Le Grand Attentat

The various Presidential assassinations have generated few first rate films. The best of the lot is Oliver Stone's JFK, but it is also quite controvertial as Stone takes for granted the conspiracy theory of A.D.A. Garrison of New Orleans (which was generally discredited). But Stone's movie does resurrect the real atmosphere of confusion and doubt that political murder retains to this date. So, for all it's defects, it does make its point.

There is no film about Garfield's assassination, and only one old film (THIS IS MY AFFAIR with Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, and Victor MacLaughlin) touched on McKinley's murder. With Lincoln you have no definitive film, a la JFK, but several movies that show the killing or deal with the events or personalitie around it. These include the two sequences in Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION and ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the film biography of Edwin Booth (PRINCE OF PLAYERS - with Richard Burton as Edwin, Raymond Massey as Junius Brutus Booth Sr., and John Derek as John Wilkes Booth), and the story of Dr. Samuel Mudd, THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND (directed by John Ford, and starring Warner Baxter as the unfortunate Doctor - this may be the best of the Lincoln Assassination films due to Ford's excellent directing). And there is this nice little film directed by Anthony Mann, and starring Dick Powell and Adolphe Menjou. Historically, it is more accurate than some of the reviewers here would believe. An Italian barber named Fernandina was behind the plot (originated in Baltimore) in which a Pinkerton operative infiltrated the scheme to cause a disturbance while Lincoln was delivering a speech in Baltimore, and in the confusion give one of a dozen selected plotters a chance to kill the President-elect. Pinkerton tipped off Old Abe, and his stop in Baltimore was cancelled. Also, he boarded the train in Philadelphia in a disguise (a tam-a shanter and cape were suggested in the press). Lincoln was lampooned for being a silly coward by his opponents, but it was probably true - during the initial weeks of the Civil War Baltimore got more military treatment (including a massacre of a mob of citizens by Massachusetts soldiers) than any other Northern trouble-spot. Fernandina disappeared in the next few months (his eventual fate remains unknown). Pinkerton (who had worked with Lincoln in Illinois, dealing with the Illinois Central Railroad - which also brought him into contact with General McClellan) went on to create the Secret Service. If he overestimated Southern strength, it was unfortunate - but he was a great detective. For all the fictional aspects of the film's script, the movie does capture the urgency of the situation, and the uncertainty of the early days of the Civil War.

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.

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

"The Tall Target," about a plot to kill Lincoln before his inauguration, is a compact little film directed by Anthony Mann and starring Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Marshall Thompson, and Ruby Dee. Powell plays John Kennedy, a detective and admirer of the future President who finds out about an assassination plot and hopes to stop it, although his written report seems to fall on blind eyes. On board a train, Kennedy finds the person he was to meet is dead, someone is impersonating him, and, from all the political talk, there are lots of suspects who hate Lincoln as the country gets ready for war.

Most of the action takes place on the train and the atmosphere and black and white cinematography neatly capture the period. The performances are all excellent, including that of Will Geer as the train conductor and Ruby Dee as a young slave whose mistress' brother (Thompson) is a prime suspect in the assassination plot. Twenty years earlier, Dick Powell was a boy tenor playing male ingénues opposite Ruby Keeler; in the '40s, he turned to tough detective type roles, and ultimately became a highly successful producer. He's very good in "The Tall Target" but a little too modern in manner and dialogue delivery. It's somewhat noticeable because the period is captured very well by the other actors.

This is a very good movie with a neat ending and based on a true incident. There was, by the way, a John Kennedy who was a former law enforcement officer who served in the Lincoln administration. Whether he was involved in this situation, I don't know. It's a wonderful story nonetheless.

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.