Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (January 6, 2025)
In 1951’s The Tall Target, we get a thriller based on history. This one looks at a plot to kill Abraham Lincoln.
No, not that plot. On February 22, 1861, police officer John Kennedy (Dick Powell) finds himself convinced that a scheme to assassinate the newly-elected Abraham Lincoln exists in the fraught circumstances that exist as the USA nears Civil War.
This places Kennedy on an overnight train from New York City to Washington DC, a trek that he thinks he can use to avert this crime. Kennedy strives to prevent Lincoln’s murder before he even takes the oath of office.
Many people know the curious connections between Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. Both initially elected in years that ended in “60”, both assassinated in office, etc.
The fact that a man named John Kennedy dealt with a possible assassination attempt on Lincoln becomes a new one to me, though. Like much of Target, this bears some connection to reality, but the movie takes pretty substantial liberties.
Dubbed “The Baltimore Plot”, it appears unclear if any actual concrete threats on Lincoln’s life existed at this time. Though Lincoln’s camp believed in these possibilities, historians remain unsure.
The supposed “plot” did prompt Lincoln’s people to cancel a planned public speech in Baltimore, a choice with some minor repercussions for the president-elect. Many believed he hid in a cowardly fashion and lampooned him.
The film itself takes a slew of liberties with the history and makes its “John Kennedy” into a different and more significant figure than the real man at the time. As of 1951, future POTUS John F. Kennedy had a minor public profile as a member of Congress, but I doubt a character name “John Kennedy” drew the raised eyebrows it would now.
In any case, it probably makes more sense to view Target as a piece of fiction with some historical connections. When the movie’s opening title cards tell us it covers a “disputed account” of the past, that feels like a major indication that it will simply use history as a loose inspiration and nothing more.
Which seems fine with me in this case. Target becomes a pretty taut little tale that keeps us engaged across its brief running time.
Target marks a genre return for director Anthony Mann. Though he spent most of 1950 with Westerns like Winchester ‘73, this one brings him back to the noir thrillers that filled a lot of his pre-1950 filmography.
It does seem kind of odd to see a noir vibe brought to the movie set in the 1860s, I admit, as those efforts usually stayed in their then-modern eras. It works, however, as the tone suits the tale at hand.
Mann gives the movie a good claustrophobic feel, one that makes sense since so much of the story takes place on a train. He also populates that vehicle with so many whiny and antagonistic characters that the viewer feels on edge and tense for reasons beyond the basic thriller narrative.
After all, we know the plot won’t succeed. That always becomes a challenge with historical tales that ask for the audience to invest in this sort of tale.
If Target focused on a fictional politician, then we’d wonder if the scheme would succeed. But even though the movie takes liberties, it won’t go so bananas that it’d rewrite history and kill – or even wound – Lincoln in 1861.
Really, my only complaint here stems from the movie’s terrible title- they couldn’t think up something better than The Tall Target? Despite that silly moniker, the end product delivers a tight and compelling flick.
