Against All Odds Details

A terrific heist movie, grimly told and well performed, with a tough racist subtext that makes for compulsive viewing. Executive produced by Harry Belafonte and directed by master craftsman Robert Wise, it benefits from a high-octane cast headed by Belafonte himself, with Robert Ryan as the bigoted ex-con at his throat. There's also fine nervy back-up from Shelley Winters as Ryan's wife, Gloria Grahame as his mistress and Ed Begley as the disgraced ex-cop who has the idea for the robbery. While the cast vividly brings William P McGivern's dime novel to life, it is the edgy score by Modern Jazz Quartet pianist John Lewis and the editing of Dede Allen, who would later work on The Hustler and Bonnie and Clyde, that make the movie memorable. Interesting, too, that Ryan, a real-life liberal, is largely recalled today for his roles as a bigot in both this movie and in Crossfire.

This places itself in much the same category as Jim McBride's Breathless - a glossy remake of an old and much loved... read more on Time Out