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Corman provided the chance of a first directorial effort to so many present-day Hollywood giants, and ‘Targets’ was one of these chances. Given a fairly free hand (with some bizarre, typically Corman restrictions) Peter Bogdanovich was trusted to helm his first feature length movie. Known from his New York days of film criticism, Bogdanovich had been itching to break into Hollywood since adolescence. Corman told him he’d let him shoot a picture if he used Boris Karloff (as Karloff had two contractually obligated days owed to Corman’s company) and some footage from a film they had made called ‘The Terror’. Bogdanovich probably would have laughed at such a bizarre proposal if he hadn’t wanted so bad to get his first ‘big break’.

As we watch Targets, we notice immediately that the offbeat genesis of the film creates a bit of a strange storyline. The story opens with Karloff playing aging horror star Byron Orlock (parallels anyone?), a man who figures that based on the modern-day violence and younger generations sentiments, that he is too old fashioned to be accepted as a real villain anymore. He announces to his producer that he is going to retire from the business and let “[the younger generation] have it.” Begging him to stay on for just one more picture is Sammy Michaels (played by an extremely youthful Peter Bogdanovich) the director of the last few Orlock horror flicks. He tells Orlock of a great script he has in mind where he could shed his image, and play a real part again.

During Michaels attempt to persuade Orlock, we suddenly cut, in very shocking manner, to a telescopic sight whose crosshairs converge on the back of Orlock’s head. Pointing a rather large rifle from a gun shop across the street is young Bobby (Tim O’Kelly) who is rather gun crazy, buying up a cornucopia of weaponry and ammunition. Seemingly a simple all-American boy, we wonder just why Bobby would have a trunk full of guns, and what makes him begin to act so anti-socially. We never get answers to these questions, we just get bloodshed, and soon begin to realize that this is the type of new horror Byron Orlock doesn’t feel he can compete with.

O’Kelly’s story meshes slowly with the Karloff/Bogdanovich yarn, and we jump ahead in our minds to assume they will converge in the end, though were not quite sure how. The film labors towards the climax a bit, as we have been able to anticipate it from nearly the beginning. Orlock struggles to explain to Sammy how useless he feels and their story continues in rather light-comic fashion, especially in a really good scene which both men play drunk and wake up in bed together the next morning. Bogdanovich screams at the sight of waking up with Boris Karloff next to him, and even Karloff gets a start when he sees his hung-over appearance in the mirror.

We do get one great scene out of Boris, and it's worth all the other more tepid scenes that precede it. Planning to do some publicity for The Terror on a local radio station, Michaels suggest that Orlock do what he does best, and tell a scary story for the listening audience. As he begins to rehearse the story he will read out, Bogdanovich sets his camera back to see a wide view of his hotel room, and slowly dollies in towards the orating Karloff. A brilliant old-fashioned tale about a Baghdad merchant who sends a servant to the market and ends up staring Death in the face, the real brilliance of the scene is in how Bogdanovich’s camera allows Karloff to tell his story with the greatest effectiveness, ending a rather long interrupted take in a close-up of the famous ‘boogeyman’.

Anyone who has seen Chuck Jones’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” knows how satisfying it is just to hear Karloff speak (the actor did the now-famous narration) and will get another glimpse at the great man’s ability to spin a good yarn. It is the one scene in the movie where we get a hint of emotional satisfaction, and it is mainly credited to the pleasure a person can get from hearing a great storyteller with a great voice tell a great story. It is the type of spooky glee one gets from hearing their grandfather tell them a ghost story with a flashlight pointing up his nose.

Worth mentioning is the absence of a written score for the movie. This type of cheap horror flick would usually be accompanied by an equally cheesy musical track. Instead, Bogdanovich uses only source music; that of pop tunes coming from car radios or restaurants to give the film a kind of verisimilitude. This is a trick Bogdanovich would use on nearly all of his later pictures, most notably The Last Picture Show and the restored Mask. Here, it works to great effect to enhance the feeling of discomfort, and lets the audience wonder even more why O’Kelly's character is doing what he’s doing.

On one hand I wish I knew a bit more about the motives of young Bobby Thompson, as his underdeveloped character puts too much emphasis on the rudimentary plot. On the other hand, it is our lack of understanding which makes his actions so fascinating. A little more background to his character would have been nice, but might have changed the movie's tone from Bobby Thompson to Travis Bickle (we do see a picture of Thompson early on wearing a uniform, which I suppose explains his excellent marksmanship).

Bogdanovich uses a few extremely long takes – a risky venture in a low budget flick – and they complement the story brilliantly. One is the aforementioned storytelling scene, another shows Bobby going from living room to bedroom and back again - showing us the alienation he feels from his family - but maybe the most impressive shot occurs after Bobby has killed his wife and mother. Moving his camera across the bloodstained floor, with debris strewn around, Bogdanovich lets us travel from a cats point of view until we discover the typewritten note Bobby has left behind: “I just killed my wife and my mother. I know they'll get me. But before that, many more will die”. This is all we really get as an explanation for Bobby’s killings, along with one line of dialogue he speaks to his uninterested wife, “I don’t what’s wrong with me… I get funny ideas sometimes.”

A simple story with a very Anthony Perkins-like villain, and a wild shootout in a drive-in theatre lift Targets above its frugal production values. A nice swansong to Boris Karloff, and an impressive debut for Peter Bogdanovich.

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originally posted: 11/10/04 18:44:37
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