Suddenly (1954 Film)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Suddenly'' is a 1954 black and white American noir
crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
directed by Lewis Allen with a screenplay written by Richard Sale. The drama stars
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
and
Sterling Hayden Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor, and Marine. A leading man for most of his career, he specialized in Westerns and film noir throughout the 1950s, in film ...
, and features
James Gleason James Austin Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter born in New York City. Gleason often portrayed "tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold." Early life Gleason was ...
and
Nancy Gates Nancy Gates (February 1, 1926Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. .P. 471. – March 24, 2019) was an American film and television actress. Early ...
. The story concerns a small California town whose tranquility is shattered when the train of the president of the United States is scheduled to make a stop there, and a hired assassin and his henchmen take over a home that provides a perfect vantage point from which to assassinate the president.


Plot

A train carrying the president of the United States is scheduled to make a stop in the small town of Suddenly, California. Claiming to be part of the FBI detail checking up on security before the president's arrival, three men arrive at the home of the Benson family: Ellen, an over-protective war widow, her young son “Pidge”, and her father-in-law, “Pop” Benson. The house is on top of a hill overlooking the station, making it a perfect perch from which to shoot the president. However, it soon becomes clear that the men are not government agents but assassins, led by the ruthless John Baron, who take over the house and hold the family hostage. Sheriff Tod Shaw arrives with Dan Carney, the Secret Service agent in charge of the president's security detail. When he does, Baron and his gangsters shoot Carney dead and a bullet fractures Shaw's arm. Baron straightens his arm and lets him go to the bedroom where Mrs Benson puts his arm in a sling. All are threatened that Pidge will be shot if they do not keep quiet and Baron boasts about the Silver Star he won in the war for killing a large number of the enemy. He explains that he has nothing against the president but is being paid $500,000 to kill him and money is his only motive. He has already been paid half up-front. Pop had broken the TV earlier and phoned the TV repair man, Jud, who now arrives and is made to join the others. Baron sends one of his henchmen down to the station to check on the president's schedule, but he arouses the suspicion of the police and is killed in a shootout. Meanwhile Pop pretends he has heart pains and sends Pidge to look for pills in his dresser. There Pidge sees his grandfather's loaded service revolver and exchanges it for his toy cap gun. Now the hostages try to appeal to Baron's patriotism, but he makes clear that he has none. But when Baron is confronted by the sheriff on the risks of killing the president, including whether he will ever see his money, Baron's remaining henchman begins to show some reluctance to go through with the assassination. For Baron, however, these are the least of his concerns, and it soon becomes clear that he is a
psychopath Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality Construct (psychology), construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with boldness, bold, disinhibited, and egocentrism, egocentric traits. These traits are often ma ...
dismissed from the army for his love of killing. The assassins have mounted a sniper rifle onto a metal table by the window overlooking the tracks. Jud, under the guise of fixing the TV, discreetly hooks the table up to the 5000-volt plate output of the family television. Pop Benson then intentionally spills a cup of water on the floor beneath the table. Although the hope is that Baron will be shocked and killed in this way, it is his henchman who touches the table first and is electrocuted, reflexively firing the rifle repeatedly and attracting the attention of the agents below. Baron shoots and mortally wounds Jud, disconnects the electrical hook-up and aims the rifle as the president's train arrives, only to see it pass straight through. As Baron gapes in surprise, Ellen Benson grabs the revolver from the top of the dresser and shoots Baron in the abdomen, then Shaw picks up a gun and shoots him a second time. Baron dies appealing for mercy. Outside the local hospital in the aftermath of the incident, Shaw confirms to Ellen that Jud "didn’t make it." Telling Ellen that he needs to go back to his office, Shaw now makes plans to meet Ellen after church the next day, a proposal she had refused earlier, and they kiss. After she leaves, there is a reprise of the opening scene in which a driver stops to get directions and then asks for the name of the town. When Shaw tells him it is "Suddenly", the driver remarks that "that’s a funny name for a town". As the driver is pulling away, Shaw says to himself, "Oh, I don't know. I don't know about that."


