Targets (1968)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Peter Bogdanovich

Writers:

Polly Platt (story) and
Peter Bogdanovich (story) ...

Release Date:

15 August 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

TARGETS are people...and you could be one of them!

Plot:

Elderly horror-film star who, while making a personal appearance at a drive-in theater, confronts a psychotic Vietnam veteran who's turned into a mass-murdering sniper.

Plot Keywords:

Drive In | Sniper | Mass Murderer | High Powered Rifle | Projectionist

Cast

Tim O'Kelly	...	Bobby Thompson
Boris Karloff	...	Byron Orlok
Arthur Peterson	...	Ed Loughlin
Monte Landis	...	Marshall Smith (as Monty Landis)
Nancy Hsueh	...	Jenny, Orlock's Secretary
Peter Bogdanovich	...	Sammy Michaels, Director
Daniel Ades	...	Ludlum the Chauffeur
Stafford Morgan	...	Salesman (first gunshop) (Brass Rail)
James Brown	...	Robert Thompson, Sr.
Mary Jackson	...	Charlotte Thompson
Tanya Morgan	...	Ilene Thompson, Bobby's Wife
Timothy Burns	...	Room Service Waiter (as Tim Burns)
Warren White	...	Grocery boy
Mark Dennis	...	Ray, Salesman (second gunshop)
Sandy Baron	...	Kip Larkin, Dejay

Also Known As:

Before I Die

MPAA:

Rated R for violent content. (previously rated GP and R)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-18 (1970) | West Germany:18 (nf) | Brazil:14 | Norway:16 (1969) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:GP (cut version) (1971) | USA:R (original rating) | USA:R (re-rating) (2002) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Saticoy Productions

Trivia:

Frank Marshall's parents and then-girlfriend appear as film-goers at the drive-in scenes. The film's dolly grip also appears, as the father shot, to the horror of his son who is sitting next to him in one of the cars.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: As Bobby drags his mother's body to her bedroom, a camera shadow can be clearly seen moving up the wall and door to the left.

Quotes:

Sammy Michaels: All the good movies have been made.

Movie Connections:

Features Beep, Beep (1952)

Way ahead of its time.

Sixties America. Small town. Nothing ever happens. Go to work. Watch TV. Go to a Drive-in. Eat dinner with your family.

This is the life portrayed in Targets, Peter Bogdanovich's first film. However, there is something not quite right. We're never really too sure what it is but there's something. Bogdanovich somehow manages to create this sense of foreboding without ever really giving any hint of anything extraordinary happening. There is something bubbling under the surface. Bobby Thompson, played enigmatically by Tim O'Kelly, has dinner with his family (living with his wife at his parents house), drives his car and not much else. He looks a bit bored sometimes, but don't we all.

We get the first hint of something seriously wrong when Bobby and his Dad (James Brown) go shooting. Robert Thompson Snr goes to put the cans and bottles they have just been shooting back upright. Meanwhile, Bobby aims at his father and tracks him. We see the father through the sights and are not sure what we're looking at. Is this a victim of a practical joke or a man soon to be murdered? When the father sees his son he immediately scolds him and Bobby apologises for fooling around.

Bobby kills his mother and then his wife. That's how suddenly the film changes. The murders happen very quickly and without much blood. We are reminded that murder can be very unglamorous, banal and often all too normal. Bobby gets his collection of pistols, rifles and knives and then embarks on a shooting spree. He shoots at drivers on the freeway from atop a gas tower then at the audience at a drive-in from on top of the screen. It also takes a while for the audience and the authorities to realise that someone is shooting and watching the people watching the film totally unaware of Bobby's presence is very unnerving. People die all around us and some struggle wounded from their cars. This is the stuff of nightmares and resonates today, especially with recent developments in D.C.

The sub-plot of Boris Karloff's character, the retiring Horror film star Byron Orlock, is somewhat confusing and could be described, by cynics at least, as simply a way in which Bogdanovich gets a 'name' associated with the film. However, it does work well in so far as the denouement sees the old and world weary Orlock capturing the cowering sniper; the old man facing death with dignity whilst the young man goes insane trying to learn how to live.

This is a disturbing film that is way ahead of its time and deals with the human condition in a way that many films which came after accomplished but few before ever did.