 | Starring: Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason, Nancy Gates, Willis Bouchey Director: Lewis Allen Format: Black & White Full Screen PAL Released: 21 Jan 2002 RRP: Average Rating:  |
This film is a revelation. In other circumstances, Sinatra could have become a top actor rather than a singer. The performance he gives here is masterful, creepy & edgy; he insists that he is not a traitor: in the war, he won a Silver Star. Now he sells his loyalty for cash. His only motivation is the payment he will get from his actions, even though he realises that the President is no more than a figurehead: as soon as the President is killed, another man will take over. This knowledge is what turns this film from a run-of-the-mill thriller into something special.
There are some old-fashioned homilies about loyalty & doing one’s duty, even if that means dying for one’s country, ideas which may not sit well in today’s world. The setting, mainly in one house, gives the film a claustrophobic feel, with characters getting on each other’s nerves.
Sinatra had this film withdrawn when it became known that JFK’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, had watched the film not long before carrying out his assassination. Whether this reallly had an effect on his actions will never be known, but the situation it presents, & the planning which went into it, certainly make it possible.
This is an underrated & highly watchable film.
The US president is changing trains in a smalll town. The local police chief is entrusted with the secret & given the task of making sure everything runs smoothly. Overlooking the station is the home of a widow whom the policeman is wooing - this is the 1950's, it's quite coy. He buys her son a cap pistol - she is outraged that he should be encouraging the boy to play with guns.
But there are others about to appear who have no worries about playing with guns. Frank Sinatra plays a former soldier, a sniper in World War 2, a fractured, disturbed individual who found a role & a purpose when he had a gun in his hand ... & who is now a professional assassin intent on gunning down the president.
In places, a tense, well-paced drama, much of the action takes place within the widow's sitting room. It can be a touch claustrophobic in places, the storyline a tad predictable, & some of the acting appears melodramatic half a century down the line.
Not a bad film in its own right, but, even with Sinatra's presence it would likely have remained an obscure B-movie, remembered only to 'Old Blue Eyes' aficionados & film buffs had it not been watched by Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before he assassinated Kennedy.
And suddenly the narrative & dialogue of this film ratchet up several points! The film voices the outrage of ordinary citizens at the concept of killing a president, yet, for Sinatra's character, the president is merely a figurehead, someone who will be replaced by another the instant the bullet strikes ... but that one bullet will earn him a fortune, & make him a somebody. His character is a loner, a man who only reallly discovered an identity in the army, a man who is searching for some purpose or direction. Did that appeal to Oswald? Did it strike a note? Did it tip the balance?
Sinatra had the film withdrawn when he discovered the Oswald connection, & was clearly concerned that he had been an influence. And, watching the film, regardless of your position on the grassy knoll & conspiracy theories, there are some chilling aspects which invest this film with a very sinister provenance.
As a film, as a piece of drama, it's entertaining enough and, despite its obvious age & dated style, it was one of the few films in its day to actuallly make guns, & toy guns at that, a matter worthy of thought, if not concern. It would be worth a watch, too, for the performance by Sinatra, which is highly polished & proves he can act the bad guy when necessary. But the Oswald association makes this something of a gratuitous classic. Watch & think.
Co-starring Sterling Hayden who is excellent as Sheriff Tod Shaw, it has well paced direction by Lewis Allen, a crisp script by Richard Sale, & a score by David Raskin. There have been other films with this type of hostage scenario like the '55 Humphrey Bogart "Desperate Hours" & its 1990 remake, & this is up there with the best.
My DVD copy is of the inexpensive variety (this film somehow became public domain, & there are many inferior releases of it), & is a little blurry with imperfect audio but is still fascinating viewing.
Filmed almost entirely in one room, it holds one's attention, mostly due to Sinatra's superb performance.
Total running time is 75 minutes.
Below are some of the current bestsellers - click them for a price comparison and find the cheapest place to buy!
