Suddenly : Just saw this movie tonight for the first time!!

The Manchurian Candidate was on PBS and then this movie was on right after. I must say I REALLY enjoyed it!!! I too, don't particularly care for Sinatra's acting but he was great in Suddenly, and also I thought his performance in The Manchurian Candidate was great too.

They just don't make movies like those of the 50's any more! I love B & W movies most of all (and I'm only 36).

Be well everyone!

I recently saw this for the first time, myself. I agree, this was a great movie. Too bad it's never really gotten the recognition it deserves.



http://armedrobbery.blogspot.com/

Couldn't agree more!


"You're on stakeout, Callahan!" - Magnum Force

Sinatra signed on for this, I think, before he made "From Here to Eternity." Had this film been released first, I wonder if he wouldn't been nominated for it instead. It is unlike any performance he ever did before or after. He is sadistic in this movie, but with a pathetic self-pitying twist that sends shivers down one's spine. The rest of the cast was good, particularly Gleason, but Sinatra makes this movie.

that's true, the best movies are the B & W ones. nowadays movies are excuses to show computer generated effects. plots suck.
I love Suddenly! I love Frank Sinatra performing! He really looked like a gangster!

I just saw it for the 1st time yesterday too on Joost (joost.com). It's a pretty good movie. I liked the wife's acting, but Sinatra didn't really catch the role that well. I think he oversold the 'sadistic' role too much. I do like the plot, and the Grandfather was great. B&W movies are da BESSSST!

'Suddenly' is a bad film with laughable dialogue (even for noir or the crime films genre) and a series of unlikely idiot plot points towards the end. Not every B&W movie is a classic. Every bad to mediocre film seems to have its own fanboys on imdb and apparently this film is not exempt. It appears that for every dumb teenager saying 'OMG this is liek the coolest movie everz' about some badly written recent CG crapfest, there is a senile old fart acclaiming some badly written, lame black & white film is a 'classic'. Get wise, people.

The Manchurian Candidate - now THAT was a classic. I could also name dozens of films noir that are much better than 'Suddenly', including the brillaint noir heist film "The Killing" (which also had Sterling Hayden, but in a better role and much better cinematography and writing).

-

If you're watching 'Fullscreen' DVDs, you aren't getting the whole picture.

Ah blow it out your tubenburbles, you're just mad because Baron didn't live to make his plane or collect the other half of his money. This movie is an underrated classic and deserves more recognition than it gets, and also more recognition than ANY crap action movie that comes out today.

I'm not mad that he didn't make his plane and collect his other half of the money, he'd have to kill the president, so no. I'm completely fine with all the hitmen being killed. I just think the way they did it was REALLY lame. It's not that they failed their mission, it's the number of unlikely stupid mistakes they made to fail it. Even today's mediocre action movies don't have a third act with as many brainless plot points as this film. I wouldn't suggest today's action movies, but rather some of the many well-made and more intelligent films noir. Decent Sinatra performance, but otherwise it's crap.

-

If you're watching 'Fullscreen' DVDs, you aren't getting the whole picture.

Something to consider.

In 1954, we really didn't know what these guys were like or how they behaved because we hadn't seen interviews with John Wayne Gacy, Lee Harvey Oswald or (especially) Charles Manson. Truman Capote hadn't written "In Cold Blood" yet. Sinatra created a character that, based on what we've seen since the film was made, was pretty accurate for the most part.

Sinatra's character said that killing made him "somebody" - does that seem far-fetched? That's what Mark Chapman said about murdering John Lennon.

Another thing to think about - how were "insane killers" portrayed in earlier films? If Sinatra's acting seems crude or unbelievable, consider how ridiculous Richard Widmark's giggling Tommy Udo is in Kiss of Death or Neville Brand's sadistic killer in the original D.O.A.

Just watched this for the first time and completely blown away by Sinatra's performance. He caught the true character with a spine tingling reality. I've seen quite a few Sinatra flicks, but this one is so far from his real persona that it shows what an incredible talent this guy had.
He's chilling in his portrayal of the banality of evil in a time where no one was keen to confront reality like this head on.

Death_to_Pan_and_Scan

We all can't be smart like you. People do all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons. That is what makes life interesting. If everyone were predictable, we wouldn't need movies, as we would know what was going to happen already.

