Odds Against Tomorrow 1959

David Burke [Ed Begley] is a former policeman ruined when he refuses to cooperate with state crime investigators. He asks Earle Slater [Robert Ryan], a tough ex-con and racist, to help him rob a bank, promising him $50,000 if the robbery is successful. Burke also recruits Johnny Ingram [Harry Belafonte], a nightclub entertainer who doesn’t want the job but is deeply in debt due to gambling. Slater is supported by his girlfriend Lorry [Shelley Winters], who stands by him as they weigh the risks and rewards of pulling off the heist.

As the plan moves forward, the trio grows tense. Ingram’s reluctance to join clashes with Slater’s insistence on sticking to the plan, and Burke’s manipulative push for speed and precision. Burke’s involvement becomes increasingly risky, while Slater—who has his own dark edge—begins to question the odds and the loyalties of the men around him. The pull between desperation and principle threads through every conversation, and the stakes feel higher as the group edges closer to the moment of the crime.

On the night of the robbery, the three crooks manage to enter the bank and escape with the stolen money. Burke is spotted by a police officer as he leaves the scene, triggering a chaotic pursuit and a fatal exchange of gunfire. Burdened by fear and pride, Burke shoots himself to avoid capture, leaving Slater and Ingram to face the consequences without their comrade.

The pursuit continues as Slater and Ingram clash while trying to outrun the law. They flee to a fuel storage depot, racing each other onto the tops of towering fuel tanks. Gunfire erupts, and the tanks ignite, bringing a massive explosion that consumes the men and the evidence of their crime. When investigators finally survey the wreckage, the burned corpses of Slater and Ingram are indistinguishable from one another, blurring the lines between victim and perpetrator.

The film closes with a stark, foreboding image: a sign at the depot entrance reads STOP—DEAD END, a final, haunting reminder of how ambition, desperation, and bad choices can lead to a shared downfall.