Suddenly (1954)

In the city of Suddenly, three gangsters trap the Benson family in their own house, on the top of a hill nearby the railroad station, with the intention of killing the president of the USA.

Director:

Lewis Allen

Writer:

Richard Sale (written for the screen by)

Stars:

Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Frank Sinatra	...	John Baron
Sterling Hayden	...	Sheriff Tod Shaw
James Gleason	...	Pop Benson
Nancy Gates	...	Ellen Benson
Kim Charney	...	Peter Benson III - 'Pidge'
Willis Bouchey	...	Dan Carney
Paul Frees	...	Benny Conklin
Christopher Dark	...	Bart Wheeler
James O'Hara	...	Jud Hobson (as James Lilburn)
Kem Dibbs	...	Wilson (as Ken Dibbs)
Clark Howat	...	Haggerty
Charles Smith	...	Bebop
Paul Wexler	...	Slim Adams

Storyline

The tranquility of a small town is marred only by sheriff Tod Shaw's unsuccessful courtship of widow Ellen Benson, a pacifist who can't abide guns and those who use them. But violence descends on Ellen's household willy-nilly when the U.S. President passes through town... and slightly psycho hired assassin John Baron finds the Benson home ideal for an ambush.

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Plot Keywords:

train | police | widow | gun | small town | 

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Taglines:

SINATRA... tears loose with a gun in his hand! SINATRA... out to get the No. 1 man in the nation! SINATRA... as a kill-hungry hoodlum!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Attentäter

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Libra Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After the film was withdrawn from circulation, there was a failure to renew the copyright and it fell into the public domain. As a result, in the early years of home video, the film became widely available from a number of discount/public domain labels

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Goofs

The TV repair man is listed in the credits as "Jud Hudson" but when asked his name when he arrives to fix the TV, he says his name is "Jud Kelly".

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Quotes

[first lines]
First Driver: Officer, can you tell me the way to Three Rivers?
Slim Adams: About two miles to the first main intersection, then turn left. It's about sixty miles.
First Driver: Thanks, what town is this?
Slim Adams: Suddenly.
First Driver: Suddenly what?
Slim Adams: No no, that's the name.
First Driver: [laughs] That's a funny name for a town.
Slim Adams: Uh huh, hangover from the old days; that's the way things used to happen here, suddenly.
First Driver: I see.
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Mother's Day 2010 (2012)

User Reviews

Old Blue Eyes Elevates a B film

I'm at a loss to explain why Frank Sinatra chose this particular project in the wake of all the acclaim he got for From Here to Eternity. Without his presence in the film, Suddenly with its length of 75 minutes on my VHS version would be a B film, even with Sterling Hayden starring in it as the sheriff. My guess is that Sinatra wanted to expand and test himself as an actor, something he did less and less of in the following decade.

The President of the United States is coming to the small town of Suddenly where he will leave the train he's traveling on and proceed by motorcade to a vacation in the Sierras. The Secret Service has come to town to do their usual thing in protecting the Chief Executive.

But three contract killers headed by Frank Sinatra are in town to kill the president. We're never told exactly who is paying for this contract, but the inference is that it is our Cold War enemies. Through a combination of circumstances the sheriff is wounded and the head of Secret Service detail, Willis Bouchey, is killed. And the killers are holed up in Nancy Gates's house with her, her father-in-law James Gleason, and child Kim Charney and the wounded Hayden.

Most of the film is taken up with the wait for the train to arrive where a lot of souls are bared open, including Sinatra's. It's the one and only time that Francis Albert ever essayed the role of an out and out villain. He does it well, but I suspect he didn't want to push it with his public too much, so he never did anyone as evil as this again.

Of course history tells us that the president named Eisenhower at the time never was an assassin's target so we know Sinatra's efforts will fail. However it's rather ingenious as to how it does fail.

I think more than fans of old Blue Eyes will like Suddenly.