OK, we get it. You don't think this movie is a classic, and you think The Manchurian Candidate is a classic. I am wondering why you feel the need to state that on so many different threads though out these postings.

The Manchurian Candidate was made eight years later, and being almost a decade newer would of course reflect better movie making technique.

Of course The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind are both older than this, so good movies were possible. I seriously doubt Suddenly had the budget of either of those films or The Manchurian Candidate.

For what it is, "uber patriotic" dialog and all, I found it to be a tight well paced movie. It held my interest to the end, and was at the least, an interesting piece on the times. Sure some of the acting is less than what we have come to expect. And there are some other lesser errors as well. None really detract too much from it IMO.

I really did just see this movie for the first time about an hour ago.

I enjoyed this movie. And isn't that what it is about?

You're right about one thing. Not all black & white movies are true classics. There were plenty of bad movies in every decade movies have been made. This is not one of those. It is not a masterpiece the way that "The Manchurian Candidate" was (and even masterpieces have their detractors), but it is an entertaining B-movie thriller with a superb Sinatra performance. Actually, it's among his most effective acting on film. Some people don't like him or his music, or his movies, but he was a very good actor.

There is a distinction to be made here. During the 1950s, there was still a thing known as the "B-movie" which was intended as a quickly-made entertainment to be shown alongside an "A-movie" that had tons of money poured into it. "Suddenly" was probably not intended as an award-winning classic, even when it was being made. Most likely it was made fairly inexpensively, but with a reliable cast and a then-cutting-edge thriller story. It received good notices, but it wasn't one of Sinatra's major hits that decade.

Still, we shouldn't dismiss the film just because it isn't Best Picture material. To call it bad is inaccurate. It moves along at a nice pace, contains some good performances and entertains. It's like comparing "Fracture" to "The Silence of the Lambs." Good performances, a clever yet familiar story, but merely entertaining rather than one for the history books. "Suddenly" functions the same way when compared with "The Manchurian Candidate." They're both considered thrillers, and both feature assassins (as well as great Sinatra performances) but one is a masterpiece while the other is merely an entertaining film.

This tasteful movie gives the mind an austere joy.

Well, I liked it.

Great movie. I've forgotten how much fun these film noirs can be.







Live Long and Prosper!

I've always considered Sinatra to be a good actor, not just in this film and The Manchurian Candidate, but in lots of others such as From Here to Eternity, Pal Joey, The Man With the Golden Arm, Come Blow Your Horn, The Devil at 4 O'Clock, Some Came Running, The House I Live In, etc.

He won two Oscars, several Golden Globes and about two dozen other awards, and was nominated for a dozen more. What don't you like about his acting?

Sinatra made a great sociopath/borderline psychopath, didn't he?

Definite spine chiller. As mentioned Sinatra really brought a real life twist to the portrayal compared to some of the earlier ones. I suspect Hollywood was
still on the unwritten rules like not 'glorifying' the bad guy so make him large but depraved in some ways so he usually deteriorates toward his bad end.
Suddenly has a guy moving around normally, almost anyone. Creepy that way.
This one is a keeper.

Just saw Nightfall, 1957. That's another one not seen that much and also
deserving of a viewing by b/w fans. Bit larger & later than many of the noir crimers but has its own style.
Suddenly, and Nightfall. Have to admire the 50s US sensibility of rolling back the rug to the underside. For sure neither Russia or China would have been able to do that. Maybe Italy or France since their post WW II films were a strong influence on US filmmakers in tone if not warts & all manner. The gangster motif was seen as US arena. More or less took Belmondo and New Wave to develop a European take on this material.

I just saw Suddenly again and had forgotten how terrific a little movie it is. As I recall the first time I saw it, it was a colorized version, and the b&w is much more effective. Good cast and dialogue that hits home, especially from the Sinatra character. Sterling Haydens sheriff is sort of the bright mirror to his Dix Hanley of Asphalt Jungle from a few years earlier. I dont know if Id call this film noir, maybe marginally so, as it has some of the noir ingredients: the caper idea (sort of), criminals as main characters, disturbed (to say the least) main protagonist.
But ultimately this is Sinatras movie, and what a performance. Now that I think of it, John Baron is basically a twisted, intensified version of the Maggio character Sinatra played in From Here to Eternity. But overall, a chilling, scenery chewing (in a restrained sort of way) performance that showed how good an actor Sinatra was.