The Tall Target (1951)

A New York City detective, traveling by train between New York and Baltimore, tries to foil an on-board plot to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln before he reaches Baltimore to give a major pre-Inauguration speech in 1861.

Director:

Anthony Mann

Writers:

George Worthing Yates (screenplay), Art Cohn (screenplay)

Stars:

Dick Powell, Paula Raymond, Adolphe Menjou

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dick Powell	...	John Kennedy
Paula Raymond	...	Ginny Beaufort
Adolphe Menjou	...	Colonel Caleb Jeffers
Marshall Thompson	...	Lance Beaufort
Ruby Dee	...	Rachel - Slave Maid
Richard Rober	...	Lt. Coulter
Leif Erickson	...	Stranger
Will Geer	...	Homer Crowley - Train Conductor
Florence Bates	...	Mrs. Charlotte Alsop

Storyline

The historical fact of a possible assassination attempt on the President-Elect Abraham Lincoln makes the movie very interesting. The drama comes from a fictitious New York police sergeant discovering the plot and boarding the last train to Washington, DC, to protect the new president to be. Dick Powell does a very good job using deduction and logic to find who on the train could be conspirators. He is foiled at different times but manages to succeed even when the conspirators have caught him. The movie's action takes place mostly on the train and the effects of travelling are well done. Historically, several states have already seceded from the union and that included Virginia. That's why Lincoln had to travel to Washington, DC, through Maryland, also a slave state. When he was taking his own "Inaugural Train" the plan was to kill Lincoln in Baltimore during a long stop but Lincoln's supporters did some slight of hand to sneak him on board the last train to the capital. Maybe not ...

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Plot Keywords:

train | assassination plot | detective | bodyguard | assassin | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Character actor Will Geer was blacklisted for refusing to testify before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee soon after this movie was made in 1951. He would not appear in another Hollywood sponsored movie until 1962.

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Goofs

In the opening scene as the train backs into the station, the bell on the engine is ringing. The train stops and the bell stops as well, but the soundtrack still has the bell ringing. The next scene shows a close up of the bell ringing which had stopped in the first scene.

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Quotes

Rachel - Slave Maid: Freedom isn't a thing you should be able to give me, Miss Ginny. Freedom is something I should have been born with.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits S l o w l y roll up from the bottom of the screen, over a background of a train station. The word "TALL" is extra tall.. and the credits are followed by: Ninety years ago, a lonely traveler boarded the night train from New York to Washington DC and when he reached his destination, his passage had become a forgotten chapter in the history of the United States. This motion picture is a dramatization of that disputed journey.

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Soundtracks

Rally Round the Flag
(uncredited)
Music by William B. Bradbury
Arranged by Bronislau Kaper

User Reviews

Kennedy Tries to Save Lincoln

In 1861, New York detective John Kennedy (Dick Powell) is convinced there's a plot to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln but no one seems to believe him. So he resigns from the force and takes the train to Baltimore, determined to prevent the assassination.

In my opinion, this is Dick Powell's last great screen role. He made a few more movies before finishing his career out as a director and doing some minor TV work. He's very good here, as usual. Strong support from Adolphe Menjou, Will Geer, Leif Erickson, and Ruby Dee. It's a gripping period thriller from Anthony Mann that looks like a film noir, thanks to Paul Vogel's fine cinematography. Plus, it's a train movie and those are always fun.

There's a lot in this movie for history buffs to chew on. A guy named John Kennedy trying to prevent a presidential assassination in a film made over a decade before President Kennedy was killed is certainly interesting. The plot is loosely based on the 1861 Baltimore Plot, which resulted in one of Lincoln's earliest public relations nightmares because he was accused of cowardly sneaking into the city for fear of assassins. Times have certainly changed. Anyway you should definitely read up on that as it's pretty fascinating, especially considering what happened to him four years later.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 August 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

A magas célpont

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$966,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1