Odds Against Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Odds Against Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 29, 2018

Robert Wise's "Odds Against Tomorrow" (1959) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. There are no supplemental features on the release. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

As easy as a walk in the park

Desperate men do desperate things, and sometimes the unlucky ones lose everything. This is the simple message of Robert Wise’s classic film noir Odds Against Tomorrow.

An aging player named Dave Burke (a superb Ed Begley) hires two men who urgently need money to help him rob a bank in upstate New York. The first, Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte), is a jazz musician who has allowed his gambling debts to cripple his life. After a long series of losses, he has finally been given an ultimatum by a tough loan shark (Will Culuva): pay back what you owe in twenty-four hours, or get a big beautiful hole in the forehead. The second guy, Earle Slater (Robert Ryan), is a vet who has recently realized that he is running out of time to do something meaningful with his life. He’s got a woman (Shelley Winters), but the only thing that he can offer her is his bed.

The men meet in Burke’s apartment, where the old-timer explains to them why the entire operation will be like a walk in the park. His partners seem to trust his plan, but not each other -- Slater does not like working with blacks, while Ingram can’t stand loose cannons with ‘old-fashioned values’. Burke nearly loses them.

After a full day of soul-searching, the men meet Burke again and agree to keep their emotions in check until they finish the job and distribute the loot. For a while, the truce and Burke’s plan seem to work perfectly, but then Lady Luck abruptly changes her mind.

The film is very gloomy, almost to the point of being unbearably depressing, but it also has an unapologetic macho attitude that makes it very attractive. This is the reason why the three men who organize the robbery and then go to work never even remotely appear like cinematic characters, they are just desperate gamblers with serious flaws who have decided to roll the dice and see if they can get away with a bag of cash that can change their lives.

It is essential to make it clear that the gloominess is not a product of intended stylization of the kind that plenty of film noirs rely on when they build their atmosphere. It is achieved while giving Slater and Ingram plenty of time to justify their decision to join Burke, and in the process casually document the fast crumbling of the foundations that their lives are built upon. So by the time Slater and Ingram agree to ignore each other, it is already painfully obvious that these men are so desperate that they are truly ready to risk everything.

Gloria Grahame has a small role as a frustrated wife who is fully aware that Slater has a dark past but nevertheless chooses to make love to him while his partner is away. This is arguably the only melodramatic sequence in the entire film.

Wise secured the services of cinematographer Joseph Brun, who had recently lensed the impressive Cinerama production Windjammer: The Voyage of the Christian Radich.

Odds Against Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Robert Wise's Odds Against Tomorrow arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The release is sourced from a recent 2K remaster that was prepared by the British Film Institute. However, keep in mind that the Region-B release is actually framed in 1.37:1. Obviously, there are some pretty important discrepancies between the two releases in terms of composition/framing. (On the Olive Films release some of the framing during the opening credits looks quite tight now).

The entire film has a very solid organic appearance -- there are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. Density could be better, but even on a very large screen depth remains very pleasing throughout the entire film. The grading is also very convincing. The daylight and nighttime footage boast strong primaries and very good ranges of proper organic nuances (I have taken two different screencaptures, #3 and 9, which demonstrate perfectly the convincing balance). Image stability is very good. My one and only minor criticism pertains to the presence of sporadic tiny white flecks and a few stains, which the BFI easily could have eliminated when the remaster was finalized. Other than that the technical presentation is indeed lovely. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Odds Against Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Stability and clarity are very good. However, there are a few areas where tiny pops can be heard in background. While they are never distracting, this is something that would have been addressed during an elaborate restoration. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report.

Odds Against Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are no special features to be found on this Blu-ray release.

Odds Against Tomorrow Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are two kinds of men who willingly risk their lives: the fools who believe that they are invincible and begin playing dangerous games with Lady Luck, and those who have hit rock bottom and are frantically trying to bounce back. Robert Wise's classic film noir Odds Against Tomorrow is about a couple of desperate men who choose to roll the dice to do the latter. It is a very gloomy film, almost to the point of being unbearably depressing, but it also has an unapologetic macho attitude that makes it very attractive. Olive Films' new Blu-ray release is sourced from a recent wonderful organic remaster, but there are no special features on it. Regardless, this is the release of the film to own. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.