Suddenly

Suddenly is a 1954 American crime thriller directed by Lewis Allen, set in the small California town of the title. Sheriff Tod Shaw has been quietly courting Ellen Benson, a widow raising her young son, Pidge, in the home she shares with her father-in-law, a retired Secret Service man. Ellen dislikes firearms and the men who carry them, and the town's routine is undisturbed until word arrives that the President's train will stop there. Three men posing as federal agents take over the Benson house, which overlooks the station, and hold the family and the sheriff as their plan becomes clear.

The film stars Frank Sinatra as John Baron, with Sterling Hayden as Sheriff Shaw, James Gleason as Peter Benson, Nancy Gates as Ellen, Kim Charney as Pidge and Willis Bouchey as Secret Service chief Dan Carney. Richard Sale wrote the screenplay and Robert Bassler produced for Libra Productions. It runs 77 minutes and is the fourth feature Allen directed, following The Uninvited, Desert Fury and Chicago Deadline.

It has a 6.8 rating on IMDb from about 8,200 votes, a 6.4 on TMDB from a small number of votes, and a critics' rating of 6.6 from ten reviews, putting it slightly above the audience score on TMDB and roughly level with it on IMDb.