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October 7, 1954
October 7, 1954
Image Entertainment
NR (Not Rated)
Lewis Allen
Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason, Nancy Gates, Kim Charney, Paul Frees, Christopher Dark, Willis Bouchey, Paul Wexler, James O'Hara, Kem Dibbs, Clark Howat, Charles Smith, Dan White, Ted Stanhope, Roy Engel, John Beradino, Charles Wagenheim, Richard Collier
"8 out of 10 volumes for "Asian Teens" series."
- WinkJunior, gave it a 5/5
Directly in the wake of his Oscar-winning comeback in From Here to Eternity, Frank Sinatra took on the role of a psychopathic hit man in this taut, low-budget film noir. The choice shows how interested Sinatra was in serious acting during the mid- to late '50s; there's nothing remotely likable about this angular, neurotic assassin. He's in the small town of Suddenly to kill the president, who is passing through on a quick train stop. Sinatra makes hostages of a local family and sheriff Sterling Hayden, and the film is basically a countdown to the president's arrival, with Sinatra's patter getting loonier as the day goes on. Aside from the interest of Sinatra's performance (very focused and downright perverse at times), and the film's place in the American noir tradition, Suddenly is uncannily prophetic on the subject of assassination. It's clear that the killer is doing it for the fame as well as the money, a theme that would crop up in later confessions of real-life killers or would-be killers. Perhaps the 1954 film was too prophetic; like Sinatra's Manchurian Candidate, this movie was pulled from circulation for years after the JFK assassination. According to Kitty Kelley's bio of Sinatra, Lee Harvey Oswald saw this film a few days before he took rifle in hand. Now in the public domain, Suddenly is generally available in cheap, scratchy prints. --Robert Horton - Amazon.com
See the legendary Frank Sinatra as you've never seen him before in this taut, terrifying thriller that was suppressed for decades! When the President is slated to pass through a small town, murderous John Baron (Sinatra) decides to take over the tranquil Benson household as part of chilling assassination plot. Can this madman be stopped before the country is thrown into turmoil? - Description
