One of the standout horror films of the 1960s, and certainly one of the finest movies ever directed by Peter Bogdanovich. TARGETS may be dated in many respects but has a lot to say about the intersection of horror movies and reality, and so remains startlingly pertinent today. In fact, it may well be the most modern of all horror movies.
One of the standout horror films of the 1960s, and certainly one of the finest movies ever directed by Peter Bogdanovich.
Peter Bogdanovich made TARGETS (1968) under the auspices of Roger Corman. Bogdanovich was a young film critic at the time who’d slapped together the Corman financed VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN (1968) with footage from the 1962 Russian sci fi flick PLANETA BUR. The legendary Boris Karloff was the headliner of TARGETS, which was inspired by the real-life shooing spree of Charles Whitman, an ex-Marine who in 1966 killed 16 people and wounded 32 others on and around the University of Texas campus.
Bogdanovich scripted TARGETS with the late Polly Platt, and reportedly had uncredited assistance from filmmaker Sam Fuller. Bogdanovich has never made another horror film, unless you count the mediocre 1998 TV movie NAKED CITY: A KILLER CHRISTMAS, about which the less is said the better.
Bogdanovich has never made another horror film, unless you count the mediocre 1998 TV movie NAKED CITY: A KILLER CHRISTMAS, about which the less is said the better.
Byron Orlock is an aging horror movie icon who’s just completed production on a trashy low budget horror flick. After viewing the finished film in a Hollywood studio Orlock is so appalled he vows to give up acting.
Across the street from the studio a young man named Bobby is buying a gun. The charming and upstanding Bobby then drives back to his home in the San Fernando Valley, where he lives with his mother, father and fiancée. Bobby’s life may seem serene, but he has severe psychological problems he’s unable to articulate.
One morning, without any warning, Bobby shoots and kills his wife, mother and an unfortunate delivery boy before taking off in his car with a bunch of guns. He leaves behind a typewritten note warning that many more people will die before he’s apprehended.
Bobby makes good on his promise by climbing to the top of a large tank overlooking the 405 Freeway. He picks off several motorists with his rifle, as well as a nosy caretaker, before a motorcycle cop shows up.
Fleeing the tank, Bobby drives to a nearby drive-in theater. There he stations himself behind the screen and shoots at the drive-in’s patrons. What he doesn’t know is that Byron Orlock is on his way to that very drive-in to make a personal appearance…
In this film Peter Bogdanovich took the lessons of his mentors Roger Corman and Sam Fuller to heart: the shooting style is fast and efficient, there’s a goodly amount of action and, most importantly, the film has a GREAT ending. The idea of saving the majority of his budget for the final scenes is one Sam Fuller reportedly impressed on Bogdanovich, and he utilized that advice quite well in TARGETS. The film’s early scenes are admittedly rather awkward in their distracting old movie references (reminding us that Bogdanovich was a critic), and even a little pretentious in the way they clumsily intercut the exploits of Orlock and Bobby through parallel panning shots. Yet the film grows stronger as it advances, evincing a real flair for horror and suspense that Bogdanovich has unfortunately abandoned.
In this film Peter Bogdanovich took the lessons of his mentors Roger Corman and Sam Fuller to heart…
Another talent associated with TARGETS who (largely) abandoned his calling is actor Tim O’Kelly, who’s so effective as the tormented Bobby. O’Kelly went on to do a handful of episodic TV appearances (including the pilot of HAWAII FIVE-O) and the 1969 feature THE GRASSHOPPER before unaccountably dropping out of sight.
Boris Karloff is also impressive, essentially playing himself: an aging horror icon uncertainly trying to make his way in Hollywood of the 1960s. His final confrontation with Kelly, who confuses the real Karloff with the Karloff on the drive-in screen (an idea Bogdanovich claims originated with Sam Fuller), is perhaps the ultimate cinematic expression of the clash between reel and real life violence. The latter, it’s safe to say, has long since supplanted the former as our prime source of anxiety in and out of the movies, a fact TARGETS makes terrifyingly clear.
Vital Statistics
TARGETS
Saticoy Productions
Director/Producer/Editor: Peter Bogdonovich
Screenplay: Polly Platt, Peter Bogdonovich
Cinematography: Laszlo Kovacs
Cast: Boris Karloff, Tim O’Kelly, Nancy Hsueh, James Brown, Sandy Baron, Peter Bogdonovich