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...
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...
- 1/20/2024
- by Chad Kennerk
- Film Review Daily
“Racial Tolerance: It’s Good for America And good for Criminals!” Harry Belafonte’s second production is a noir keeper, thanks to a top-flight cast and sharp direction by Robert Wise. The big heist is on, but Robert Ryan’s anger management problem all but assures doom and disaster. It’s Wise’s last gritty action picture before moving up to big-scale audience pleasers; he pulls off some slick images with film sensitive to infra-red light.
Odds Against Tomorrow
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1959 / B&W / 1:77 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date May 29, 2018 / available through the Olive Films website / 24.95
Starring: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters, Ed Begley, Gloria Grahame, Will Kuluva, Kim Hamilton, Mae Barnes, Richard Bright, Carmen De Lavallade, Lew Gallo, Lois Thorne, Wayne Rogers, Zohra Lampert, Mel Stewart, Cicely Tyson.
Cinematography: Joseph C. Brun
Film Editor: Dede Allen
Original Music: John Lewis
Written by John O. Killens (fronting for Abraham Polonsky), Nelson Gidding,...
Odds Against Tomorrow
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1959 / B&W / 1:77 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date May 29, 2018 / available through the Olive Films website / 24.95
Starring: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters, Ed Begley, Gloria Grahame, Will Kuluva, Kim Hamilton, Mae Barnes, Richard Bright, Carmen De Lavallade, Lew Gallo, Lois Thorne, Wayne Rogers, Zohra Lampert, Mel Stewart, Cicely Tyson.
Cinematography: Joseph C. Brun
Film Editor: Dede Allen
Original Music: John Lewis
Written by John O. Killens (fronting for Abraham Polonsky), Nelson Gidding,...
- 5/29/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
"If John O. Killens was the soldier of darkness, James Baldwin the prophet of darkness, then Bill Gunn was the prince of darkness…" – Ishmael Reed, "Airing Dirty Laundry" (1990) I have not seen Spike Lee's "Da Blood of Jesus" (a remake of Bill Gunn's "Ganja & Hess"), and I doubt if I will for some time. I already wrote last month when I went public with development plans for my latest work, "Octavia: 'Elegy for a Vampire" that I felt it was odd that Jim Jarmusch and Spike Lee had both released vampire films as I was just about to start one. I thought I might have gone the way of “fashion.” But of course I realized...
- 7/18/2014
- by Dennis Leroy Kangalee
- ShadowAndAct
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