I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Please don't spend money on this.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

While most everyone seems to know about the assassination of President Lincoln, this was just the last of quite a few plots to kill the man. In particular, getting Lincoln to Washington for the inauguration was problematic, as crowds were often hostile and bent on killing the man they blamed for the splitting up of the Union. In particular, in Baltimore, the President-elect needed to be spirited off the train quietly to avoid the hostile mobs. So, the premise of "The Tall Target" is very appropriate---as there was a lot of hatred and hostility towards the man during the war years.John Kennedy (no, not THE John Kennedy but he's a guy played by Dick Powell) is a New York policeman who is frustrated, very frustrated. The inauguration of Abraham Lincoln is approaching and he insists that there is a plot to kill the man--however, his superiors don't take him seriously. So, he resigns from the force and boards a train headed to Washington. He's determined to do SOMETHING. Along the way, he meets up with several conspirators--though unfortunately no one believes him! And, when he captures the one of the conspirators, the local police want to arrest him instead! What is the man to do?! Aside from one small dumb scene (where Kennedy left his identification and gun in his coat at his seat--leading to serious complications), this is a bang-up film. While you know that Lincoln survived to serve as president, you still are on the edge of your seat--a sign that this is a very good action/adventure film. Tense, well-written and acted--this is well worth seeing.

Although the film is a work of fiction, The Tall Target is based in part on an actual incident that involved an attempt to assassinate President- elect Abraham Lincoln on his way to Washington to assume the presidency in early 1861. A planned stop in Baltimore was canceled and Lincoln was spirited into Washington in the wee small hours of the morning with no kind of fanfare or publicity, as he put it, 'like a thief in the night'.Anthony Mann directed this 19th century noir type film starring Dick Powell as a New York police sergeant who gets wind of a plot to murder Lincoln in Baltimore. After he confides his suspicions to colleague Regis Toomey, Toomey winds up dead and Powell's more convinced than ever of the rightness of his belief. He boards the train that Lincoln is scheduled to board in Baltimore on to warn him, but Powell's got a lot of people on that train ready to do him in and he doesn't know who to trust.The Tall Target is very similar to Mann's other classic Winchester 73 in the tautness of the direction and script. There isn't one wasted frame of film in The Tall Target and the suspense is kept throughout, even though history tells us Lincoln dodged a bullet that day. Mann assembled a very strong supporting cast for Powell that includes Adolphe Menjou as a militia colonel called to the colors, Leif Erickson as a Bowery tough, Will Geer as an officious conductor, Marshall Thompson as a southern hothead and resigned West Point cadet and his sister Paula Raymond.Best performance in the film though is that of young Ruby Dee who plays a slave to Thompson and Raymond traveling with them. She proves to be the only real friend Powell has on the train. It's a quiet understated performance of dignity and strength.By the way in case any of you are wondering why she doesn't just run away and claim her freedom, a couple of things stops her. The Dred Scott decision for one which obliterated the Missouri Compromise of 1820 with the northern free and southerns slave states and the new Fugitive Slave Law from the 1850 Compromise. However Dee knows that freedom is coming her way and soon.The Tall Target is one excellent film, one of the best from Dick Powell when he decided to stop making musicals. Catch it absolutely.

Having collected an off-air recording of this film I now make sure to watch it at least once per year. Why? It's almost perfect.A New York police detective stumbles upon a plot to kill President elect Abraham Lincoln en route to Washington for his inauguration. The plotters plan for multiple gunmen to assassinate Abe whilst he is speechifying in Baltimore.Having failed to convince his superiors that the plot is real, the cop hands in his badge and takes "The Flyer" - an overnight train from New York to Baltimore. The bulk of the film concerns his efforts to find out more details of the plot, and figure out which of his fellow passengers are part of it. Having done so, he must stop them from bumping him off or getting him locked up until it's all over. It's a great plot, extrapolated to some unknown degree, from real events.For me, the film has a quality that should put it right up there with other film noir classics such as "The Big Sleep". You actually feel the cop's physical desperation that he must stop the conspirators, and you feel their fanaticism to succeed. Dick Powell as the cop (Ironically called John Kennedy) carries the film superbly. Will Geer (he eventually played the Grandfather in "The Waltons") is completely believable as the harassed train conductor. The more minor characters (such as the driver/engineer and some of the non-principal passengers) are given depth and motivation to a degree that is quite unusual.The settings feel like a train, rather than a set being rocked gently by a set of burly teamsters. The external train shots are mostly real, not the usual laughable model shots you get in many train films of this vintage. In fact, overall, the technical competence of the whole production is top notch. The photography, lighting, sound, visual effects and sets are of a very high calibre indeed.Even if you are not usually given to watching movies as old as this one, I urge you to track this one down - it's well worthwhile.Alan T.

Okay this film the Tall Target may not be historically accurate but it is based on a situation that occurred on the Abraham Lincoln Inaugural Train.. It is an excellent movie brilliantly directed by Anthony Mann It is a film that was way ahead of its time.. Dick Powell stars and gives an outstanding performance Differrent than most of his film noir films of that era.. I was watching TCM @1am this morning (insomnia was setting in) when their brilliant host Robert Osborne announced and described this unusual film that most people had never seen or heard of! But he recommended & once again Osborne was correct. Wonderful powerful film made years before Suddenly and a decade or so before The Manchurian Candidate (other films dealing with presidential assassinations)The writers & director took an incident from history and created a fictionalized yet believable and riveting film .Is great definitely worth seeing & seeing a very young Ruby Dee in a small but important role as a loyal but concerned 'slave" also Leif Ericson and Barbara Billingsly (Beavers mom) have minor but important roles..& Adolphe Menjou is outstanding and quite believable a corrupt military official Powell is really good in this film A great surprise Don't Miss, another hidden gem revealed from the TCM film library.Thank you Ted Turner and Robert Osborne