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Le Grand Attentat

Original title: The Tall Target
  • 1951
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 18m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
2.6K
YOUR RATING
Paula Raymond and Dick Powell in Le Grand Attentat (1951)
Conspiracy ThrillerPolice ProceduralPolitical ThrillerAdventureCrimeDramaHistoryThrillerWestern

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 giv... Read allA 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.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
    • Art Cohn
    • Daniel Mainwaring
  • Stars
    • Dick Powell
    • Paula Raymond
    • Adolphe Menjou
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.2/10
    2.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Anthony Mann
    • Writers
      • George Worthing Yates
      • Art Cohn
      • Daniel Mainwaring
    • Stars
      • Dick Powell
      • Paula Raymond
      • Adolphe Menjou
    • 48User reviews
    • 29Critic reviews
    • 70Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos17

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    Top cast72

    Edit
    Dick Powell
    Dick Powell
    • John Kennedy
    Paula Raymond
    Paula Raymond
    • Ginny Beaufort
    Adolphe Menjou
    Adolphe Menjou
    • Colonel Caleb Jeffers
    Marshall Thompson
    Marshall Thompson
    • Lance Beaufort
    Ruby Dee
    Ruby Dee
    • Rachel - Slave Maid
    Richard Rober
    Richard Rober
    • Lt. Coulter
    Leif Erickson
    Leif Erickson
    • Stranger
    Will Geer
    Will Geer
    • Homer Crowley - Train Conductor
    Florence Bates
    Florence Bates
    • Mrs. Charlotte Alsop
    Erville Alderson
    Erville Alderson
    • Minister - Passenger in Club Car
    • (uncredited)
    Olive Ball
    • Hawker
    • (uncredited)
    Barbara Billingsley
    Barbara Billingsley
    • Young Mother
    • (uncredited)
    Peter Brocco
    Peter Brocco
    • Fernandina
    • (uncredited)
    George Bunny
    • Hawker
    • (uncredited)
    John Butler
    John Butler
    • Miller - Drummer in Ticket Line
    • (uncredited)
    John Call
    John Call
    • Clerk
    • (uncredited)
    Ken Christy
    Ken Christy
    • Detective
    • (uncredited)
    Harry Cody
    • Minor Role
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Anthony Mann
    • Writers
      • George Worthing Yates
      • Art Cohn
      • Daniel Mainwaring
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews48

    7.22.6K
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    Featured reviews

    9RanchoTuVu

    historical train ride movie

    Superbly directed and photographed, and very well acted by Dick Powell, Will Geer, and Adolph Menjou, this movie ranks as one of director Anthony Mann's best achievements. Not one of his trademark noirs, it still has the characteristic tense look and feel, while staking out its own claim to originality, capturing the mood of the country as it is about to explode into a bloodbath. Set on the eve of the Civil War, a New York police detective (Dick Powell) boards a southbound train in New York to foil a conspiracy to assassinate President elect Lincoln. The train setting provides an apt stage in which the passions of the day are played out, with Unionists and Secessionists armed to the teeth. Factually, the details are probably off, but the mood of the time seems to be fairly accurately portrayed.
    8bandw

    Tense thriller with historical content

    This story takes place in February, 1861. It is a story built around a plot to assassinate president-elect Lincoln during his twelve-day inaugural train trip from Springfield, Missouri to Washington, D.C. Dick Powell plays police detective John Kennedy who is aware of the plot and meets indifference from his superiors when he tries to take action. Kennedy takes it on himself to try to foil the plot single-handedly and most of the story takes place on trains where Kennedy gets in tight situations in trying to unravel the conspiracy. That part of the movie plays out as a classic crime drama, but there is much more here than a crime drama.

    Many scenes establish the mood of the country at the time. With the beginning of the Civil War only a couple of months away, the tensions leading to that war were in strong evidence on the train. In an early conversation between two women one of them says, "We must take a firm stand against slavery once and for all, don't you agree?" to which the other responds, "As far as I am concerned madame, the new president is Jefferson Davis of Mississippi." Another passenger remarks, "If someone puts a bullet into Abe Lincoln, I'll be the first to shake his hand. That man is heading us straight into war." From the distance of a hundred and fifty years it is interesting to understand that Lincoln, who has become the most admired U.S. president, was so detested at the time by so many.

