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| Targets By Adapadz |
| Director and film critic Peter Bogdanovich’s debut film about Americana brings up issues of gun control and social attitudes to violence during the Vietnam era. ‘Targets’ has two main stories, on the one hand is ageing actor Byron Orlok (played by Boris Karloff) who is pondering retirement and on the other is young fresh faced Bobby Thompson (Tim O’Kelly) who seems tired of society and responsibility. |
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| Worn-down thespian Byron knows his acting days are numbered and is on the verge of retiring after his last film whilst family man Bobby is letting his gun hobby get a bit out of hand. The movie plays like a drama for the Byron character but like a cold documentary for the Thompson boy once he’s killed his family with ease. It gets darker and worse for L.A as he moves on and end’s up stood atop a building shooting at cars. The clean cut performance of Tim O’Kelly makes this film stand out for me as its such a different approach for a conventional killer. O'Kelly is the all-American kid from next door, he sips pop and eats sandwiches between rounds, making the character and film very unsettling. The finale sees the un-emotional Thompson shooting out into a crowd of drive thru audience members, little does he know fate has bigger plans for himself and Orlok – as the latter is in the crowd. |
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| There are some genuine chills in this movie especially all the ‘Thompson family time’ and the build up in suspense near the end is great, one of the 60’s best films – A harsh action drama with a hard hitting social message. Now the making of the film is an interesting series of events according to Bogdanovich – One day in 1968 notorious producer Roger Corman had a few days’ use of actor Boris Karloff and had nothing for him. So he gave young screenwriter Bogdanovich a chance to show off his talent by asking him to write a script over one night and then start directing the next day. ‘Targets’ was the result, and it is not a bad little result either. |
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