Suddenly (1954) [DVD]

Sinatra, Underrated Actor, 16 Feb 2006

By 

Paul D “Paul” (Darwen, Lancashire) –

  

Suddenly is a small town in America, a small town in which nothing much happens. Until today. The President is due to make an unscheduled stop in Suddenly, and the townsfolk are joined by Secret Service agents there to ensure the President’s safety. They, however, are not the only newcomers in town: a gang, led by Frank Sinatra, are there on an entirely different mission: to kill the President. He and his two accomplices take over the house of a young widow, whose husband died in the war. Also there are her son, her father in law, the local sheriff, who is in love with her, and a visiting repairman.

This film is a revelation. In other circumstances, Sinatra could have become a top actor rather than a singer. The performance he gives here is masterful, creepy and edgy; he insists that he is not a traitor: in the war, he won a Silver Star. Now he sells his loyalty for cash. His only motivation is the payment he will get from his actions, even though he realises that the President is no more than a figurehead: as soon as the President is killed, another man will take over. This knowledge is what turns this film from a run-of-the-mill thriller into something special.

There are some old-fashioned homilies about loyalty and doing one’s duty, even if that means dying for one’s country, ideas which may not sit well in today’s world. The setting, mainly in one house, gives the film a claustrophobic feel, with characters getting on each other’s nerves.

Sinatra had this film withdrawn when it became known that JFK’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, had watched the film not long before carrying out his assassination. Whether this really had an effect on his actions will never be known, but the situation it presents, and the planning which went into it, certainly make it possible.

This is an underrated and highly watchable film.

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Suddenly – the movie, 2 Jan 2010

By 

Dr. H. A. Jones “Howard Jones” (Wales) –

  

  

Suddenly – the movie

Three would-be presidential assassins, led by John Baron (Frank Sinatra), arrive in the small California town of Suddenly – so-called because `It’s the way things used to happen around here’. As their vantage point, they take over a house owned by retired Secret Service agent Pop Benson (James Gleason), living with his widowed daughter-in-law Ellen (Nancy Gates) and her son (played by Kim Charney). But the assassins hadn’t reckoned on interference from the town sheriff Tod Shaw (Sterling Hayden) and a troup of newly arrived Secret Service men.

This black-and-white movie released in 1954 was withdrawn for several years at Sinatra’s request after the assassination of his friend John F. Kennedy. It is only 75 min long and the sound and picture quality are poor by present-day standards, but it is tense throughout that time and all the cast play their parts well. Some aspects of the Sinatra character, and even some of the dialogue he has, were reprised when he played arranger Barney Sloan in Young At Heart. The film score was composed by David Raksin, already known for his score of another thriller, Laura (1944). That theme became so popular that Johnny Mercer provided lyrics to the piece.

For what it is, this film is still thoroughly recommendable, despite its shortcomings.

Young At Heart [DVD]
The Man With the Golden Arm [DVD]

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