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May 19, 2008
I watched a DVD of Peter Bogdanovich's early film Targetsthe other night.
It is about an insurance agent and Vietnam veteran, played by Tim O'Kelly, who goes on a shooting rampage from atop a Los Angeles oil refinery and then, when police start tracking him down, flees to and resumes his shootings at a drive-in theater where an aging horror film actor is making a final promotional appearance.
It is low-budget, down and dirty, and references a lot of film history. It was made under Roger Corman’s watch and stars an ageing Boris Karloff as a romanticized version of himself and is about American gun culture:
I was intrigued by the different perspectives, the subjective cinema, the influence of Alfred Hitchcock, the photography of real places, the long one shots, the strong emphasis on the post production process and the way that it draws on the classical Hollywood vernacular.
Even more impressive was the way other movies eg The Criminal Code (1931, directed by Howard Hawks plays on television), are woven into the film. Sadly, I haven't seen any other films made by Bogdanovich --not even The Last Picture Show (1971), which was made three years after Targets.
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