Review of Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) by John H — 14 Apr 2011

I've had a mixed reaction to Robert Wise's "late noir". True, it is a rather bleak bank heist film (which I like) and it provides some social commentary about the horribleness of racism (which is important) but somehow it has little or no "edge".

Robert Ryan is brutal and a loser, Harry Belafonte is cool (but not really a loser), and Ed Begley is weirdly charismatic as the ex-cop ringleader, but Wise's style seems to slow the picture down (despite his montage editing), aiming for some grandeur perhaps, that distorts the film's central story about a few desperate losers on the down and out trying to make a big score to solve their problems.