Targets (1968)
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 24
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 3
A startling directorial debut by Peter Bogdanovich mixes an homage to Boris Karloff horror films with a timely sniper story to create a thriller with modern baggage and old school shock and awe.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 2
A startling directorial debut by Peter Bogdanovich mixes an homage to Boris Karloff horror films with a timely sniper story to create a thriller with modern baggage and old school shock and awe.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 3,141
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Movie Info
Together with Orson Welles' Citizen Kane and John Singleton's Boyz 'n the Hood, director Peter Bogdanovich's Targets is among the most impressive first features ever made. When Bogdanovich's cinematic mentor Roger Corman suggested that Bogdanovich might want to make his directorial debut, he offered to "donate" 20 minutes worth of footage of the Corman-directed The Terror and the services of Boris Karloff, who owed Corman two days' worth of work (at a cost of $22,000). Karloff became so caught
Aug 15, 1968 Wide
Aug 12, 2003
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Cast
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Boris Karloff
Byron Orlok -
Tim O'Kelly
Bobby Thompson -
Nancy Hsueh
Jenny -
James Brown
Robert Thompson Sr. -
Sandy Baron
Kip Larkin -
Arthur Peterson
Ed Loughlin -
Tanya Morgan
Ilene Thompson -
Mary Jackson
Mrs. Thompson -
Monte Landis
Marshall Smith -
Stafford Morgan
Gunsmith -
Mark Dennis
Gunsmith -
Paul Condylis
Drive-In Manager -
Peter Bogdanovich
Sammy -
Dan Ades
Chauffeur -
Geraldine Baron
Larkin's Girl -
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James Morris
Man with Pistol -
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Jay Daniel
Snack Bar Attendant -
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Mike Farrell
Man in Phone Booth -
Gary Kent
Gas Tank Worker -
Frank Marshall
Ticket Boy -
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All Critics (25) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (3) | DVD (16)
The endlessly repetitive fusillades suggest that Writer-Director Peter Bogdanovich, in his first film, was really intent on creating the most prolific murderer in Hollywood's long history of violence. Unfortunately, it is a record made to be broken.
Top CriticAware of the virtue of implied violence, Bogdanovich conveys moments of shock, terror, suspense and fear.
A fascinatingly complex commentary on American mythology, exploring the relationship between the inner world of the imagination and the outer world of violence and paranoia, both of which were relevant to contemporary American traumas.
Targets scores an unnerving bullseye.
Targets isn't a very good film, but it is an interesting one.
An interesting response to the demands of low-budget genre filmmaking.
...we don't, we can't, know why a Charles Whitman, a Bobby Thompson, a Michael Clark or a James Holmes does what he does. So we say they are mad.
Impressive directorial debut.
Brilliant film.
It's difficult not to wonder how many Bobby Thompsons are out there right now, driving around with an arsenal in their trunks, ready to fire their first shots.
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Foreign Titles
- Targets (1968) (DE)
- Targets (1968) (UK)

