Le coup de l'escalier

Bigotry undermines this unholy trio's effort to execute the ultimate robbery. The actors whipped up for this illegal exercise are played by Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan and Ed Begley. The volatile chemistry between the three desperate fellows fuels this bleak film noir from the late Fifties. Once again, there is some gorgeous on location photography in Manhattan, especially Central Park. Fine Jazz and Calypso music are served up at the smoky club where Belafonte works. Crooked camera angles and cluttered set direction contribute nicely to a claustrophobic atmosphere. The apartment building where Begley resides has a weird elevator that has multiple exit doors as well as an operator who likes to talk about the wind piercing the elevator shaft. The dames--Gloria Grahame and Shelly Winters--are rough but warm around the edges. Wayne Rogers makes his debut in a small role as a braggart in a bar. Stick around for the killer final and be blown away.

An adaptation of a novel by William P. McGivern, "Odds Against Tomorrow" is a perfectly absorbing example of socially conscious crime-noir. Ed Begley plays Dave Burke, a disgraced former cop who recruits two other participants for a bank job. Earl Slater (Robert Ryan) is a two-time loser with a frustrated girlfriend (Shelley Winters), and Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte) is a nightclub entertainer with a weakness for playing the horses. Both are in serious need of some cash, but tensions between the two will be inevitable, because Johnny is black and Earl is an unrepentant racist.

Vivid portraits of the personal lives of Earl and Johnny are created in a film that functions mainly as a character study. The big bank heist doesn't take place until the final quarter hour of the film. But director Robert Wise, who moved from genre to genre with ease during his career, guides it all in style. Wise gets excellent performances out of his entire cast. Supporting roles are played by Gloria Grahame (Earls' neighbour Helen), Will Kuluva (the mobster Bacco), Kim Hamilton (Johnny's ex-wife Ruth), and Richard Bright and Lew Gallo (as two of Bacco's henchmen). In small roles, both credited and uncredited, you'll see the likes of Wayne Rogers, Zohra Lampert, Robert Earl Jones, Barney Martin, Mel Stewart, and Cicely Tyson. Anchoring the tale are three highly engaging portrayals by Begley, Belafonte, and Ryan. The latter shines in one of his notable antagonist roles; Earl is such a pathological bigot that it undermines his effectiveness when push comes to shove.

"Odds Against Tomorrow" is strikingly scored, by John Lewis, and photographed, by Joseph C. Brun. Familiar names among the crew include renowned editor Dede Allen and costume designer Anna Hill Johnstone. The screenplay is the work of Nelson Gidding and the blacklisted Abraham Polonsky, who was originally credited under a pseudonym.

This is gripping entertainment that doesn't waste time, wrapping up in a taut 97 minutes. The finale is truly explosive stuff, with a very pertinent comment on humanity right at the end.

Eight out of 10.

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.

Nowadays Robert Wise has been restored to critical favor.It was about time.An eclectic talent,he tackled sci-fi (the day the earth stood still),musicals (west side story) ,social topics (I want to live),film noir (this one),horror("haunting" is better than any horror film I can think of).He invented the movie "in real time":"the set-up" occurred more than ten years before "Cleo de 5 à 7".

"Odds against tomorrow" is one of these films that seems better today than before.Influenced by John Huston (the asphalt jungle),it did influence French director Jean-Pierre Melville(le samouraï,le cercle rouge).Wise's movie represents the twilight of film noir,the dead end (check the last picture),the terminus of the genre.

It's the story of a hold-up,but action aficionados will not be satisfied.Wise wants to communicate a whole context,he wants to detail his characters to a fault.How many directors would dare that today?Robert Ryan's part is very complex.First he seems friendly,but further acquaintance shows a lack of self-confidence (he's getting old,he's a washout,he wants to go for broke) .And he is a racist.Rarely,this obnoxious feeling has been depicted with such wit.Why is he so?No answer,no explanation,he's racist,period.The ending which I will not reveal of course demonstrates (watch out for the two last lines of dialogue,they are simply fantastic!),the absurdity of this cancer of our societies.Harry Belafonte is on a par with Ryan:he's a gambler down on his luck,and he,too,is enduring personal turmoil:his wife wants to break off communication with him,not only because he lives in a dangerous world,but,because he sticks with his black brothers(the songs in the cabaret are telling;and the way Belafonte uses the xylophone as drums is too)This wife ,like Sarah-Jane in "imitation of life" (released the same year),is dreaming of a "white" life.Their couple is doomed whatever they may do.Ed Begley,always smiling,beaming ,is the threesome's troubleshooter.In his own way,he seems wise (no joke intended),the good guy that wants to retire after the hold-up.

Then,just before the action scenes,suddenly,the earth stands still(again,no joke intended)The atmosphere becomes unusual,poetic,almost pastoral:Belafonte watches the river flow and finds a broken doll in the sludge:he certainly thinks of this life he could have lived with his little girl.Besides,children shots frame the movie as a symbol of a long gone innocence;at the beginning,Ryan meets some on them on his way to Begley's flat;and just before the bank scene,some of them are playing cops and robbers with toy revolvers.While Belafonte is wandering along the river,Begley looks at a statue (a Christ?)and reads a strange and sadly unprophetic inscription carved into the stone.Ryan watches a rabbit,he aims at it,we hear a shot:it's only a tin can.

THe hold-up does not interest Wise.Like the true auteurs,it reduces it to another event,not more important than Ryan's fight with the soldier. And all these pastoral vignettes echo to the urban,almost abstract set where the drama is resolved.There's something apocalyptic here,recalling Walsh's "White heat",the main difference being that James Cagney's character was psychotic and Ryan's and Belafonte's are "ordinary".

This peak of the film noir ,not necessary appealing because drifting too far from the shores of gangsters' paraphernalia,should not be missed.Like most of Wise's movies ,it will still improve with time.

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