Before watching Suddenly, the only Frank Sinatra film that I had seen was The Man With the Golden Arm.

I have always been way more familiar with the skills of Sinatra's vocal chords than I have been cognizant of his acting skills. Unlike The Man With The Golden Arm, where he plays a heroin addicted Maverick card shark who can't seem to get out of his own way, in Suddenly he played a character who's inner demons were painted with a darker shade of noir.

When I was newly living in Detroit, I used to have a hard time falling asleep at night thanks to the locals over-exaggerations of how horrible their metropolis was. They would tell me that the city limits to Detroit were basically the paramaters to a death trap and that even the suburbs weren't safe as home invasions were becoming a growing problem thanks to the fact that there was simply nothing left to be stolen in Detroit proper, and that thieves were now scouting the 'burbs looking for opportunities in the form of senior citizens to rob of their life savings, oftentimes getting it wrong and holding regular families hostage in broad daylight and ending in gunfire with police (i.e. 7/9/1987 Inkster shootout on Michigan Avenue).

If you saw the city of Detroit, you'd find these amplified snippets of true crime fairly easy to believe as being genuinely rampant. But after three years of living in close proximity to the D (and getting off at 4 AM everyday in the heart of downtown), I never encountered a single dangerous incident.

The criminal act of home invasion is a particularly jarring one. Your home—sanctuary—is no longer the sacred and safe space that it once was, and has now become the possession of criminals. With the true absence of safe harbor, the level of trauma is turned up just a notch higher.

Thank God that I have been bereft of such an experience in real life. But I have to say, that when Hollywood attempts to depict home invasions, they usually do a pretty good job of delivering the impact with a fair amount of accuracy.

One False Move, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, New Jack City are a few other films dabble in home invasion scenes which the viewer won't soon forget. And if you Google "Paul Bradley Cleveland", you'll come to find out that what was shown on screen wasn't too far off from what occurs in real life.

In Suddenly, the reasoning behind a home invasion is the homes prime geographical location as a birds nest to assassinate the president.

Frankey Blue Eyes, the leader of a crew of fradulent secret servicemen, shines very bright as the sinister villain looking to score a grand payday.

At least, I thought he did.

A lot of times you see A-lister's—who based the bulk of their career upon playing good guys—feel the need to expand their thespian lexicon and attempt to be a villain…and the results are both utterly pathetic and hysterical. Ben Affleck in Runner, Runner, Vince Vaughn in Psycho, John Travolta in Gotti, Channing Tatum in The Hateful Eight are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.

But then there are others in which this experiment is aced: Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in The West.

Granted, I've only seen two Sinatra flicks total, but he always came off as someone who would be drawn to sympathetic roles in which you as the viewer are drawn to empathize with his plight and root for his success. In Suddenly, I felt none of that for the callous and greedy John Baron and I found myself rooting for his demise and enjoyed every fumble to the doomed goal line that was authored in power-hungry narcissistic ineptitude.

Conversely, I also thought Sterling Hayden did a great job as the police officer taken hostage and that Nancy Gates was equally terrific and held her own against the villainous troup no matter how high they escalated the threats.

An older flick, but good nevertheless, using an aspect of crime which I don't think has been used as frequently as it should in modern day cinema.

Stars: ***

Verdict: Watch

Cousins: In The Line of Fire, One False Move, Taxi Driver, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Dog Day Afternoon