Customer Reviews

Suddenly

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Frank Sinatra is riveting as a cold-hearted hit man obsessed with his spurious war record, who traps a family in their house, along with a few others that get caught in his net, as he plots to assassinate the president, who is making a stop in Suddenly, California, on his way to Los Angeles. It's a great character study, and Sinatra pulls it off flawlessly, making this a taut thriller, with a quiet, folksy beginning that turns into a nightmare.

Sinatra followed his Oscar Award winning performance in "From Here to Eternity" with this film, which unfortunately hasn't been seen much, and one of the reasons is Sinatra himself; he was horrified to know that Lee Harvey Oswald had watched "Suddenly" shortly before the Kennedy assassination, and requested the film be pulled from distribution.

Co-starring Sterling Hayden who is excellent as Sheriff Tod Shaw, it has well paced direction by Lewis Allen, a crisp script by Richard Sale, and a score by David Raskin. There have been other films with this type of hostage scenario like the '55 Humphrey Bogart "Desperate Hours" and its 1990 remake, and this is up there with the best.

My DVD copy is of the inexpensive variety, a little blurry with imperfect audio (distributed by VINA) but is still fascinating viewing.

Filmed almost entirely in one room, it holds one's attention, mostly due to Sinatra's superb performance.

Total running time is 75 minutes.

One of two Frank Sinatra movies that dealt with assasination. The other was "Manchurian Candidate." In this one Frank is the bad guy. Sterling Hayden shows no signs of the future characters he will play in major films of the 60s and 70s (Dr. Strangelove, Godfather). Hayden is just the hick town by-the-book sheriff with the Barney Fifeish assistant. This is not a great movie but it moves along nicely and never gets boring. It has some good "what if" situations. It also has wonderful footage of old cars and trains. This would make a good double feature with "Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" because one film pushes the pro gun totin' policy, and one is opposed to the use of weapons. It may surprise you which is which. This is not the best movie of the 1950s but the issues raised are still out there. Tom Willett

I first saw this movie at the Chicago Art Institute about 10 years ago double-billed with "The Manchurian Candidate." The latter movie is one of the great films of all time, and by far Sinatra's best. "Suddenly" is something quite different. Sinatra's performance here is outstanding. He is thoroughly believable and engrossing as the Oswald-like John Barron. Given this performance, it is rather surprising to me that most of the other actors' acting is so terrible and flat. The non-Sinatra scene dialogue seems like it was written by a b-level 50's t.v. writing team - on the level of "The Adventures of Superman" or "The Lone Ranger." But the scenes with Sinatra are very well written and carried out, particularly the interchanges between Sterling Hayden and Sinatra (which really make up the core of the film, the rest is just filler). In fact, these scenes are so good, I forgive the rest of the film while remaining amazed how bad the rest is.

I do want to reiterate one warning made by some of the other reviewer's of this particular DVD version (Madacy Entertainment). The price is hard to fight with, but the film copy they transferred to the DVD was very poor quality. The sound is often very poor (the non-Sinatra scene dialogue sounds very much like it was dubbed in latter), and there are awkward jumps in the film itself, i.e., where it looks like the film either broke and was spliced together rather half-hazzardly, or the sprockets skipped or something. Unfortunately, one of these skips comes during one of the best scenes where Sinatra is talking about how "he hates crowds, and used to dream about that crowd". It seems no one at the company making this DVD bothered to watch it while the transfer to DVD was occurring. Perhaps one of the other DVD versions has a better print, but in lieu of knowing that, my advice would be to videotape the movie next time it is on AMC or TMC - they seem to have better prints of it.

I bought this as "new & remastered" as advertised and this DVD actualluy arrived unwrapped and in an obviously used dvd container. The lable on the cover and dvd are self printed, looks like a home job. Not what i expected when i was promised something "new" and "digitaly remastered". Kind of embarrasing to give as a gift like I had intended. it looks home-made, is not wrapped in plastic and sealed. And despite the other reviews I'm seeing mine would not play in my new dvd player. The picture was fuzzy & largely pixilated. If you plan to purchase this I hope you have better luck than I did!

While the Roach edition of "Suddenly" may have a better picture quality than other releases, the overall transfer is disappointing. It has numerous video issues, along with splices and one instance where there appears to be a small amount of missing dialogue. Have not seen a better overall print yet.

