...is the sheer starkness. I think it comes from the lack of score and how matter-of-fact the murder scenes are, especially the freeway sniping. I think Bogdanovich did a really amazing job here. Great film.
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BORIS LIKES A LOT OF LITTLE THINGS TO KICK
totally agree. i also loved the scene after the kid kills his wife and mother thatn concentrates on the carpet/rug while he cleans up.
shareI don't know if you watched any of the special features on the DVD, but Bogdanovich mentions how that clean-up stuff is taken directly from what Charles Whitman actually did after he killed his family. Weird.
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BORIS LIKES A LOT OF LITTLE THINGS TO KICK
There's another dark and chilling scene in this movie that really gets me... and to remind me that this movie is the closest thing to reality.
In one scene half-way through, after killing his wife, his mother, and a wrong-place-in-the-wrong-time grocery delivery guy, the killer, Bobby Thompson, stops in a local gun store where he orders 300 rounds of ammuntion for his new semi-automatic .303 rifle and a few other boxes of ammuntion. Now, one might get supicious because Bobby had just ordered just a large quanity of ammuntion and he appears a little jittery from his posture and tone of voice. As the tension builds we wonder: will the clerk call the police? Will Bobby realize that he's doing this and shoot him right there in the store? But after a minute, what transpires is a complete and unexpected shock: the ammuntion is sold withtout a question asked, and Bobby walks back out onto the street to resume his killing spree.
Clearly inspired by the 1966 Charles Whitman story, the movie still remains powerful to day as it did 40 years ago with testimate to all the mass shootings in the USA and a few abroad that normal looking people you might never suspect are dangerous, become mass killers, from Columbine, to Virgina Tech, and many others show just how much people then and now are willing to go all out to commit murder just for no reason at all.
Yeah, I kept expecting the gun store guy to say something, if just as a token to appease the viewer's conscience. Of course, that's contrary to the film's message, but it's what you're lead to expect through the many film cliches that Targets subverted, even before many of them existed. Something tells me Bogdanovich isn't an NRA member.
Oh whisky, leave me alone.
In all honesty, I wasn't too surprised that the store owner didn't say anything. While I can't speak for the time period, I know it's pretty common now for people to buy ammunition in bulk. Hell, they sell 1000 rounds boxes of .223 all the time.
Although, I do agree that his demeanor was a little bit unsettling. And, like I said, I can't speak for the time period, and it may indeed have been more unusual in that time.
Also, a very small note to a comment made by Matt-282 several years ago. The rifle Bobby uses (Remington 742) was never offered in .303. I was thinking they'd said in the film it was a .30-06, but I can't be sure. Not a big deal or anything, but it definitely wasn't .303.
Let a little insanity into your life.
It was 30.06 he bought not .303 and 300 rounds too a regular customer is hardly a suspicious amount of ammo. The clerk was ill as well so he hardly looked at him.
"I Aim at the Stars,But sometimes I hit London!" (Dr.Werner Von Braun)
The gun store clerk did know Bobby, and Bobby did make up a story about him and his Dad going hunting. My guess is the gun store clerk would never suspect a kid like Bobby to do a thing like this, probably knew him since he was little. Thus blinding the clerk.
I'm from Paris... TEXAS
I agree. I just watched it, and it was such a brutal film. Maybe brutal isn't the best word, but disturbing. It really surprised me, especially for a film made in 1968.
shareYep. Disturbing is the word. The fact is there have been people who have done this very thing. To see it as it probably happened is indeed disturbing.
shareI love the little detail where he sets up to shoot the people on the freeway:
He actually brought along lunch with him in a brown bag! He pulls out a sandwich he made and a bottle of Dr.Pepper, starts to eat, and then casually picks up his gun starts looking through the scope. And he doesn't just fire right away. He looks a few times, lines up the scope on different targets, and then starts shooting once he's ready.
'Stark' really describes the film well
share[deleted]
I first saw this film when I was about 10 or so, it was on a public cable station back in the day in the mid-80's, it must of been a Sunday because that was when they showed movies, it was usually old, 60's/70's kung fu movies and such, but that day Targets was on; I was mesmerized and remember being quite frightened by the film. It was one of those movies that stuck with me, to this day I get a little nervous when I drive by large oil or gas storage tanks on the highway (that doesn't happen as often now that I live in Indiana, but it did when I was in Texas!)
For the longest time I couldn't find it anywhere, I always remember the title and whilst in college I would go to any and all video rental stores to find it. I was overjoyed one day in the early 2000's when I was reading, I think it was a People Magazine, and they had an ad for releases of a couple "cult classics", "Targets" was one of them. At the time i was working for BN and I immediately ordered it.
"Targets" held up incredibly well, sure it seems a tad campy now, but that's okay. I think the slyness of the camp makes the film that much more disturbing and aides in the "sticks with you" aspects as stated above. The commentary on the DVD is quite interesting and I have learned quite a bit about the art of movie making from it, Peter B. is quite the auteur, granted he lets you know, repeatedly, that he was a close friend to ORSEN WELLS (dun-dun-dun!) but he is truly a gifted director.
I keep hoping that Criterion will do a release of "Targets" I'd love to see what kind of extras they might be able to dig up.
I truly believe that this film is an unrecognized masterpiece. I wish it was more readily available. Sadly, I think the DVD that I have went out of print almost as soon as it came out, which is a pity.
I'm glad to see others have the same respect and admiration for this film. Sorry I'm late to the party!
As ever,
Loof