As a history buff from an early age, President Abraham Lincoln has always fascinated me. I’ve long kept a number of biographies and picture histories of him in my library. At one time, I even had a cardboard poster on the wall. In high school, I wrote a sci-fi short story about Lincoln’s assassination and time travel.
My favorite US president, though, has always been John Kennedy. My mother used to say he was my first favorite TV star, he was on so much back then. I even got to see him in person briefly when he came through town when I was nearly 4 years old, a year or so prior to his assassination.
My mother’s favorite actor was Dick Powell. She loved him as the pretty boy singing star in all of those Depression-era Warner Bros. musicals. As unlikely as it seems, about halfway through his film career, Powell successfully reinvented himself as a he-man tough-guy lead. He’s become one of my own favorites over the years.
I’ve only twice ever ridden an actual train and that was decades ago but I have always loved train movies—The Lady Vanishes, Silver Streak, Night Train to Munich, Murder on the Orient Express, and about a zillion westerns and spy flicks with train scenes.
This all brings us to The Tall Target, a 1951 motion picture from acclaimed director Anthony Mann. The Tall Target stars Dick Powell in his tough guy mode as a man named John Kennedy attempting to thwart an earlier Lincoln assassination attempt. It takes place almost entirely on a train. As you might expect, the film grabbed my interest.
Mann, best remembered for a series of classic westerns with James Stewart, keeps the story flowing quickly, even though viewers are kept in the dark about a handful of sneaky twists and turns right to the end.
The story takes place on a train to Baltimore in 1861, just before the newly elected Lincoln is sworn in for his first term. Talk of secession and civil war is already wildly in the air. Everyone has pre-war jitters. Some see the Republican Lincoln as a likely savior with only the best interests of his country’s people in mind. Others are convinced he’s the devil, determined to destroy the United States. Oddly, this all felt very, very familiar!
Powell’s Kennedy gets evidence of an organized assassination attempt but his report is ignored and, in fact, laughed at. He resigns the force but determines to go to Baltimore to warn the president and uncover and thwart the plan.
The picture—and the train—is loaded with familiar character actors, many uncredited. Besides Powell, two of the more prominent ones are Adolphe Menjou (who would soon fink on many of his fellow actors to the House Un-American Activities Committee) and Will (Grandpa Walton) Geer (an old leftie who refused to fink on anyone and was blacklisted for years as a result).
The great Ruby Dee, looking like a teenager here, plays a slave and gets some good dialogue about what that entailed. Others in the cast include Marshall Thompson (no relation), Paula Raymond, Percy Helton, and Beaver’s mother—Barbara Billingsley (so memorable decades later in Airplane with her jive talking).
The stark black-and-white cinematography works at least partially thanks to veteran MGM scenic designer Cedric Gibbons. About 90% of the film’s action takes place inside a moving train and the viewer can almost feel the motion.
Extras include a short film, two MGM cartoons, and trailer.
Is The Tall Target a true story?
Even the opening credits offer some doubt. Let’s say it’s adapted from a legend of Lincoln. With its sharp dialogue, its heavy period feel, its many little twists and mysteries, and enough action to please any Powell fan, the film—a notable flop in its day for some reason—won me over.
Booksteve recommends.
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