a bank some 100 miles up the Hudson river in the town of Melton. Burke recruits bigoted ex-con Earl Slater (Robert Ryan) for the heist, but Slater hesitates when he learns that the third member of the trio, nightclub entertainer Johnny Ingram (Belafonte), is black. As the men get close to a big score, Earl’s hatred threatens to ruin the job. Filled with wonderful noir dialogue – “They’re not gonna jump me like an old car.” – and a cast of desperate characters trying to rise above their circumstances, Odds Against Tomorrow is the last great noir of the decade. When the film first arrived in October of 1959, it was largely (and sadly) overlooked. Outside of giving away the entire plot of the film, New York Times’ critic Bosley Crowther praised the performances and Wise’s direction in his review, but also states, “Mr. Belafonte seems a sort of hero and Mr. Ryan appears a hateful thug—all of which cannot be too helpful to the cause of race relations as a whole.” Another review of the time called it, “A thriller that makes a peculiar case for racial integration.”
Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan and Ed Begley all deliver perfect performances as the lead trio. Shelley Winters, Kim Hamilton and Gloria Grahame round out the cast, each making the absolute most of their minor parts - as does actor Richard Bright, who brings gay visibility to the gangster Coco. That’s James Earl Jones’ father Robert Earl Jones as the jazz club employee. Incidentally, both Robert Ryan and Shelley Winters are former Film Review contributors. Ryan initially turned down the part of bigot Earl Slater because he felt he had played too many similar roles (notably the 1947 noir Crossfire), but was won over by Belafonte and Wise. The project led Belafonte to introduce Robert Ryan to Martin Luther King Jr., with Ryan becoming very supportive of their cause. Director Robert Wise uses infa-red film to brilliant effect, giving an ominous quality to the proceedings. It would be the last film the director would shoot in black-and-white in the standard aspect ratio. Dede Allen served as the film’s editor and would go on to edit other classics such as The Hustler, Bonnie and Clyde, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Breakfast Club.
The film was released on blu-ray disc by the now defunct Olive Films in 2018 and now returns in an essential special edition from Kino Lorber. The disc’s gem is the nearly hour-long conversation with the late Harry Belafonte, which is recorded from a 2009 post-screening Q&A. There is a new audio commentary by author/film historian Alan K. Rode, who provides some wonderful background on the professional and personal lives of the cast, as well as the film itself. As Rode states in his commentary, the cliche critics’ often apply to a film by calling it ‘groundbreaking’ truly does apply to Odds Against Tomorrow. A must-have release from Kino Lorber.
Odds Against Tomorrow was released on blu-ray 9 January from Kino Lorber.
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KINO LORBER has been a leader in independent art house distribution for over 45 years, releasing 35 films per year theatrically, which have garnered seven Academy Award nominations. The company also brings over 350 titles to home entertainment each year through digital and physical media releases. Most recently, the company has expanded its own direct digital platforms through the acquisition of leading international series streamers MHz Choice and Topic, as well as the launch of Kino Film Collection, a subscription service for film lovers showcasing new releases direct from theaters plus curated international, indie, and documentary films and newly restored classics from the Kino Lorber library.
