Frank Sinatra was famously far less disciplined actor than singer, but when directed with a firm hand, as in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955) and MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962), he was terrific on-screen. My favorite Sinatra film is a low-budget thriller called SUDDENLY in which he gives a remarkably good (and raw) performance. Unlike his soldier character in MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE who’s trying to stop a Presidential assassin, in the noirish SUDDENLY he is a Presidential assassin – the nastiest, most cold-blooded s.o.b. you can imagine. There's a moment in the film when Sinatra walks toward the camera, ranting about all the injustices than have been done to him, and swear to God, he seems to be spewing all the hate of his character directly at you. Chilling.
SUDDENLY (1955)
Ol' Blue Eyes is an assassin!
Frank Sinatra was famously far less disciplined actor than singer, but when directed with a firm hand, as in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955) and MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962), he was terrific on-screen. My favorite Sinatra film is a low-budget thriller called SUDDENLY in which he gives a remarkably good (and raw) performance. Unlike his soldier character in MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE who’s trying to stop a Presidential assassin, in the noirish SUDDENLY he is a Presidential assassin – the nastiest, most cold-blooded s.o.b. you can imagine. There's a moment in the film when Sinatra walks toward the camera, ranting about all the injustices than have been done to him, and swear to God, he seems to be spewing all the hate of his character directly at you. Chilling.
