Targets - The Memorable TV DVD Review

A movie with two separate plot strands that only really come together at the end Targets concerns a film director (played by Peter Bogdanovich) trying to persuade an ageing horror star to appear in his next film, the star Byron Orlock (Boris Karloff – who only made the movie because he had five days of his contract with Roger Corman left!) refuses because he believes the modern day world is far more horrific than any film can conjure up, this is contrasted with the story of Bobby Thompson (Tim O’Kelly) an outwardly normal family man who ends up going on a shooting spree.

SO IS IT ANY GOOD?

A thriller about a horror movie star making his comeback was a perfect vehicle for an ageing Boris Karloff. Peter Bogdanovich’s debut vehicle shows plenty of traces of the style that he would develop through the seventies with movies such as The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon even though the movie includes footage from the Roger Corman schlocker The Terror (Bogdanovich had been learning the film making ropes from Corman).

Targets definitely has a points to make about the effects of violence in our modern day society so is still pretty relevant today, its also got stacks of cult appeal, thanks in no small part to the number of up and coming names associated with the movie (from director Bogdanovich and his co-writer fellow director Samuel Fuller to appearances from Mike Farrell and a young Randy Quaid).

An interesting movie that’s worth a look.

ANY SPECIAL FEATURES?

Commentary and introduction by director Bogdanovich.

Interesting fact: the character of Bobby Thompson is supposedly based on a real life shooting incident of ex-marine Charles Whitman who killed 16 people at the University of Texas .