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A devious plot to kill the president

9pm SUDDENLY (1954) Crime drama starring Frank Sinatra and Sterling Hayden - In the city of Suddenly, three gangsters trap the Benson family in their own house, on the top of a hill nearby the railroad station, with the intention of killing the president of the USA.https://youtu.be/XWsnx3D2690 In post-war America the President of the United States is scheduled to journey through the small town of Suddenly, California. Claiming to be checking up on security prior to his arrival, a group of FBI agents arrive at the home of the Bensons, on top of a hill that looks down upon the station where the presidential train is scheduled to stop. However, they soon turn out to be assassins led by the ruthless John Baron (Frank Sinatra), who take over the house and hold the family hostage.  https://youtu.be/2h1B186hrHATRIVIA:  

  • This is the film that Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly watched just a few days before assassinating President John F. Kennedy.

Lee Harvey Oswald arrest card, 1963
Credit Wikimedia
Lee Harvey Oswald arrest card, 1963

  • The production company that made the movie was Libra Productions. "Libra" is also the title of a book that is a fictionalized version of the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, also allegedly a presidential assassin.
  • In the colorized version Frank Sinatra (Ol' Blue Eyes) is given brown eyes.

 

1954 Nash Ambassador sedan
1954 Nash Ambassador sedan

  • The State Police drive 1954 Nash Ambassador sedans.

 

SUDDENLY, Nancy Gates, Sterling Hayden, Frank Sinatra, 1954
IMDb /
SUDDENLY, Nancy Gates, Sterling Hayden, Frank Sinatra, 1954
SUDDENLY, Frank Sinatra, 1954
IMDb /
SUDDENLY, Frank Sinatra, 1954

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Mia Laurenzo is a 30-year veteran of public television in Miami. She began her career learning every aspect of video production. Currently she is a writer, producer, on-air host and promotions coordinator for TV, radio and the web. Her experiences include producing for a series, special events and historical documentaries. As a native Floridian, she is a perfect fit for South Florida's Storyteller Station, WLRN. She has produced award winning, nationally distributed documentaries like Journey to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade where one year she followed a high school band and a clown as they prepared for the big day and the next year, she had the privilege of being a clown herself. Previously, she produced Weird Florida: On the Road Again, a sequel to the highly successful show Weird Florida: Roads Less Traveled, where the cast and crew travel over 1,500 miles searching the Sunshine State’s weirdest and wackiest places. On a more serious note and what she considers to be her most important work, she produced Out of Darkness, Into Light, a documentary on child sexual abuse,which delved into the lives of three adult survivors, a show in which she was awarded her first of two Emmys.