Odds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions, a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky used a front, John O. Killens, a black novelist and friend of Belafonte's. In 1996, the Writers Guild of America restored Polonsky's credit under his re...
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Odds Against Tomorrow is a 1959 film noir produced and directed by Robert Wise for HarBel Productions, a company founded by the film's star, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte selected Abraham Polonsky to write the script, which is based on a novel by William P. McGivern. As a blacklisted writer Polonsky used a front, John O. Killens, a black novelist and friend of Belafonte's. In 1996, the Writers Guild of America restored Polonsky's credit under his real name.
Odds Against Tomorrow is the first noir with a black protagonist. It was the last time Wise shot black and white film in the standard aspect ratio, which "gave his films the gritty realism they were known for". French director Jean-Pierre Melville credited this film with being a formative influence on his work and made references to it in his films.
The drama tells of David Burke (Ed Begley), a former policeman ruined when he refused to cooperate with State Crime Investigators. He has asked hard-bitten, racist ex-con Earl Slater ...
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