Suddenly (1954) - Lewis Allen

Lewis Allen's Suddenly takes place in the tranquil spaces of small town America, where Tod Shaw, the sheriff of the town of Suddenly, unsuccessfully attempts to court Ellen Benson, a widow and pacifist who shows no tolerance for guns and those men who use them.  The tranquility of their small town experience becomes threatened by the arrival of John Baron, a veteran of the United States military, who along with his skilled crew and mercenaries intend on assassinating the U.S. President as he passes through the town.  A psychotic individual, John Baron brings violence to the doorstep of Ellen's household, holding the widow and her son hostage, as he and his crew pinpoint Ellen's home as the ideal location to carry out the assassination.  Featuring a memorable performance by Frank Sinatra, as the enthusiastically smooth, criminal mastermind, Lewis Allen's Suddenly is a well-paced, meat-and-potatoes style narrative which touches on some interesting ideals centered around masculinity, violence and evil.  Early on in Suddenly it becomes apparent that Ellen wants her young son to have nothing to do with guns or any type of tool which could be used for violence, even arguing with the sheriff, Tod Shaw, about her son's desire to own a toy gun.  While Ellen remains steadfast in her view, Tod Shaw, as well as Ellen's father-in-law, argue that the young boy should be exposed to such things, viewing it as an maturation process into understanding good vs. evil, he importance of standing up for oneself, and always being prepared.  In a way, one could argue that Ellen is terrified of her own son's budding masculinity, with the toy gun offering a quasi-crash course in masculinity if you will, one that Ellen resists, unable to even fathom the idea of her son suffering a similar fate in times of war that her husband did.  In Suddenly, Frank Sinantra's John Baron character is stone cold killer, a man who shows little empathy for anything or anyone outside of his own personal interests.  An ex-soldier himself, John Baron has no second thoughts about assassinating the president of the United States, even quipping at one point to Ellen as she pleads for him to be reasonable, "show me a guy with feelings and I'll show you a sucker".  John Baron is symbolic representation of an exaggerated masculinity, one which has been completely stripped away of any sense of empathy or feeling, intent simply on getting what he wants through any means necessary.  John Baron is a character who provides the counterbalance to this young boy's brooding masculinity, and I'd even go as far as to argue that Suddenly is one of the most fair and interesting examinations of masculinity intentional or not, one that highlights both the positive attributes such as toughness, but also the negative aspects such as the empowerment which guns have have on the male ego, as well as the misogyny it can create.  The story itself is a simple and gripping thanks to Sinatra's enthusiastic performance but it's what Suddenly says about evil that really stands out, acknowledging that violence and pure evil exist in this world, and sometimes traits associated with masculinity such as toughness and standing up for ones convictions, are necessity in the battle of good vs. evil.  Lewis Allen's Suddenly is a film that intentional or not provides an important reminder that masculinity in itself is not a bad thing, as it is completely detached from the definitions of good and evil.

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