Targets (DVD, 2003, Checkpoint Security Tag)

Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Combining two different stories to deliver a commentary on American gun culture that’s remained all too relevant in the forty-plus years since the film was made, director Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets from 1968 positioned him as one of the more important figures to emerge from the Roger Corman factory. Sadly, it’s been precious few times that the director has really lived up to the promise he displayed in this tense and tightly constructed debut film. Targets deals with has-been horror movie star Byron Orlock (played by actual has-been [?] horror movie star Boris Karloff, cinema’s original Frankenstein) who decides to retire since the Victorian brand of horror he acts out in his movies doesn’t hold a candle to the real world horrors he experiences everyday. As the story of Orlock coming to terms with retirement and deciding to make one more public appearance before disappearing from public life plays out, Bogdanovich simultaneously tells the tale of a “typical American boy” Bobby Thompson, whose mundane life appears to be leading him down a dark path. Though Thompson’s life appears pretty ideal, living in a spacious house with his mom and dad and his gorgeous young wife, it soon becomes clear that the young man’s mind is starting to unravel. After he seemingly randomly murders his mother and wife, Bobby positions himself on top of a giant oil tank overlooking a busy California freeway with a sniper rifle, and heads towards an inevitable confrontation with Orlock himself which finds real and imagined horrors colliding head on.

The way in which Bodanovich constructs this film has been the subject of plenty of discussion over the years. Targets was originally financed by famed producer Roger Corman, who gave the director free reign over the film so long as he utilized footage from Corman’s 1963 period horror film The Terror and got a few days of work out of Karloff, who contractually owed Corman a few days of filming. Bogdanovich in turn came up with this ingenious story that followed Corman’s guidelines to a ‘T’ while featuring an unsettling, all-too-realistic story that makes for uncomfortable viewing in light of (numerous) real life events. Obviously, many of the details of the story of Bobby Thompson are lifted straight out of the life of Charles Whitman, the UT Tower sniper. Targets though really doesn’t examine what drove either the real-life Whitman or fictionalized Thompson to murder, but it does certainly provide food for thought and discussion about America’s relationship with firearms, itself commendable considering this film’s low-budget roots.

With uncredited assistance from respected director Samuel Fuller, Bogdanovich’s script almost seamlessly connects the story of Bobby Thompson with that of Orlock using expertly crafted transitions. Often, a camera movement ending a scene with Orlock flows into the start of a concurrent scene with Thompson. I also really like the impressive long takes that feature in some of this film’s key scenes. One early scene has a “starting to lose it” Thompson attempting to talk to his wife about his mindset as she prepares for work. She (along with Bobby’s mom and dad) seem completely unwilling or unable to relate to the troubled young man, and the scene, which begins in the living room with the family watching TV follows Bobby and his wife into the bedroom then finishes with Bobby walking back through the now pitch black hallway. The ending of the scene reflects Bobby’s disintegrating mental condition as he’s literally enveloped in darkness, but the whole scene lasts five minutes without a cut or edit : an impressive feat for both the actors to pull off and considering the technical limitations of filming on sets. It’s interesting to note that this scene (and most others in the film) features no music score whatsoever. This lack of musical cues makes it seem like Bobby is completely alone with his disturbing thoughts – punctuated by the fact that off-camera sound and dialogue is often heard as we watch Bobby go about his routine. As the rest of the world continues normally, trouble is brewing in young Bobby Thompson and he seems completely disconnected from the world around him.

Tim O’Kelly is excellent in the role of Thompson, but it’s pretty clear from early on that Karloff is the true star of this picture. While he’d been subjected to increasingly awful films to work on by the mid 1960s, Karloff gets one of his best-ever roles here, essentially playing himself. Having just watched The Terror (footage from which plays an important role in Targets), I noticed that Terror screenwriter Jack Hill gave Karloff a few scenes in which the actor could put some genuine emotion into his role and be more than just the “scary guy” that he often played. Bogdanovich takes this idea to the next level, appearing to give Karloff the chance to comment about his own film legacy. Certainly, I don’t think Karloff the man was as downright surly as the Orlock character is, but Karloff’s gruff, self-deprecating performance is nonetheless moving considering that, by the time this film was released, Karloff would be dead within nine months. Thus, when Orlock makes a remark that his movies these days are viewed as “high camp” or comments that Hollywood has become ugly and unglamorous in the years since he first showed up, the statements seem genuine because they essentially are. Targets sells the idea of Orlock being an aging genre star by incorporating real footage from 1931’s The Criminal Code, a film that more or less put Karloff on the map and led to his career-defining role in Frankenstein. I dare you not to be somewhat creeped out by the horror story he tells (in one continuous take) at about the mid-point of the film: a highlight of the film for sure.

Meanwhile, as Bobby descends into madness in his whitewashed, almost disgustingly bland and pleasant world and Orlock drinks himself into a stupor while reminiscing about the “good ol’ days,” Bogdanovich himself plays a film director attempting to get Orlock to reconsider his retirement. His character Sammy allows the film to make some rather scathing observations about the movie industry itself: early on, Sammy exclaims that “all the good films have been made,” which seems all the more accurate considering what is produced by Hollywood nowadays. His performance is somewhat mediocre at times, but Bogdanovich manages to get his points across, and Nancy Hsueh provides good support as Orlock’s assistant who also acts as Sammy’s love interest.

Though there’s plenty of horrifying, uncomfortable moments in this film (including the offscreen murder of a child during Bobby’s climactic shooting spree), I think Targets is actually at its worst when acting as a straight-up horror film. The violence in the film seems almost toned down in terms of what’s actually seen onscreen : the murder of Bobby’s wife is told in almost surrealistic montage edits (which isn’t bad in and of itself), but the blood during the scene looks pretty hokey, like someone just dumped red paint around and called it special effects. The film is more disturbing for what it implies and for the scenario it acts out rather than for any actual onscreen violence, thus it’s more a thinking man’s horror thriller. Targets might not be entirely satisfying for those looking for straight-up blood’n’guts horror and I’d almost say that it would help for a viewer to be familiar with Karloff as a horror icon in order to fully appreciate the piece.

Ultimately, I could say nothing else about this film except that it almost plays like a self-fulfilling prophecy that draws from real-life events (i.e. the Whitman story) but has been repeated time and again in American history – even during the week I wrote this review in the DC navy yard shooting. This film doesn’t really provide any answers to what spawns a serial murderer – if we read this film literally, having an idyllic home life and being a “typical American boy” is enough to push someone over the edge. I think that’s actually part of the point though, and the film will undoubtedly will spark debate for viewers who pay attention to what’s going on and take it seriously. While this thought-provoking material is enough to warrant a recommendation, as a bonus Targets is exceedingly well made and perhaps Bogdanovich’s best film – certainly the most entertaining and suspenseful even if it’s quite disturbing. It’s also a must for fans of Karloff – this has to be considered among his most memorable performances.

DVD Details = Paramount’s DVD offers a fine quality widescreen print of the film, a thirteen-minute introduction by director Bogdanovich, and a full-length commentary with the director. The commentary is just OK, providing a nice insight into the film and some stories along the way, but most of the stuff in the introduction is repeated in the commentary making the intro redundant. If you like the film, I’d say the commentary is worthwhile but nothing special.

Blood & Guts = The onscreen violence is pretty cheesy actually, but the implications of what’s happening are mighty unsettling; this is probably not a film for sensitive viewers even though I’d highly recommend it as a minor classic of the ‘60s.

Language = A few minor curse words, but nothing much

Fap Factor = There’s some nice looking women running around, but this film has higher aspirations that to titillate a viewer.

Recommend this product? Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age