YMMV / Suddenly

• Common Knowledge: The connection between this film and the assassination of John F. Kennedy has led to a lot of mythology about it. One is that it was Lee Harvey Oswald's favorite movie and he watched it shortly before the assassination (no one's been able to confirm this, though it did play on television at least once in 1963). Another is that Frank Sinatra (who was JFK's friend before having a falling out) ordered the film to be taken out of circulation after the assassination and tried to destroy every print of it (Sinatra didn't own the rights and could do nothing to suppress it. It may have gotten mixed up with Sinatra taking The Manchurian Candidate out of circulation after its release, but that was mainly a business move on his part and had nothing to do with the assassination). Frank Sinatra Jr. thought the latter rumor originated with Sinatra writing a letter to ABC executives complaining about their plans to air the movie in late 1963, less than a month after the assassination, which Sinatra and others considered in extremely poor taste.
• Harsher in Hindsight: An unhinged military veteran sets up a high-powered rifle in front of a window overlooking a transportation route where the President of the United States is scheduled to arrive, as part of an evil plot to kill the President. It's incredible how close this film came to predicting the JFK assassination except in the film the plot is thwarted because the train doesn't stop. Even more so, since Tod warns John that no presidential assassin has ever gotten away with the crime (which, depending on how you feel about the Who Shot JFK? question, was either harshly reinforced by Jack Ruby murdering Oswald, or ironically subverted).
• He Really Can Act:
  • Since he'd won an Oscar, Frank Sinatra's acting ability wasn't really in doubt, but seeing him play a nasty villain proved that he had a good acting range.
  • Paul Frees is pretty good in a straight, dramatic acting part where he only got to use his natural voice.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Sinatra as a menacing villain, the JFK similarities, and the novelty of seeing legendary voice actor Paul Frees in a fairly substantial live-action acting role might be the main draws for people to see the film today.
• Special Effects Failure: A notorious one in one of the colorized prints—John Baron, played by the man nicknamed Ol' Blue Eyes, was given brown eyes.
• Unintentional Period Piece:
  • Made at that point in The '50s when television was almost universal, but small towns still had telegraph operators on duty to receive special messages.
  • The sleepy small town exteriors were filmed in the then-rustic Santa Clarita Valley, now a fully built-out suburb of Los Angeles.

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