Cast

*
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
as John Baron *
Sterling Hayden Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor, and Marine. A leading man for most of his career, he specialized in Westerns and film noir throughout the 1950s, in film ...
as Sheriff Tod Shaw *
James Gleason James Austin Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter born in New York City. Gleason often portrayed "tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold." Early life Gleason was ...
as Peter "Pop" Benson *
Nancy Gates Nancy Gates (February 1, 1926Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. .P. 471. – March 24, 2019) was an American film and television actress. Early ...
as Ellen Benson * Kim Charney as Peter "Pidge" Benson III *
Willis Bouchey Willis Ben Bouchey (May 24, 1907 - September 27, 1977) was an American character actor. Bouchey may be best known for his movie appearances in '' The Horse Soldiers'', '' The Long Gray Line'', '' Sergeant Rutledge'', '' Two Rode Together'', ...
as Dan Carney, Chief Secret Service Agent *
Paul Frees Solomon Hersh Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986), better known as Paul Frees, was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass and Walt Disney the ...
as Benny Conklin (also voice of TV announcer) *
Christopher Dark Christopher Dark (born Alfred Francis DeLeo, April 21, 1920 – October 10, 1971) was an American actor. He graduated from Cornell University and did post graduate work at Columbia University. He served as an army medic in the Philippines ...
as Bart Wheeler * James O'Hara as Jud Hobson (credited as James Lilburn) *
Kem Dibbs Kem Dibbs (August 12, 1917 – March 28, 1996) was a Lebanese-American film and television actor. He was known for playing Deputy Mike Teague in the first season of the American western television series ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp''. ...
as Wilson *
Clark Howat John Clark Howat (January 22, 1918 – October 30, 2009) was an American film and television actor. Life and career Howat was born in Calaveras County, California. He began his career in 1947, appearing in the Broadway play ''The Wanhope ...
as Haggerty * Charles Smith as Bebop * Paul Wexler as Deputy Sheriff Slim Adams *
Dan White Daniel James White (September 2, 1946 – October 21, 1985) was an American politician who assassinated George Moscone, the 37th mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk, a fellow member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, inside San ...
as Burg * Richard Collier as Ed Hawkins *
Roy Engel Roy Engel (born Leroy Englewood Stults Jr.;"Missouri, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLFM-JTCJ : Thu Jul 18 04:43:41 UTC 2024), Entry for Leroy Englewood Stults and V ...
as first driver * Ted Stanhope as second driver *
Charles Wagenheim Charles Wagenheim (February 21, 1896 – March 6, 1979) was an American actor who appeared in over 250 films. Biography Charles Wagenheim was born in Newark, New Jersey, on February 21, 1896. On the small screen he played, among others, the role ...
as Kaplan * John Berardino as trooper


Cast notes

* Frank Sinatra's role in ''Suddenly'' was the first occasion on which he was cast as a "heavy" in a dramatic film.


Production

Writer Richard Sale got his idea for the short story that was the basis of the film from articles in the newspaper about President Dwight D. Eisenhower's visits to Palm Springs, California, by train. There were differences between the story and the film, the most thematically important being that the mother in the story was not bitter about her husband's death in World War II, and in fact, was not present during the assassination attempt, so never had to make the choice the mother in the film has to make: whether to shoot and kill the assassin when the opportunity arises. The exterior scenes for ''Suddenly'' were filmed in
Saugus, California Saugus is a neighborhood in Santa Clarita, California. It was one of four communities (with Valencia, Newhall and Canyon Country) that merged in 1987 to create the city of Santa Clarita. Saugus includes the central and north-central portions ...
, which is now part of the city of
Santa Clarita Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County, the 17th-most populo ...
. Saugus Railway Station, which features prominently, still exists, though not in its original location. At the time of filming Saugus was served by a spur line that branched off from the main Southern Pacific coast line, terminating at Ventura. The spur line operated for almost a century but was decommissioned and torn up during the 1970s. Saugus station closed permanently in 1978, but local residents saved the historic building (opened in 1888) and had it moved to a new location, where it now serves as a museum. The production company, Libra Productions, was producer Robert Brassler's company, and ''Suddenly'' was his first independent film. Previously, Brassler had worked for
Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
.


Reception

When the film was released,
Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...
, film critic for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', liked the direction of the film and the acting, and writing "Yet such is the role that Mr. Sinatra plays in ''Suddenly!'', a taut little melodrama that... tshapes up as one of the slickest recent items in the minor movie league... we have several people to thank—particularly Richard Sale for a good script, which tells a straight story credibly, Mr. Allen for direction that makes both excitement and sense, Mr. Bassler for a production that gets the feel of a small town and the cast which includes Sterling Hayden, James Gleason and Nancy Gates." Crowther especially liked Sinatra's performance. He wrote, "Mr. Sinatra deserves a special chunk of praise...In ''Suddenly!'' he proves it in a melodramatic tour de force." The staff reviewer at ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave the film a good review and praised the acting. He wrote " inatrainserts plenty of menace into a psycho character, never too heavily done, and gets good backing from his costar, Sterling Hayden, as sheriff, in a less showy role but just as authoritatively handled. Lewis Allen's direction manages a smart piece where static treatment easily could have prevailed." The reviewer for ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' wrote about Sinatra's performance that he "superbly refutes the idea that the straight-role potentialities which earned an Academy Award for him in ''
From Here to Eternity ''From Here to Eternity'' is a 1953 American romantic Drama (film and television)#War drama, war drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 From Here to Eternity (novel), novel of the same name by J ...
'' were one-shot stuff. In ''Suddenly'', the happy-go-lucky soldier of ''Eternity'' becomes one of the most repellent killers in American screen history." Film critic Carl Mazek in ''Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style'' (1982) makes the case that the "Machiavellian attitude" of John Baron links the picture with the brutal films noir of the 1950s like '' The Big Night'' (1951) and ''
Kiss Me Deadly ''Kiss Me Deadly'' is a 1955 American film noir produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, and Wesley Addy. It also features Maxine Cooper and Cloris Leachman appearing i ...
'' (1955).Silver and Ward (1982), p. 275 Moreover, he continued:
The sense of claustrophobia and despair unleashed by the assassins in ''Suddenly'' is completely amoral, and totally opposite of the style of harassment found in such non-noir, socially redemptive films as ''The Desperate Hours''
955 Year 955 ( CMLV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August 10 – Battle of Lechfeld: King Otto I ("the Great") defeats the Hungarians (also known as Magyars) near Augsburg (Germa ...
..There are no reasons given, or asked for, regarding the assassination — the entire incident functions as a nightmare, a very real nightmare that invades the serenity of a small town. At the end of the film, it is apparent that the Benson family will never be the same, suddenly scarred by people out of nowhere who irrevocably disrupt their middle-class tranquility.
On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds a contemporary approval rating of 100% based on nine reviews, with an average rating of 6.78/10.


