Supelice Dreadfully Boring

ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS**** With the just elected president of the United States Abe Lincoln on his way to Washington D.C to be inaugurated a plot has been hatched by his pro south & slavery opponents to knock him off on his way there when the train he's on stops in Baltimore for him to make a speech. It's now up to NY police sergeant John Kennedy, a possible decedent of future US President John F, Kennedy, played by tough guy and former song & dance man Dick Powell to stop that national tragedy, the assassination of the president, from happening.The rub here is that the persons out to get the just elected Lincoln are on the train planning that his trip to D.C will never get there with him being shot to death in transit!Right from the start Sgt. Kennedy has trouble convincing any one in authority that Lincoln is targeted for assignation and is deemed to be either out of his mind or a publicity hound trying to get attention and make a name, as a kook, for himself.It's later after almost being thrown off the train by not having a ticket that Kenneduy in taken under the wing by US Army Col. Cleb Jeffers, Adolphe Menjou, who seems to feel sorry for the not so stable guy. As it turns out Col. Jeffers is actually involved in the planned assassination of the president in not only being sympathetic to the southern cause but being related to non other then Jerrerson Davis the soon to be installed President of the Southern Confederacy! With time running out and the future president of the United States life on the line Kennedy attempts to have Lincoln switch trains and get to Washington D.C unannounced by a horse and buggy to trick and confused his penitential killers. ***SPOILERS*** In what turned out to be a Three Card Monte like game the President with the help of Sgt. Kennedy have everyone fooled in where he was with his carefully staged disappearance act that has those out to get him left out in the cold in their attempt to assassinate the President. Sgt. Kennedy who protected Abe Lincoln the last time he was in NYC to take in a Broadway show watch the races at Sheepsheadbay Racetrack did the same her, on the train to D.C, preventing then unimaginable to happen. Thios is all fiction anyway but in real life no one was there when Abe needed them to prevent him from getting gunned down from behind at the Ford Theater on the evening of April 14! Not even the fictional Sgt. John Kennedy!

Spikeopath "Ninety years ago a lonely traveller boarded the night train from New York to Washington D.C., 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 dramatisation of that disputed journey."The Tall Target is directed by Anthony Mann and written by George Worthing Yates, Daniel Mainwaring (as Geoffrey Holmes) and Art Cohn. It stars Dick Powell, Paula Raymond, Adolphe Menjou, Marshall Thompson and Will Geer. As the above opening salvo suggests, story is disputed, it's based around the so called Baltimore Plot, a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln; the tall man of the title who is on the train heading for his inauguration.Set mostly aboard a train, Mann's The Tall Target is a very tight noirish type period thriller that sees Powell's gruff detective try and protect Abe Lincoln from assassins lurking within the confines of the locomotive hauled express. Although a low budget production, there is some smart period detail to enjoy and the cramped setting of the train interiors allows Mann to infuse the story with paranoia and claustrophobic tints. Major bonus is that the makers excellently capture what must have been a powder keg of political uncertainty in 1861, this is born out by the number of interesting characters with a voice aboard this train. Thus the suspense and mystery elements are not confined to being of the obvious variety.With Paul Vogel's black and white photography adding some period bite, and putting the noirish sheen to scenes such as the ones involving smoke, it's a shame that the cast are mostly hit and miss. Powell just about carries off the tough-guy persona, with the scenes shared with Menjou good value, and Geer is the stand out as the jobs worth conductor. Raymond is lovely, but hardly puts a stamp on proceedings, while Thompson is badly inadequate when it comes to putting the threat into threatening situations. But they are only minor itches that fail to derail the film from the tracks, because ultimately it's the story that is the star, a story boosted no end by Mann's taut direction. 7.5/10

Boba_Fett1138 Movies mostly set in trains often work out extremely well. It's an enclosed and restrained environment, that creates a feeling of claustrophobia and tension but also with a lot of pace, since the train is always on the move. Just think about other movie examples set- or partly set on trains such as "North by Northwest", "Murder on the Orient Express", "Shanghai Express" and "From Russia with Love". This is a movie that deserves a spot on this list as well.This is a rather intriguing and original movie concerning plots to assassinate Abraham Lincoln before or during his inauguration as the president. It's based on true fact. There really were several plots being brewed to assassinate Lincoln because of his outspoken opinion against slavery and because he mostly was seen as a friend of the north, among various other reasons. But of course the movie takes lots of liberties with the story, also because nobody really knows what happened really. The story focuses on a New York police man who suspects that there is plot to kill Lincoln. Only problem for him is his superiors don't believe him and won't take him serious, which is reason for him to take matters into his own hands. Aboard the train to Baltimore, where Lincoln would pass through on his way to Washngton D.C. to be inaugurated, there is a lot of political talk aboard between Lincoln 'fans' and 'haters' and other various characters that act very suspicious. It makes this a good and interesting movie on several levels. It gives a good view into the time and minds of American people who lived in the 1860's and at the same time also gives the movie a tense mysterious/thriller story.In 1951, action-movies were still non-existent so to speak but this movie at times show some early premises of the genre. It's mostly notable in its pace and toward the ending of the movie.Interesting detail is that the main character in this movie is named John Kennedy. There always have been a surprising lot of similarities between Abraham Lincoln and the other assassinated US president John F. Kennedy, so the fact that the main character is named John Kennedy in a movie about Abraham Lincoln, 10 years before Kennedy became president is an odd coincidence to say the least. Also one of the plots, as described in this movie, to kill Lincoln in this movie show a surprising amount of similarities to how John F. Kennedy many years later got assassinated.One of those movies that really deserves to be known better and needs to be seen be more.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

olddiscs 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