Actually, seems they've conflated two films, 1962's THE
MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
(from the novel by Richard Condon, script by George Axelrod,
directed by John Frankenheimer), which Sinatra was
instrumental in withdrawing from circulation for some years
because it involves a "sleeping agent" scheme by Communist
forces who've deeply hypnotized a US soldier to assassinate a
presidential candidate when certain words are spoken (a great
film, with Much going on--Sinatra was a producer, iirc, and
starred as the agent's commanding noncom or officer during
the Korean War) and SUDDENLY, a 1954 film Sinatra had no
distribution control over, afaik, in which he plays
(perhaps unsurprisingly convincingly...it may be his best
performance) a psychopathic thug and small-gang leader who
manage to take over a couple of buildings in the small town
of Suddenly, through which a presidential train is passing;
they are attempting an assassination.
Both films are now very available to broadcast/cable, if not
in print for home use, which they probably both are.
TM (looking forward to that novel, Colin...just let it
pour out of you...)
-----Original Message----- From:
Scatalogic@aol.com [mailto:
Scatalogic@aol.com]
The Guardian runs a Notes and Queries (readers answers)
column and this week
one of the questions concerned a film thriller. Said thriller
was slated for
release in 1963 and supposedly starred Frank Sinatra. It
concerned the attempts of a gang to assisinate the US
president, it was apparantly withdrawn and never shown again
when JFK was assasinated in not disimilar circumstances. Does
anyone out there know of this. I also very very very vaguely
being told of or reading of a film that was so eerily close
to some catastrophe that occurred after its completion that
it was withdrawn, any bells ringing?? My own un-published
novel, "Colin Goes to the Pub and Drinks
Too Much Cider" will sadly never see the light of day for
similar sad prescience! Regards Colin
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