Targets

Targets is a 1968 American crime thriller film directed by Peter Bogdanovich in his directorial debut, and starring Tim O'Kelly, Boris Karloff, Bogdanovich, Nancy Hsueh, James Brown, Arthur Peterson, Monte Landis and Sandy Baron. The film depicts two parallel narratives which converge during the climax: one follows Bobby Thompson, a seemingly ordinary and wholesome young man who embarks on an unprovoked killing spree; the other depicts Byron Orlok, an iconic horror film actor who is disillusioned by real-life violence and is contemplating retirement. Produced by Roger Corman and written by Polly Platt and Bogdanovich, the film was loosely inspired by Charles Whitman, a mass shooter who committed the Tower shooting at the University of Texas in 1966. The film was shot in late 1967 in the Los Angeles area. Because of its release by Paramount Pictures shortly after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the studio's executives chose to market the film as a commentary on gun violence in the United States, fearing its content would alienate audiences otherwise, but it was no less a box-office failure. Despite its commercial failure, the film received generally positive reviews. It was included in the 2003 book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Plot Byron Orlok, an aged, embittered horror movie actor, abruptly announces his decision to retire from Hollywood and return to his native England to live out his final days. Orlok considers himself outdated because he believes that people are no longer frightened by old-fashioned horror, citing real-life news stories as more horrifying than anything in his films. However, after much persuasion, particularly from young director Sammy Michaels, Orlok agrees to make a final in-person promotional appearance at a Reseda drive-in theater before leaving Hollywood for good.