Targets: Difference between revisions
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[[File:targets01_7527.png|frame]] |
[[File:targets01_7527.png|frame]] |
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'''''Targets''''' is a 1968 horror thriller (produced by [[Roger Corman]], directed by Peter Bogdanovich) that focuses on two men in [[Los Angeles]]. One is Byron Orlock ([[Boris Karloff]]), an aging and beloved horror film actor who has announced his decision to retire from film-making, feeling that [[Real Life]] is churning out more and far worse horrors than anything he can hope to put on screen. The other is young Vietnam vet [[wikipedia:Charles Whitman|Bobby Thompson]] (Tim O'Kelly) who unknowingly sets out to prove Orlock's point when he finally snaps under the [[Stepford Suburbia|soulless banality]] of his existence, gathers up [[More Dakka|an arsenal]], and goes on a [[Ax Crazy|shooting spree]]. Inevitably, the paths of the two men cross... |
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A worthy coda for Karloff's career, and a symbolic passing of the torch from one generation of filmmakers to the next. |
A worthy coda for Karloff's career, and a symbolic passing of the torch from one generation of filmmakers to the next. |
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{{tropelist}} |
{{tropelist}} |
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* [[Affably Evil]]: After killing his wife and mother, Thompson, while buying numerous rounds (that wouldn't be a big deal back in the 1960s, or in Texas today), casually carries on a conversation with the gun store owner. |
* [[Affably Evil]]: After killing his wife and mother, Thompson, while buying numerous rounds (that wouldn't be a big deal back in the 1960s, or in Texas today), casually carries on a conversation with the gun store owner. |
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* [[Crapsack World]]: One of Orlock's reasons for retiring is that the ''real world'' is becoming more horrifying than the scary movies he made. Considering how Thompson's shooting spree ''was'' based on the real-life Whitman shootings, he's depressingly correct. |
* [[Crapsack World]]: One of Orlock's reasons for retiring is that the ''real world'' is becoming more horrifying than the scary movies he made. Considering how Thompson's shooting spree ''was'' based on the real-life Whitman shootings, he's depressingly correct. |
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* [[Drive-In Theater]]: Where the climax of the film takes place. |
* [[Drive-In Theater]]: Where the climax of the film takes place. |
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* [[End of an Age]]: Orlock's retirement signals an end to the Monster and [[Mad Scientist]] era of horror films... with Thompson's shooting spree [[Dawn of an Era|signaling the beginning]] of the next wave of horror based on [[Humans Are |
* [[End of an Age]]: Orlock's retirement signals an end to the Monster and [[Mad Scientist]] era of horror films... with Thompson's shooting spree [[Dawn of an Era|signaling the beginning]] of the next wave of horror based on [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|human evils]] like [[Serial Killer|serial killers]]. |
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* [[Good Colors, Evil Colors]]: All of Orlock's scenes are shot in mellow autumnal shades, while Thompson's are cold sterile blues. |
* [[Good Colors, Evil Colors]]: All of Orlock's scenes are shot in mellow autumnal shades, while Thompson's are cold sterile blues. |
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* [[Let Me Tell You a Story]]: Orlock gives a lovely recitation of the story [http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/Maugham-AS.htm "An Appointment in Samarra".] |
* [[Let Me Tell You a Story]]: Orlock gives a lovely recitation of the story [http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/Maugham-AS.htm "An Appointment in Samarra".] |
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