History


Influence

In 1959, five years after the release of ''Suddenly'', ''
The Manchurian Candidate ''The Manchurian Candidate'' is a novel by Richard Condon, first published in 1959. It is a political thriller about the son of a prominent U.S. political family who is brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for a communist conspiracy. T ...
'', a novel written by
Richard Condon Richard Thomas Condon (March 18, 1915 – April 9, 1996) was an American political novelist. Though his works were satire, they were generally transformed into thrillers or semi-thrillers in other media, such as cinema. All 26 books were writte ...
, a former Hollywood press agent, was published. As with ''Suddenly'', Condon's book features a mentally troubled former war hero who, at the climax of the story, uses a rifle with a scope to shoot at a politician, in the case of the novel, a presidential candidate. ''The Manchurian Candidate'' was released as a film in 1962, starring Sinatra, but this time he was trying to prevent an assassination being committed by
Laurence Harvey Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to Union of South Africa, South Africa at an early age, before ...
. Paul Frees, who plays Benny Conklin in ''Suddenly'', served as the narrator of ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (1962). Sinatra asked United Artists to withdraw ''Suddenly'' from circulation because he heard the rumor that
Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at age 12 for truan ...
had seen it before shooting President Kennedy.Stafford, Jeff (ndg
"Suddenly (1954)"
TCM.com Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...
According to Hollywood legend, Sinatra bought up all remaining copies of ''Suddenly'' and had them destroyed, but this was not true. Muller, Eddie (April 8, 2018) Outro to the
Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...
presentation of ''Suddenly''
Sinatra also supposedly wanted ''The Manchurian Candidate'' – of which he was a producer – withdrawn after the assassination, but its disappearance was caused by its having completed a normal film release schedule. A remake of ''Suddenly'', starring
Dominic Purcell Dominic Haakon Myrtvedt PurcellO'Connor, B,Break Out". '' Men's Fitness''. December/January 2007 Issue; retrieved 18 December 2006. (born 17 February 1970) is an Australian actor. He is best known as Lincoln Burrows in ''Prison Break'' (2005 ...
and directed by
Uwe Boll Uwe Boll (; born 22 June 1965) is a German filmmaker. He came to prominence during the 2000s for his adaptations of video game franchises. Released theatrically, the films were critical and commercial failures; his Alone in the Dark (2005 film), ...
, was released in 2013.


Loss of copyright

The film's copyright was not renewed and it entered the public domain; it can be downloaded and viewed for free online. Prior to it entering the public domain, the film was widely available from a number of discount/public domain distributors. ''Suddenly'' was colorized for home video by
Hal Roach Studios Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and, through its TV production subsidiary, Hal Roach Television Corporation, television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and busin ...
in 1986, rendering Sinatra's blue eyes brown. A remastered colorized version by
Legend Films Legend Films is a San Diego–based company founded in August 2001 which originally provided restoration and colorization of classic black-and-white films for TV, theatrical and home video release via Legend Films Home Entertainment Distribution. ...
was released to DVD on June 16, 2009, which also includes a newly restored print of the original black and white film.Amazon.com , a film preservationist based in Paris, completely restored the film from a camera negative for Lobster Films, which released it in 2018.


See also

*
Assassinations in fiction Assassinations have formed a major plot element in works of fiction. This article provides a list of such works. Assassination is the murder of a ''prominent'' person for a motive that is broadly public and political rather than merely personal ...
*
List of films featuring home invasions There is a body of films that feature home invasions. Paula Marantz Cohen says, "Such films reflect an increased fear of the erosion of distinctions between private and public space... These films also reflect a sense that the outside world is mo ...
*
List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, a film has a rating of 100% if each professional review recorded by the website is assessed as positive rather than negative. The percentage is based on the film's reviews aggregated by the webs ...


References

Notes Bibliography * *


External links

* * * * * * {{Lewis Allen 1954 films 1950s crime thriller films American black-and-white films American crime thriller films Articles containing video clips 1950s English-language films Film noir Films about assassinations Films about fictional presidents of the United States Films directed by Lewis Allen Films scored by David Raksin Films set in California Films shot in California Films about home invasion Films about hostage taking Self-censorship United Artists films Film controversies 1950s American films English-language crime thriller films