Wenig Chancen für morgen

Robert Wise's Odds Against Tomorrow grinds along to an inevitable conclusion, but offers a great performance by Ed Begley as Dave Burke, an ageing ex con looking to set up one last job. Filmed in black and white in winter in New York (both the city and a small-town upstate venue where the bank is) it has a drabness that permeates the whole film. Robert Ryan plays racist small-timer Earle Slater, who must team up with Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte) a jazz singer/vibraphonist who owes gambling debts to mobster Bacco played by Will Kuluva. Shelley Winters plays Slater's girlfriend Lorrie, a lonely woman with a steady job trying to buy his affection. Their relationship is based more on mutual need than love, her for sex and him for the money and company. Begley as Dave Burke must referee between his two cohorts. The racial tension between Slater and Ingram is carried to the extreme, and in the end it is what does in the heist. The subdued jazzy musical score combined with the bleak photography make this one moody movie. While the ending for Begley is pure drama, for Ryan and Belafonte it is too ironic for its own good, a clear example of the so-called message interfering with the plot, or maybe the message was the plot.

Odds Against Tomorrow is a sharp little Black-and-White noir caper movie. Robert Ryan is very good as a southern accented hateful bigot. He's teamed with the sharp dressed, compulsive gambler Harry Belafonte. Belafonte financed the movie. No doubt that's why the bouncy jazz soundtrack is so good. The movie's pairing of the two builds to an explosive finale following the heist that goes about as wrong as it could. Also starring Ed Begley is the leader of the gang. He's also excellent as the one man keeping the caper on track and keeping the two crooks from killing each other.

Here's what Begley says after one of Ryan's racial slurs:

"Don't beat out that Civil War jazz here, Slater! We're all in this together, each man equal. And we're taking care of each other. It's one big play, our one and only chance to grab stakes forever. And I don't want to hear what your grandpappy thought on the old farm down in Oklahoma! You got it?"

A worthwhile caper for fans of noir or Belafonte.

Influenced by the more comic The Asphalt Jungle

Good low budget heist film. Ryan's character is one of the ugliest portrayals of a white racist in film. Belafonte's character is one of the most multi-faceted and complex potrayals of an African American up until that time, and the performance doesn't date at all. Wise keeps the pacing taut and the suspense high. There's great black and white location shooting in New York City and upstate in Hudson, New York. Other things of interest: it's written by black-listed Abraham Polonsky under a pseudonym (check out his great "Force of Evil"); Cicely Tyson appears in a bit part; Richard Bright portrays a pretty overt homosexual for the time; early use of a zoom lens and infrared photography; edited by Dede Allen; some interiors shot at the old Gold Medal Studios in the Bronx.

In New York, the former cop Dave Burke (Ed Begley) summons the veteran Earle Slater (Robert Ryan) and the jazz musician Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte) to heist a bank in a small town. Slater is financially supported by his woman Lorry (Shelley Winters) and feels uncomfortable with the situation. Johnny is a compulsive gambler and owes a large amount to the shark Bacco (Will Kuluva), who is threatening his ex-wife and his daughter. They both are reluctant to accept the invitation, but they need money and accept to participate in Burke's plan. However Slater is racist and does not trust in Johnny.

"Odds against Tomorrow" is a suspenseful crime drama with the story of the preparation and execution of a heist of a bank. Directed by Robert Wise and with magnificent performance of Robert Ryan, the plot discloses the racism in America in 1959. The racial tension between the characters performed by Robert Ryan and Harry Belafonte is increasing reaching the climax in the tragic conclusion. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available on Blu-Ray or DVD.

Oscar-winning director Robert Wise ("West Side Story", "The Sound of Music") directs Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters and Ed Begley to masterful performances in this grounbreaking, revelatory film. Earl Slater (Ryan) is a bigoted small-time petty thief with a supportive but hapless live-in lover (Winters). Johnny Ingram (Belafonte) is a down on his luck hustler/drummer who gets involved with a bank robbery scheme with Dave Burke (Begley). Slater is also in on the heist, but must come to terms with his racist views with Ingram in order to pull off the plan. This is an incredibly clear-eyed, no holds barred look at the kind of segregation that was alive at the time, with superb performances by all, including Gloria Grahame as Ryan and Winters' love-starved neighbor, Helen, and Kim Hamilton as Belafonte's ex-wife, Ruth. The film dosen't resort to theatrics to build its tension; that comes naturally, due to excellent ensemble work by the cast, a great jazz score by John Lewis and Joseph C. Brun's gritty camerawork. An influential, brilliant film, not to be missed. ***1/2