"Targets"
(1968)
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Director of Photography: László Kovács
After toiling away in various positions in the Corman factory, Bogdanovich was given the chance to direct his first feature. Corman wanted to use footage of one of his old Boris Karloff flicks called "The Terror" (featuring a young Jack Nicholson) and incorporate it with two days of shooting that Karloff owed him. This is what Bogdanovich cooked up. A meta take on an aging horror star who feels out of touch and place and out to pasture in a late '60s world far more real and violent than his cinematic concoctions. This is juxtaposed with the story of a young all-American war vet (played by Tim O'Kelly in a chilling turn) living in a sanitized, buttoned up whitebred suburban hellscape who coldly and dispassionately goes on a violent shooting spree with a duffel bag of firearms, reminiscent of Charles Whitman on the University of Texas clock tower. These two stories collide in a violent conclusion far more frightening than a Hollywood monster movie confection. A stunning debut and one of the early films to signal the birth of New Hollywood. The film was so well-received, Corman was able to sell the film to Paramount and despite failing due to the political climate at the time, the film launched Bogdanovich's career. Finally available on Blu-Ray by way of Criterion. Our first watch. Check it out. Bought at Videomatica.
