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Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968)
This is first and foremost a solid low-budget flick which attempts to discuss the connection between cinematic and true-life horrors, but even more importantly, it's a love poem to cinema in general and Boris Karloff specifically. Bogdanovich's legit debut tells two stories which intersect at the beginning and the ending. What initially appears to be the more important one involves aging B-movie star Byron Orlok (Karloff, basically playing himself in a wonderful performance) who feels outdated and doesn't want to make any more schlock, even though his current director (Bogdanovich) has fashioned an artistic script for him to work on next. The other story involves a young married man named Bobby (Tim O'Kelly) who lives with his wife at his parents' home. He and his father are gun aficionados, but Bobby seems to be undergoing some changes within himself which he's unable to communicate with his loved ones.
Budgeted at $130,000 and apparently featuring an assist to Bogdanovich's good screenplay from none other than Samuel Fuller (I've never seen it on DVD, but I've gleaned this info), Targets is often an arresting film, especially due to cinematographer László Kovács' Hitchcockian technique (lots of spooky subjective camerawork) and a super bit of sound editing by Verna Fields. The scenes where Bobby goes psycho (all three of them) are handled chillingly and easily compensate for any amateurish performances along the way. The use of Roger Corman's borderline camp classic The Terror (which stars Karloff, but also Jack Nicholson and Dick Miller) is also a great way to get those of us who love Karloff, oldtime horror and Roger Corman to totally buy into the film. I would love to hear what others think of Targets, a film which really attempts to do something unique and mostly accomplishes it. It also seems to make even more sense today than it did 50 years ago
This is first and foremost a solid low-budget flick which attempts to discuss the connection between cinematic and true-life horrors, but even more importantly, it's a love poem to cinema in general and Boris Karloff specifically. Bogdanovich's legit debut tells two stories which intersect at the beginning and the ending. What initially appears to be the more important one involves aging B-movie star Byron Orlok (Karloff, basically playing himself in a wonderful performance) who feels outdated and doesn't want to make any more schlock, even though his current director (Bogdanovich) has fashioned an artistic script for him to work on next. The other story involves a young married man named Bobby (Tim O'Kelly) who lives with his wife at his parents' home. He and his father are gun aficionados, but Bobby seems to be undergoing some changes within himself which he's unable to communicate with his loved ones.
Budgeted at $130,000 and apparently featuring an assist to Bogdanovich's good screenplay from none other than Samuel Fuller (I've never seen it on DVD, but I've gleaned this info), Targets is often an arresting film, especially due to cinematographer László Kovács' Hitchcockian technique (lots of spooky subjective camerawork) and a super bit of sound editing by Verna Fields. The scenes where Bobby goes psycho (all three of them) are handled chillingly and easily compensate for any amateurish performances along the way. The use of Roger Corman's borderline camp classic The Terror (which stars Karloff, but also Jack Nicholson and Dick Miller) is also a great way to get those of us who love Karloff, oldtime horror and Roger Corman to totally buy into the film. I would love to hear what others think of Targets, a film which really attempts to do something unique and mostly accomplishes it. It also seems to make even more sense today than it did 50 years ago