Suddenly (1954)
Director - Lewis Allen
The Plot
It was just a small quiet California town, but things used to happen suddenly in Suddenly. That's how it got its name. It was part of the old Wild West. But the joke goes that now everything happens gradually. Until once again, suddenly...
A telegraph message comes into the railroad station office. The President of the United States will be making a whistle stop in the little town.
That's the news for Sheriff Tod Shaw (Sterling Hayden), the town sheriff who wants to marry the gun phobic war widow. The widow's little son is the town sissy.
Johnny Baron (Frank Sinatra) arrives on the scene as a paid assassin. He takes the sheriff and the widow's family hostage. The waiting begins and the tension mounts...
Film Notes
A Post-War Hangover
The code word for the President's journey through the west is "hangover." Suddenly exposes the post-war world as a big hangover, a world not so black and white as memory recalls, where not all veterans, or war wives, survived with flying red, white, and blue colors.
Somewhat reminiscent of Key Largo, this little film explores the power behind the gun with an unexpected tension and intelligence.
Speaking Frankly
In 1952 Frank Sinatra was at the ebb tide of his career. His vocal cords had hemorrhaged, his singing career seemed done, and he was dropped by his talent agency.
His movie career up until that time had been lightweight - musicals and comedies, mostly second banana roles. The story goes that he begged on his knees for the role Angelo Maggio in From Here to Eternity (1953). His effort won him an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor. In 1955 he ripped up the screen as a drug addict in Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm (1955).
In between these two landmark films, he appeared in Suddenly, a small budget gem of movie.
The Kennedy Connection
Shades of Lee Harvey Oswald, Sinatra's role in Suddenly was that of a discontented war vet turned presidential assassin. In the 1962, Sinatra produced the original The Manchurian Candidate, also about a presidential assassin. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, The Chairman of the Board used his now heavyweight Hollywood influence to remove both of these films from theatrical and television distribution for many years.
Sterling Silver Films
When Sterling Hayden first came to the attention of American film-goers he was trumpeted as Hollywood's "Beautiful Viking God." But after the World War II he became a king of first-class B movies. Mr Hayden starred in such notable films as John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, The Killing, and Dr Strangelove (both by Stanley Kubrick). He also starred as the title character in Nicholas Ray's insane cult classic - Johnny Guitar.
And the Word Was Made Celluloid
Richard Sale was the archetypal Hollywood screenwriter. Not only did he write countless screenplays, he also wrote over 450 novels, novellas, and short stories. His screenwriting career began after his novel Strange Cargo was turned into a very strange Clark Cable/Joan Crawford film.
His last film credit was Assassination (1987), this time about a plot against a first lady.
-- Ed Schneider
Cast & Production Credits
| Frank Sinatra | John Baron |
| Sterling Hayden | Tod Shaw |
| James Gleason | Pop Benson |
| Nancy Gates | Ellen Benson |
| Paul H. Frees | Benny Conklin |
| Willis B. Bouchey | Dan Carney |
| Christopher Dark | Bart Wheeler |
| Kim Charney | Peter "Pidge" Benson III |
| Ken Dibbs | Wilson |
| Clark Howat | Haggerty |
| Lewis Allen | Director |
| Robert Bassler | Producer |
| Richard Sale | Screenwriter |
| Charles Clarke | Cinematographer |
| David Raksin | Composer (Music Score) |
| John Schreyer | Editor |
| Paul F. Sylos | Art Director |
| Howard Bristol | Set Designer |
| Jack Masters | Costume Designer |
| Willard Buell | Makeup |
| Louis de Witt | Special Effects |
| Jack R. Rabin | Special Effects |
| Herman Townsley | Special Effects |
| Hal Klein | First Assistant Director |
