On an ordinary afternoon, three men posing as FBI agents arrive in the small Californian town of Suddenly. Their goal is a house overlooking the railway station, where they plan to shoot the president of the United States when his train stops there later that day. The house belongs to the Benson family: an elderly father-in-law, Pop, his daughter-in-law Ellen, a war widow, and her young son Pidge. The plan grows complicated when a sheriff with a personal interest in Ellen and a Secret Service agent arrive unexpectedly. As the hours pass and the presidential train draws closer, the hostages and the assassins are pushed into a battle of nerves, centred on the cold, self-assured leader of the gang.

How it was made

Writer Richard Sale based his story on newspaper reports about President Dwight D. Eisenhower's train journeys to Palm Springs. The film departs from the original story in one key respect: the mother in the story is not bitter about her husband's death and is absent during the attack, so she never faces the choice of killing the assassin that drives the film's climax. Exteriors were shot in Saugus, California, now part of Santa Clarita. The Saugus railway station, which plays a prominent role, still survives, though it was moved after closing in 1978 and now operates as a museum. Producer Robert Bassler's company, Libra Productions, made it his first independent film after years at Twentieth Century Fox. It was also the first time Frank Sinatra was cast as a villain in a dramatic film.

Reception and legacy

On its release, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther praised the direction and performances. Over time the film has been seen as a tense, low-budget thriller that makes the most of its brisk running time of around 75 minutes. Its confined siege setting and its place within the 1950s noir cycle have made it a point of reference for the genre, and Sinatra's turn as a heavy is often cited as a turning point in his screen career.