Targets

Peter Bogdanovich's directoral debut has been called the best film to come out of the Roger Corman school. In some ways, that's quite a bold statement. The film has much to admire, not the least of which is Boris Karloff in what was probably the last meaningful role of his career. There are two stories going on similtaneously, the first (and in my opinion, most affecting) involves Karloff as Byron Orlock, an aging star of old-fashioned horror films (not unlike Karloff himself), who is beginning to feel old and irrelevant because the horrors of real life seem much more agonizing than the horrors of Victorian horror films like The Terror. In light of this, he is deciding to retire despite the best efforts of a young director (not unlike Bogdanovich) played by Bogdanovich who has written the perfect part for Orlock at this stage in his life. The second story revolves around an all-American boy who lives in an all-American house on an all-American street in a sunny, all-American town who calmly confesses to his phony, uninterested wife that he's been having strage ideas -- such as loading up on guns and ammo and randomly blowing away half of southern California for no apparent reason. There's a great scene when he finally gives in and kills his wife and mother. His murderous exploits lead him to a drive-in theater where Orlock is making his final public appearance. The film seems to be pointing out that the real horror is real life and the American culture of violence, not the movies with creaking doors and creepy castles. It works ideally as B-movie material, had it attempted to be a "legitimate" movie, it probably wouldn't have worked nearly as well. But in the end, what I walk away with is the desire to find the forgotten and "irrelevant" Karloff's of our time (assuming they still exist) and showing what the right actor at the right time can do with the right idea.