Thu 21 Mar 2019
Movie Review: SUDDENLY (1954).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Suspense & espionage films[11] Comments
SUDDENLY. United Artists, 1954. Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason, Nancy Gates, Kim Charney, Willis Bouchey, Paul Frees. Screenwriter: Richard Sale. Director: Lewis Allen.
This, I am sure, was quite the thriller in its day, and anyone can see why. A gang of three killers commandeers a house overlooking the railroad station in the small town of Suddenly. Why? The President of the United Stated is scheduled to transfer trains there that afternoon, and the three men, led by Army vet John Baron (Frank Sinatra), know this and have been hired to kill him.
In the Benson household are a grandfather, his daughter-in-law, whose husband died in the war, and his young grandson Pidge. Joining them during the siege is the local sheriff (Sterling Hayden), who has had his romantic overtures to Pidge’s mother rejected. Since the death of her husband she has turned pacifist. Pidge is not even allowed to play with guns.
All the ingredients of the story that are needed are in the paragraph above, save one. We never learn who hired the assassins, nor why. In terms of the story, it’s not really necessary. The point is, rather, that the Bensons’ house is no longer the safe haven it used to be. Can they improvise and use their brains to find a way to survive?
I may be among a small minority on this, but I don’t believe the movie stands up very well. To me, the suspense is all but nil, with no real sense of urgency, the dialogue is often didactic and forced, and no, I don’t believe that Frank Sinatra was a very good actor. Lots of personality, yes, but unless he was playing an obvious clone of himself, his performances on the big screen have always seemed affected and overdone to me, and Suddenly is no exception.
March 21st, 2019 at 7:19 pm
This pales in comparison to later films on the subject, but then firsts in any genre often do. Prior to this a film plot even suggesting the assassination of a contemporary President was taboo. Other than Lincoln and one film that references the McKinley assassination (THIS IS MY AFFAIR where the assassination is not part of the plot but the President’s death is) you have to go back to one about the President being kidnapped to even find a film dealing with the subject obliquely.
And whatever else you can say about it, that last line, like the one from THE BIG HEAT, still has tremendous bite.
But I grant this one is more interesting historically and in terms of Sinatra’s performance than as a suspense film today.
March 21st, 2019 at 8:17 pm
Steve, I agree with you n every particular. David, I am not sold on either The Big Heat or its last line. Never have been. I think Ford’s character just wants a cup of coffee….simplistic? certainly, but it is the movies.
March 21st, 2019 at 9:05 pm
Barry,
Horse races and all that, but the last line in SUDDENLY is clearly on purpose.
March 21st, 2019 at 9:52 pm
David, do you mean Baron’s last line? Not the movie’s last lines, which I found forgettable. (Or at least I have.)
March 21st, 2019 at 11:53 pm
Steve, The Manchurian Candidate just popped into my head, and in that, Sinatra was wonderful. Obviously, what he could be and often enough, was not.
March 22nd, 2019 at 1:11 pm
Barry
I have not seen CANDIDATE since it first came out. All I remember about it is that I enjoyed it and nothing about in particular about Sinatra’s performance. This may be a good sign! Perhaps Frankenheimer was able to get more from him than other directors did.
March 22nd, 2019 at 9:39 am
David, do not dispute the final line(s) in Suddenly. My observation is strictly about Bannion’s (Glenn Ford)exit line in The Big Heat.
March 22nd, 2019 at 3:06 pm
This sounds like a swipe of Key Largo(?) where gangsters take over a household to wait out a hurricane so they can escape. One wonders why Sinatra (and Elvis) wanted to be in movies when they obviously lacked the chops. They should have stuck to what they could do — singing.
March 22nd, 2019 at 7:35 pm
It’s rare that Hollywood has never made a remake. The basic idea is very good. I imagine a band of thugs from the suburbs of Los Angeles entering the house of a family of millennials and vegans, trying to kill the Big Blonde Wig as it passes through the city… A little crude, right?
March 22nd, 2019 at 8:06 pm
There was a remake of Suddenly which came out in 2013, Johny but I may like your version better. Here’s the plot line as copied from IMDb:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2569236/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ql_stry_2
Four rogue Secret Service agents, led by one named Baron, commandeer the house of war-widow Ellen. Her home is a prime sniper position for their plan to assassinate the President on his visit to the small town of Suddenly. The men fool the local cops except for one, Todd. A washed-up former war hero and deputy who is now the town drunk, Todd served with Ellen’s deceased husband and has developed romantic feelings for her over the years. But she rebuffs his advances. Todd visits the house and is immediately suspicious of Baron, but no one will listen to the ravings of a drunk. Once Todd realizes what is going on, he manages to kill one of Baron’s crew, but is captured. Now he and Ellen must find a way to stop Baron and his men before they kill the President.
Ray Liotta … Tod Shaw
Erin Karpluk … Ellen
Dominic Purcell … Baron
Don MacKay … Pete
Cole Coker … Pidge
Tyron Leitso … Wheeler
Michael Paré … Conklin
Steve Bacic … Dan Carney
3.6 stars out of 10 (awful)
March 23rd, 2019 at 6:00 am
Ok, ok, I did not know it, I’m going to look for it. Thanks for the information!