This is a great slice of Americana, a true "Period Piece." Sinatra was a competent actor and probably could have paid the bills this way even if he hadn't been a remarkably talented singer. It's not everybody who can pull off a menacing tough-guy when he weighs 118 soaking wet. This film presents itself in stark tones both visually and thematically. Patriotism, courage, honor, sacrifice. The words necessary to make that into a sentence would only sully the higher meaning; and that's the feeling you get as you watch this film. It is sparse, but self-assured. Think of it as the lost episode of "The Andy Griffith Show."

This 1954 film is one of my favorite films. It is a Film Noir and it stars Frank Sinatra! What a great combination. Sinatra plays the bad guy and he does agood job at it, too! His acting is authentic and very smooth. "Suddenly" is about an assassination attempt on the President. A picture is worth a thousand words, so watch the picture, you won't regret it. At least I didn't!

The president is scheduled to make a stop in a small town called Suddenly, and Sinatra and his buddies are hired hitmen who plan to bump him off when he arrives. In order to carry out their plan, they take over the house of a widow, her son, and her father-in-law, holding the inhabitants hostage.

Sinatra's speech about guns and God is a classic, and the allusions to nefarious government plots will have the conspiracy junkies wetting their pants. I wouldn't be surprised if the NRA funded this picture. Four stars.

The Western town of Suddenly was once bustling with gold prospectors, but "things happen so slow now, the Town Council is figuring to change the name to Gradually." That is until one day when the President of the United States schedules a stop in Suddenly and professional assassins aim for it to be his last. Town Sheriff Tod Shaw (Sterling Hayden) is notified that the President will be arriving on the 5 o'clock train. A team of Secret Service men arrive to make sure the town is secure. But 3 assassins led by John Baron (Frank Sinatra) are a step ahead of them. They take over the Benson house that sits on a hill overlooking the train station and hold the family hostage, terrorizing and threatening retired Secret Service man "Pop" Benson (James Gleason), his widowed daughter-in-law Ellen (Nancy Gates), and her young son Pidge (Kim Charney), waiting for the train carrying the President to arrive.

Frank Sinatra's cold-blooded, loquacious assassin John Baron is "Suddenly"'s driving force. He's amoral, self-absorbed, and only in it for the money... and the self-respect. Baron mocks even his clients who paid him so much money to shoot a President who will be replaced in a matter of minutes. John Baron is an interesting enough guy to listen to -thanks to Frank Sinatra's intensity, but the character is striking because this film was released in 1954, when a World War II hero was in the White House and the nation was enjoying the prosperity that war had brought. Yet John Baron attributes his killer instincts to his experience as a soldier, for which he was awarded a Silver Star. He says of killing in the Army, " They taught me how, and I liked it." "After the show I hooked up with an outfit for good dough." Screenwriter Richard Sale emphasized the irony in a presidential assassin who learned to kill by fighting for his country. On top of that, John Baron is played by a draft evader.

Frank Sinatra makes "Suddenly" tick, but he has a nice foil in tall, handsome Sterling Hayden, whose Sheriff exudes warmth in contrast to Sinatra's assassin. Nancy Gates' primary role as Ellen is to be overprotective of her son Pidge, which she does convincingly and with great conviction. Actor Jim Lilburn, playing television repairman Jud Hobson, provides a little accidental comedy when his Irish accent comes through at moments of high emotion. Lilburn was Maureen O'Hara's brother and also went by the stage name James O'Hara. "Suddenly" is a tight, entertaining little thriller driven by Frank Sinatra's star power. Its violent, cynical veteran is considered by some critics to place the film within the definition of film noir.

The DVD (Refers to the Master Movies/Parade 1998 disc only.): This is not a restored print of the film. There are specks and fine lines, and the picture flickers a few times around the 1 hour mark. Bonus features are: "Critical Comment", which is test excerpts from a few reviews. There are short text bios for director Lewis Allen, composer David Raksin, writer Richard Sale, cameraman C.G. Clarke, James Gleason, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Gates, Sterling Hayden. Subtitles are available for the film in Japanese.

I've only seen the b/w version and it's an excellent film. Sinatra is chilling as a heartless assassin -- it's hard to remember he's really a beloved crooner. He's a very good actor and it's surprising that this film isn't better known. Moreover, the movie raises issues that are still relevant: mysterious forces behind presidential assassinations, what can ordinary citizens do in the face of evil? what should mothers do when their kids want to play with guns? It's also a reminder of a day when most American men had served in the military or were familiar with guns. It's a snapshot of a small town America that existed 50 years ago but is now vanishing.