NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

JohnHowardReid A film that I did catch on first release - unlucky me! - Odds Against Tomorrow (1963) proved to be 76 minutes of stifling boredom which eventually came to a top 20 minute action climax and a homage to James Cagney's White Heat (but not Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, as implied by the title). Unfortunately, you can't capture an audience by casting all five of your star leads as unsympathetic characters, unless at least one of them displays Cagney's charisma. You can enthuse critics maybe, but paying picturegoers, no! At the theater screening I attended, we started off 58 at the morning session, but only I remained at the bitter end. There were some good things in the movie too - all the Melton material was great - but the writers, the director (Robert Wise) and the players (Ryan, Begley, Winters and Belafonte) drove the audience away beforehand. (The M-G-M DVD rates no more than 7/10. The image is cropped on the left hand side).

Martin Bradley Robert Wise may have won his Oscars for those elephantine musicals about street gangs and singing nuns but everyone knows he did his best work in a number of terse black and white noirish thrillers and dramas that reminded you he once edited "Citizen Kane" and "The Magnificent Ambersons". He made "Odds Against Tomorrow" in 1959 and it's a classic heist movie as well as one of the more forthright films of its period to deal with racism which, in this case, is the principal cause of thieves falling out. The 'bad guys', in that they are forced to steal for a living, are Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan and Ed Begley and it's Begley's idea that they should rob a small-town bank. The problem is that Belafonte is an African-American and Ryan is a racist and we know it can only end in tears. Others in a good cast include Shelley Winters and Gloria Grahame, (both given too little to do), and if you pay attention you might spot Zohra Lampert and Cicely Tyson amongst others. Joseph C Brun did the superlative cinematography and the blacklisted Abraham Polonsky worked on the screenplay.

Dennis Bell 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.

TedMichaelMor "Odds Against Tomorrow" embodies and, I suppose, calumniates "film noir" though as a sort of message or propaganda movie. Propaganda here is not pejorative but descriptive even to the extent that the film ends with excellent if blunt irony.I think that I most enjoy the high contrast cinematography by Joseph C. Brun, though, perhaps, none of it is technically innovative. It simply embraces and exploits a rich tradition. I very much liked the scenes shot in Central Park. I enjoy watching this one with the sound off simply to celebrate the look, but an excellent jazz score by John Lewis is another joy.The casting is outstanding. Ed Begley has a stony, rough face that defines the tone of the work. Robert Ryan always distinguishes himself. And Harry Belafonte is well into his campaign to remake America. I love Shelly Winters, especially in a scene when he prepares to go out to work to take care of Slater.Gloria Graham with just an open coat and a black bra with her pout defines sexual vulnerability. We sometimes forget her range. Robert Wise always seem in charge in his films. The screenplay by Abraham Polonsky sounds authentic.There is even an appearance by Wayne Rogers as a soldier in an early performance in his career. I think this is an almost lost classic. It deserves attention.