Targets

This small in budget, huge in talent picture had the terrible timing of being completed before, but released after Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy Sr. were assassinated. The toll those two events had in 1968 almost guaranteed "Targets" would never be seen by audiences that could watch Tim O'Kelly and keep his character in mind as a Charles Whitman figure rather than a politically motivated gunman. Bogdanovich's first directing turn also marked the swan song of Boris Karloff. The two of them together were a dynamite pairing and it's a shame we didn't get more from this movie loving duo. Clips from Roger Corman's "The Terror" (with Karloff and a really young Jack Nicholson) are strategically inserted, as Boris plays an actor who's synonymous with big screen terror. And as his career is winding down, the changes frightening him in society are not costumes, on the lot sets and ghoulish cosmetics, but real human monsters who destroy any remaining sense of safety in the world with high powered rifles and other firearms. His Byron Orlok is an old man who knows his time is short and makes the most of each day he continues to live. Bogdanovich's Sammy is in awe of the legend, while most of the industry hustlers Byron has to deal with are only interested in the hype and money. Enter Tim O'Kelly and his family. The parents are salt of the earth types and Tim's wife is his rock. Then why does this clean cut young man in his twenties during the era of the love generation look and feel so out of step with modern life? We'll never really know. Those mass murderers in the making only reveal certain key clues when it's too late to stop their plans. Sam Fuller provided help, whipping the script into shape, as the director acknowledges in his commentary. It's better that those wanting to see this smaller, quiet film not know all of it's plot. Calling a story with much gunfire "quiet" is peculiar, but the sound editing of Verna Fields is the unsung hero of "Targets", where the bursts of lethal noise alternate with a serene soundtrack stripped down to not too much era music (Bogdanovich had a handful of obscure 60's tunes to sparingly use) and, thankfully, none of the din cluttering most 21st century movies, letting us hear the full tones of each person's voice sans cranked up score and effects. "Targets" is a terrific and overlooked time capsule from an era before school shootings were an almost weekly event in the news and when there seemed to be a solution for ending violence in our future. It's an almost quaint trip back inside a cautious sense of optimism we'll not share again.

For his first time out, Peter Bogdanovich does a very respectable job here. His camera-work is pretty unobtrusive in the first part of the film, but he becomes more confident as the film progresses, and there are some memorably well made scenes (particularly once the violence begins). The story itself is slightly uneven; it is nice the way the parallel stories come together at the end, but it feels slightly contrived, and not completely necessary. The biggest thing holding this movie down, in my opinion, is the acting. Very mediocre to poor acting all around. Boris Karloff does the best turn, but he's obviously in such bad health that the poor guy can only give half an attempt. The rest of the cast is B or C grade (including, interestingly, Bogdanovich -- the man can direct, but he sure can't act, at least not in this movie). Overall a worthwhile effort, and worth seeing to witness the early development of Bogdanovich's style, but definitely not a classic.

One of the things I truly like and admire about Boris Karloff was that he pretty much kept on playing in the same sort of movies and played the same sort of roles, throughout his entire career. Seems to me he looked for movies and parts that suited him and more let movies adapt to him, rather than the other way around. It's also a well kept secret Karloff actually was a pretty good actor! In this movie he definitely gets to show some of his skills and I really enjoyed him in, what later turned out to be, one of his final roles. But really, it's not a Karloff movie and I also most certainly don't see him as the lead role in this. It's actually best to know as little as possible about this movie, since that way you shall definitely enjoy it most, just as I pretty much did. It's a movie that constantly throws you off. The one moment you think the movie is going to be about one thing but it then later turns out it's being about something totally different and unrelated! You could see this movie as one that has two simultaneous story lines in it. Both of them are seemingly unrelated to each other but they of course come together toward its end. Not in the most convincing way and it seems a bit random all but I don't know, the randomness of it seemed to sort of suit the movie. It's because it also has some other very random things going on in it. I'm referring to the sniper, who truly randomly picks his victims and goes on a terrible killing spree. There is something very uncomfortable and horrendous about it and I'm not even kidding when I say that this is one of the most violent movies I have ever seen, purely due to the randomness and pointlessness of all the killings! And I really mean and say this all in a positive way. It besides all gets shot and buildup in a very effective and also realistic way. Director Peter Bogdanovich certainly did a great job handling its tension and it will put you on the edge of your seat and let you hold your breath for a few seconds. It's really surprising how great and original this movie is! I say surprising, since this isn't exactly being a movie that is well known anywhere. It makes this a criminal underrated movie, that most definitely deserves to be seen by more! 8/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Boris Karloff gives a brilliant performance as an aging horror-movie actor who want to get out of the business. That performance is the only worthwhile thing in TARGETS. Karloff just about manages to carry the Byron Orlok portion of the story (and he needs to--the story itself is supremely uninteresting); unfortunately, Bogdanovich only had him available for a limited period of time, so he had to write a second story and graft it onto Karloff's. Bogdanovich based this second story on Charles Whitman, the Texas sniper. Sadly, Bogdanovich had absolutely nothing to say about Charles Whitman, so we end up watching the descent into madness of a cardboard cutout, about whom we know little and care less. Then we see him shoot a bunch of extras. Karloff gets one final scene which verges on the interesting, and the movie ends with annoying abruptness. Apparently Bogdanovich was "saying something about violence"; if so, he should have written a pamphlet. Karloff fans should watch this. No one else needs to.