    Another topic broached is the relation between Rachel, a young slave (Ruby Dee) and her owners, the Beauforts. When challenged by Kennedy about her slave ownership, Ginny Beaufort turns to Rachel and says, "I never thought to ask for your freedom and I never thought of giving it to you," to which Rachel responds, "It's not a thing you should have been able to give me. Freedom is something I should have been born with." Certainly this comment resonated with the nascent Civil Rights Movement in the early 1950s.

    The black and white photography is well done; the portrayal of the inaugural train seems to be historically accurate.

    After seeing this I was left wondering just what the truth was and I was provoked to do a little research. From "Life of Lincoln" by John Caroll Power, H.W. Rokker publisher, 1889, p.51, in referring to a detective who had been hired (behind Lincoln's back) to ferret out the possibility of an assassination attempt planned for when Lincoln passed through Baltimore, the author says, "He (the detective) found out beyond a doubt that a plot was formed for a party of conspirators to crowd around him (Lincoln) in the guise of friends , and at a given signal Mr. Lincoln was to be shot and stabbed." From "The Time Life History of the United States," vol. 5, p.97, 1963, referring to president Lincoln, "Leaving Harrisburg secretly by train on February 22, he transferred at Philadelphia to a sleeper, taking a berth reserved by a female Pinkerton operator for her invalid brother. The party passed safely through Baltimore at 3:30 in the morning and reached Washington at 6 a.m. on the 23rd. The elated Pinkerton sent a code to Harrisburg: Plums Delivered Nuts Safely." Obviously a lot of liberties were taken with history in coming up with this film to turn it into a noir thriller, but there is at least enough of a kernel of truth behind it so it can be enjoyed for the fictionalized version it is without thinking that history has been totally savaged. I thought it was a particularly nice touch to reference a three-cent piece, in circulation at the time.
    7secondtake

    Lincoln is a target and Anthony Mann makes a sharp, gorgeous movie out of it

    Tall Target (1951)

    The simple idea of Anthony Mann approaching a crime movie about Abraham Lincoln made me seek this out. And it's great stuff, filmed with the lively, dramatic black and white of the time. And in a weird quirk, the leading man (played by Dick Powell) is named John Kennedy. Mann was just beginning his legendary set of eight Westerns with James Stewart.

    While not a bit a film noir officially, this is coming from that era, and has the dark, ominous feel of a good noir. Powell (a noir staple) plays a detective with a somewhat modern air (not 1861, when is when the film is set), and he some of that man alone against the world quality. And then, on top of it, this is a "train movie," one of that unnamed genre of films that is primarily or entirely set on a train, up and down the length in various ways (what one character with a drink in his hand calls "the longest bar in the world, New York to Baltimore").

    This one starts beautifully at night, and there is some terrific stuff just to look at, as the lights against the night sky are stark and the shadows heavy. The smoke and steam billows gray into the black sky. The plot, proceeding, is remarkably visual, too, with Powell looking for clues as things start to look increasingly ominous.

    There are some great side characters here, including Ruby Dee in her young elegance and strength. And then there are some side actors who play their caricatures a little too hard (like the train conductor, briefly, but several times).

    The cloak and dagger plot is fairly linear—the story is based on fact loosely, so there might not have been total freedom. But I'm not sure how many times on one train ride Mr. John Kennedy can get himself into a total lethal trap and then fight, trick, or luck his way out of it. But that's part of the fun of it, I suppose.

    And there is enough other stuff going on here to make it really interesting and beautiful. A surprise for me.
    9bkoganbing

    "Like A Thief In The Night"

    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.
    8planktonrules

    A lot better than I'd assumed.

    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.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This film bombed at the box office, resulting in a loss to MGM of $608,000 (about $7.04M in 2023) according to studio records. It did not even make back its negative cost, let along expenses for duplication, distribution and advertising.
    • Goofs
      In spite of being set in 1861, there are electric lights hanging in the station and in other locations.
    • 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.

    • Crazy credits
      The opening credits slowly 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."
    • Connections
      Referenced in Forces of Nature: Anthony Mann at Universal (2025)
    • Soundtracks
      Rally Round the Flag
      (uncredited)

      Music by William B. Bradbury

      Arranged by Bronislau Kaper

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    FAQ15

    • How long is The Tall Target?Powered by Alexa

    Details

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    • Release date
      • February 13, 1974 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • El gran complot
    • Filming locations
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $966,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 18m(78 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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