Vitals

Harry Belafonte as Johnny Ingram, nightclub entertainer-turned-bandit

Upstate New York, Spring 1959

Film: Odds Against Tomorrow
Release Date: October 15, 1959
Director: Robert Wise
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today is the first anniversary of Harry Belafonte’s March 1, 1927 birthday since the multi-talented entertainer’s death last April at the age of 96. In addition to a singing career that popularized Calypso music around the world and his tireless activism, Belafonte acted on screen in more than a dozen films spanning over 65 years.

One of Belafonte’s standout performances is also from one of the coolest movies of the 1950s: Odds Against Tomorrow. This Robert Wise-directed film noir features Belafonte as Johnny Ingram, a New York nightclub entertainer whose gambling addiction leads to his recruitment into an upstate bank heist with ex-cop David Burke (Ed Begley) and bigoted career crook Earl Slater (Robert Ryan). Continue reading →