Years ago, my daughter used the term 'sledgehammer symbolism' when she was referring to a movie she watched. I asked her what she meant and she indicated that the movie she watched wasn't very good because too often it hit the viewer over the head with the same message and there was no subtlety at all. The film drove the point home so hard and so artlessly that she called it a film with sledgehammer symbolism. This term came to mind as I watched "And Sudden Death"...a film I should have loved but found its message had zero subtlety...none. And it is a shame, as I usually love Randolph Scott movies.
The story begins with an obnoxious and entitled rich lady (Frances Drake) driving 72 in a 30 mile per hour zone. When she's stopped, she is not just ticketed but brought in to face the Lieutenant (Scott) because it was her fourth ticket that month. He gave her a stern talking to and sent her to traffic school. Later, the lady's brother is drunk driving and kills a kid and injures many others in a bus. She, however, is thought to be behind the wheel and she is on trial for vehicular homicide. Will the truth come out eventually AND is her budding relationship with the Lieutenant doomed?
In addition to repeatedly hitting the viewer over the head that reckless driving is bad, the film also has a huge logical problem. Why would the woman let herself go on trial for vehicular homicide and NOT tell anyone she was not driving the car?! Why let her drunk brother get off scott free and risk a lengthy prison sentence?! In other words, why would anyone WANT to take the rap for this obnoxious little coward! It just didn't make sense...and the viewer doesn't care very much because she is reprehensible as well as her brother.
