ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (1959)

To generalize wildly: With Civil Rights issues coming to the boil across the country in the 1950s, two prospective Black leading men (both born in ‘27) were primed for stardom: Sidney Poitier & Harry Belafonte.  Hollywood town big enough for two of us, but apparently no more.  But where Poitier got stuck with most of the ‘credit-to-his-race’ roles, Belafonte (more able to pick & choose thanks to his singing career?) took on less of the social burden.  He also formed his own production company.  Here’s how the difference showed: when a Poitier antagonist/co-star called him a nigger, Poitier sucked it up to perform emergency surgery & save the punk’s life.  When Belafonte’s antagonist/co-star called him as a nigger, Belafonte sucked up the insult and went ahead to rob a bank with the creep.  And as films with once progressive attitudes tend to age quickly while genre movies, especially film noir, last forever, Belafonte’s characters are rarely dated in conception.  So it goes for this Robert Wise/Abraham Polonsky noir stunner, an undersung bank robbery-gone-wrong classic, loaded with tasty New York locations (Big Apple & Upstate), phenomenal suspense, crystal clear action set pieces, and just a couple of unforced errors (one stolen/one facile) right at the end.  Ed Begley’s the retired NYC cop who comes up with the plan; Robert Ryan the aging violence-prone, racist WWII vet running out of options to keep up with younger girlfriend Shelley Winters; Belafonte the debt-ridden jazz musician running behind on payments to the mob and his ex-wife & daughter.  Wise in particular seems to be walking in clover thru the entire film, thrilled to experiment away from studio production heads.  (Is this the director’s only non-studio system film?)  Imagine if WEST SIDE STORY looked more like this film.  It might have been as good as everyone says it is.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  Two years off the screen, and then another two years off after this, Gloria Grahame had acquired a bad rep, but she’s awfully good here as a sexy neighbor vamping Ryan.  And, speaking of vamping, check out the gay mob guy making something of a play for Belafonte.  Unusual at the time even for a non-studio film.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  Most available copies & streamers show in full-frame Academy Ratio (1.37:1).  But the film would have likely been cropped down to show in 1.85:1.  Note the generous framing top & bottom, along with an occasional boom-mike shadow.