Targets

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Target (disambiguation).
Targets
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPeter Bogdanovich
Screenplay byPeter Bogdanovich
Story by
Produced byPeter Bogdanovich
Starring
CinematographyLászló Kovács
Edited byPeter Bogdanovich
Music byCharles Greene
Brian Stone
Production
company
Saticoy Productions
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • August 13, 1968 (1968-08-13)[1]
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$130,000 (estimated)[2]

Targets is a 1968 American crime thriller film directed by Peter Bogdanovich in his theatrical directorial debut, and starring Tim O'Kelly, Boris Karloff, Nancy Hsueh, Bogdanovich, James Brown, Arthur Peterson 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, disillusioned by real-life violence, is contemplating retirement.

Produced by Roger Corman and written by Polly Platt and Bogdanovich, the film was loosely based on the case of Charles Whitman, a mass shooter who committed the Tower shooting at the University of Texas in 1966.[3] The film was shot in late 1967 in the Los Angeles area.

Released by Paramount Pictures shortly after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, it was considered a box-office bomb.[4] Despite initial commercial failure, the film was well-received by critics, and was included in the 2003 book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference afi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Corman & Jerome 1990, p. 143.
  3. ^ Jacobs 2011, pp. 487–492.
  4. ^ Nollen & Nollen 2021, pp. 323–325.