This is an interesting curio. Bogdonavich's first effort is a glorified student film distinguished by Karloff's presence. The love for cinematic history is ubiquitous. Some captivating cinema verite sidebars give hints of potential greatness. But limited budget and lack of cohesion ultimately render the viewing a so-so experience.

Watch the clean-cut young guy eat dinner with his family. Watch them watching TV. Watch the same guy driving a car. Watch him get dressed. All this is acted Robot-like by a no-name actor who is a dead ringer for Matt Damon, without the acting talent. Yes, there's violence because he goes on a shooting spree and kills many people. But that's IT. I mean, there's no plot, no suspense, no anything. There IS a lot of dead space in this movie. If you love watching a pasty, boring dude eating a sandwich.....driving a car.....walking......etc., then this movie is for you!! Before seeing this movie I read the raving reviews. I thought my favorite actor, Boris Karloff, was in it and the reviews were good...so I spent almost two hours being BORED TO DEATH. NO GUN NECESSARY.

Early effort from writer-director Peter Bogdanovich who, at this stage, was just another raw, hungry new talent in need of both self-control and focus. Bogdanovich (who also appears in a small role) attempts to correlate the stories of two disparate characters: an ex-soldier turned sniper and a retiring horror movie actor (Boris Karloff) about to make his final publicity appearance at a drive-in theater. Why these two men should ever cross paths is apparently the key ingredient to what intrigued Bogdanovich to this type of material (the irony of it and so forth); however, he fails to make clear what the violent journey has meant in the end, or exactly how Karloff can bring clarity to the mind of this mad-dog killer. The director seems to be struggling to make a point about the effects of movie fantasy versus human alienation, but since this hasn't been much of an issue for two-thirds of the picture's length, the climactic events are muddled and not all that satisfying. Surely there are some coldly shrewd observations made here (most often visually, without dialogue), displaying Bogdanovich's wildly imaginative eye and a skill for storytelling through imagery (he also gets a world of help from his gifted cinematographer, Laszlo Kovacs). Unfortunately, the rudimentary aspects of the reedy plot are clumsily presented, and the movie gets off to such a heavy-handed start that one is never sure whether the tone is meant to be satirical or suspenseful. As a low-budget, early effort, the film definitely shows promise; seen today, we are able to gauge just how much growth was necessary on Bogdanovich's part--and how much ground he did indeed cover in just a few short years. **1/2 from ****

What happened is that Peter Bogdanovich was called to direct an episode of ADAM-12 with Martin Milner and Kent McCord... Yes I am joking but here there is absolutely nothing of "cinema". We aren't even on the level of TV series like KOJAK, THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, MANNIX or THE ROOKIES which are far better than this cinematographic crap which looks more like a lousy Mexican or Brazilian soap opera. Except for Boris Karloff, there isn't even one familiar face in this "movie", which means that of all the actors that participated not even one became famous or had a decent career. Episodes of ADAM-12 last 24 minutes but Bogdanovich decided to boost this one to 86 minutes still not finding time to work, for instance, on the psychological aspects of the characters. Very typical of TV series because that's all this "movie" is.

and for the right reasons as it contrasts a Monster from the pages of real life, a quite seemingly normal fellow who unexpectedly goes off the deep end and winds up on a killing spree, with an old Horror film icon named Byron Orlock, clearly based on the man who plays him Boris Karloff himself. Karloff gives one of the finest performances of his career here and thereby raises this film's overall quality. Along with a brisk pace and some scenes that disturb and haunt the viewer long after viewing, TARGETS is a masterpiece of terror.

Starts off quite promisingly, with some clever dialogs and an interesting plot about a retiring old actor. But Bogdanovich unfortunately had something else in mind. He introduces a character who quite obviously will turn into a spree-killer, and the movie re-directs its focus almost solely on him. Now, I understand the points that Bogdanovich was trying to make with this story, but somehow he fell into a Hitchcockian trap, i.e. he let shock and horror overtake the logic. Just like the just-mentioned chubby Englishman with a penchant for ignoring logic and insulting the (intelligent) viewer's intelligence, Bogdanovich serves us some nonsense. Bullets are flying left and right, and corpses just pile up, yet it takes ages for people to hear the bullets or realize the direness of any of a number of situations with the random shooting. The spree-killer shoots three times in his home, in what is presumably an idyllic middle-class suburbia, and no one calls the police! No one hears the bullets. And the scene where Karloff approaches the killer may be well thought-out but combined with the ensuing face-slapping it belongs more in a comedy or a fantasy then a movie which strives for realism. Karloff's female assistant is as Chinese as Jennifer Lopez. Bogdanovich is wise not to have pursued an acting career; he comes off amateurish. Bogdanovich's line "All the good films have already been made" has more irony than brain cells in Einstein's brain. Pretty much at the time this movie was made the actual golden age of movies had already begun. The vast bulk of the classics were made from the late 60s onwards. What a BAD PREDICTION by a relatively likable but quite overrated director, who should have stuck to writing his pretentious, dull film-reviews.