Three Movies (3): Targets

[cjlasky7]

In 1967, legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman gave one of his assistants the chance to direct a film. But, as usual for the budget-conscious Corman, there were certain restrictions. The young director had to use horror movie icon Boris Karloff, and he only had him for two days; he also had to use footage from "The Terror," Corman's 1962 movie, starring Karloff and Jack Nicholson(!).

Peter Bogdanovich couldn't figure out how to put the pieces together. He kept thinking of Karloff as a heavy, but he couldn't make that work. He also thought "The Terror" was one of Corman's... lesser efforts. Then he had an inspiration for an opening scene: what if Karloff finished watching a print of "The Terror" and called it "the worst movie ever"?

From there, it all fell into place. Karloff wouldn't be the heavy; he'd be a legendary horror actor at the end of his career. And his storyline would contrast with the other thread of the movie: the killing spree of a sniper, one like Charles Whitman, who killed 14 people from a clock tower at the University of Texas the year before. It would be old fashioned movie horror vs. the modern horror of random gun violence. Bogdanovich had his movie.

Despite the film's odd, patchwork origins, it all worked together remarkably well. A lot of the credit must go to Karloff (in one of his last roles), showing the movie audience a completely different aspect of his talent. If the gods had been a little kinder, this could have been the start of a new career, playing acerbicly witty British gentlemen. At 79 years old, with his legs in braces, he still commanded the screen. (He had a three minute monologue retelling the old legend of an appointment with Death at Samarra--and it was absolutely mesmerizing.)

In contrast to the "movie movie" star power of Karloff, the serial killer storyline was almost documentary in its detail, bordering on the banal: Bobby and his wife living with his parents; Bobby and his Dad bonding over their love of target shooting--and owning lots and lots of guns; and Bobby's wife gently hinting that maybe he should make more of an effort to get a better job. At first glance, Bobby's situation in life didn't seem to be so awful, at least not enough to drive him to killing. But as we've seen in the last 50 years or so since, maybe for some people, it doesn't take that much. Maybe if all you know is guns, then everything looks like a target.

The two storylines collided at a drive-in movie theater (aw, remember those?), with the sniper perching at the top of the movie screen, and Karloff's character ("Byron Orlok") set to make a personal appearance celebrating a release of "The Terror." Bogdanovich filmed the set up with a terse, almost brutal efficiency, his camera slowly panning across the parked cars, ducks sitting in a row. Bobby's assault on the audience was like a slow motion tidal wave, each shot building the confusion and fear until the panicked customers tried pulling out of the lot en masse--trapping Byron and his entourage inside.

At this point, you're probably saying to yourself, "Bobby and Byron are going to have a confrontation. And Byron is going to die."

You'd think so, right?

But Bogdanovich, a true believer in Hollywood movie magic, had one final trick up his sleeve....

Bobby was pinned down, and starting to panic himself. Byron, angered by Bobby wounding his assistant (and thinking "what the hell have I got to lose?"), relentlessly advanced on Bobby's position. At the same time, the movie was still running on the big screen--and the film version of Byron seemed to be advancing on Bobby, too. Bobby fired wildly at both versions of Byron, missing his targets. In one of the most satisfying climaxes I've seen in a while, Byron then knocked Bobby's gun away with his cane and literally bitch slapped him(!) into submission.

(Yes kids, Boris Karloff bitch slapped a serial killer into a cringing, blubbering heap. It was fantastic.)

Targets wasn't a big money maker, but it did send Hollywood a message that Bogdanovich was a film maker to be reckoned with. In the next decade, he would have massive successes (The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon) and even more massive disasters (At Long Last Love). Quentin Tarantino is a big admirer of Targets' technique and strong anti-gun message.

I tend to agree. Even over 50 years later, it holds up.

Comments

[beer_good_foamy]

I love this movie. And such a good send-off (more or less) for Karloff, too; he may have had a lot of crap roles over his career, but he when he got a good one, he was always on. Plus Bogdanovich essentially putting up classic horror vs what the genre would become in the 70s-90s and having the old guard go out with dignity.

[cjlasky7]

What makes the climax so satisfying is that Byron represents the older, more romantic view of the monster--creatures of tragedy, creatures of sorrow, creatures of soul. Through Byron, they're contrasted with the new breed of monster--Romero's zombie horde, Michael Myers and Jason--remorseless, soulless killing machines. Byron's unlikely triumph reassures the audience that human feeling and innate decency can still win every once in a while, even in this new, scary world.

Fun fact: Bogdanovich says the entire script was given a polish--including a suggestion for that climactic scene--by director Samuel Fuller. Fuller insisted on remaining uncredited, so as a way of saying thanks, Bogdanovich named his own character, "Sammy Michael," after Fuller.

[cjlasky7]

While I was watching Targets, and specifically, Bobby driving around L.A. in his white Mustang convertible, I thought to myself: "This is like Cliff driving around L.A. in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."

Later, it hit me: is OUaTiH basically Tarantino's version of Targets? You have the representative of Old Hollywood (Rick Dalton in the new movie, Byron in Targets) facing the end of his career; the confrontation with a new breed of killer, and the unlikely triumph at the end.

Granted, QT adds his own distinctive touches. But still....

[beer_good_foamy]

OK, that parallel is so perfect I had to look it up, and apparently there is a shot from Targets in OUaTiH. Thanks, now I guess I have to rewatch both of those movies... :)

[cjlasky7]

Let me know if you find any more commonalities.

ETA: QT wrote a review of Targets for the New Beverly Cinema. Read it.

[beer_good_foamy]

That's a great review, thanks! Now I want to track down that I Spy episode.

Brought this up with a friend of mine and he said that in the April 1st episode of the Pure Cinema podcast, Tarantino talks about the influences of Targets on OUATiH, and he himself was struck by the exact same image you were. He expands a lot on what he says in the NBC review as well.

"It wasn't an influence, like, we're gonna do Targets... but as I was making the movie, I was driving around taking in LA as it was back then, at some point, I did watch Targets again, I'd seen it quite a few times, but to actually watch the killer get into his Mustang and listening to [the same radio station they were using]... I didn't quite realise how similar it was. This wasn't planned, it is what it is, but even to the concept where they have two storylines!"

[cactuswatcher]

I've never seen that one. I know at the time it came out, I thought, well, another sorry movie with the great old man.

I had a young professor, who was still very upset a couple years later (about the time the movie came out) about the shooting at Texas. She'd just graduated from there, in fact, was not walking around the Texas campus that day simply because she was away interviewing for the job she had when I met her.

[cjlasky7]

Bogdanovich would later come face to face with gun violence in a very personal way when his girlfriend, Dorothy Stratten, was shot by her estranged husband.

It's a monster, and very few people living in America can escape it.