I’ve become a pretty big fan of Boris Karloff over the last few years. He was so much more than Frankenstein. This film is a bit of a riff on Karloff’s most famous film, but not nearly as good. He plays a sad sack who gets set up as the fall guy for a judge’s murder and is executed for it. Then he’s brought back to life and has his revenge. It isn’t bad, but not nearly as good as Frankenstein or any number of other Karloff films. You can read my full review at Cinema Sentries.
In August of 1966 Charles Whitman, after stabbing his wife and mother to death, climbed a clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin and shot over 30 people with a rifle.
Two years later Peter Bogdanovich directed his first movie. Famed producer Roger Corman told Bogdanovich he could make any movie he liked under two conditions. First Boris Karloff owed him two days worth of work so the film would have to utilize that. Second, he had to use clips from Corman’s own film with Karloff, The Terror (1963). Other than that he could do what he wanted (within the budget constraints of course.)
Targets blends a slightly autobiographical tale of Karloff as an aging horror actor who finds real life’s horrors to be more than he can take, and a Charles Whitman-esque “average man” who goes on a shooting spree. The way that these two separate stories merge is quite fascinating.
Karloff is Byron Orlok an elderly actor who starred in the type of horror movies Karloff used to star in. But he finds he no longer has an audience. Those old films seem dated and cheesy to modern audiences. Real life with its relentless real violence is much scarier than those old movies. He announces he’s going to retire, much to the chagrin of Sammy Michaels (Peter Bogdanovich) a director who has just written a part specifically for Orlok.
During these scenes, we watch Orlok watch scenes from The Terror, and later we’ll see him watch himself in The Criminal Code (1933). It is quite a treat to watch Karloff watching himself on screen.
Orlok is unrelenting in his decision to retire but does agree to make an appearance at a drive-in theater where one of his films will be shown.
Meanwhile, Bobby Thompson (Tim O’Kelly) is a seemingly normal young man. He has a pretty wife and a perfectly average set of parents with whom they live in a nice little house. He likes to go hunting with his father. He likes guns.
The film gives us hints that not all is well with the Thompsons. Nothing dramatic, but his interactions with his wife are bland. His conversations with his parents are empty. We watch them sit around the television laughing blankly at some broad comedy.
Then he kills his wife and mother, loads up a bag full of weapons, sits atop an oil storage tank, and begins taking potshots at cars on a nearby highway. When the cops arrive he escapes, making his way to a drive-thru playing some old film starring Byron Orlok.
Bogdanovich shoots all of this with a low-key style. He wisely doesn’t make any overt statements about movies and violence, allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions.
It is a fascinating film and one that amazes me that it ever got made. There aren’t a lot of people who could take that mandate from Roger Corman and make something at all watchable, that Bogdanovich turned it into something great is a minor miracle.
I’ve started writing my Pick of the Week article for Cinema Sentries again. That’s where I look at the new Blu-ray releases and talk about the ones I find interesting. I’m actually rotating the writing duties with someone else – I write it one week then he writes it the next, etc. But I thought it would be fun to go ahead and write my picks out here on my off weeks. The plan is to link over to Cinema Sentries when I write the article there, but I keep forgetting.
In the 1930s there were a number of film series in which white actors played Asian detectives. Warner Oland as Charlie Chan is probably the most famous but Boris Karloff starred as Mr. Wong for a series of five films and Kino Lorber has just released a boxed set of them.
While it is easy to dismiss these films as straight-up racist (and certainly they are not beyond that criticism) these films were actually a step forward for Asian representation in American films. I dip into that a little in my review, but you can find a lot more on the subject with a little digging.
The Chan films aren’t by any means great cinema, but they are charming in their own way. I’m a huge fan of these odd little nooks of cinema history and that’s why the Mr. Wong Collection is my Pick of the week.
Also, out this week that looks interesting:
Avatar: The Way of the Water (2022): When the original Avatar came out I somehow missed seeing it on the big screen. At the time we were living in a small town and it was a bit of a drive to the nearest movie theater. We did drive out one weekend to see it but the 3D showing was sold out and I didn’t want to see it in 2D. At the time I figured we’d catch it another day and that just didn’t happen.
I did borrow my father’s Blu-ray at some point and watched the film, but I found it rather disappointing. It didn’t help that he didn’t have his TV set up correctly and the frame rate was a bit wonky. Had I seen it on the big screen I may have been blown away, but as it is, I’ve not given it much thought since my initial viewing.
All of that is to say that when this sequel came out I wasn’t all that excited about it. Once again I had planned to see it on an IMAX screen but for one reason or another, we just didn’t make it. Now it is out on Blu-ray and I’ll probably give it a watch at some point, but I’m in no hurry.
That being said, it was a huge hit and I’m sure lots of folks are interested in watching it at home. It comes in a variety of packages from a variety of stores so do your research before purchasing.
The Covenant (2023): Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this Guy Ritchie war film about an American soldier who is aided by his local guide when he gets injured in Afghanistan.
The Bridges at Tokyo-Ri (1954): William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, and Mickey Rooney star in this Korean War film about a group of jet pilots.
Skinamarink (2022): Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.
The Servant (1963): Criterion is releasing this drama about a manservant who is so efficient the lines between servant and master get crossed.
The Game Trilogy (The Most Dangerous Game / The Killing Game / The Execution Game): This has been called the Japanese John Wick (though it was made a few decades before Keanu Reevers would make those films). Yusaku Matsuda stars as a cold-as-ice hitman and I’m already sold.
Medicine For Melancholy (2008): Barry Jenkins directed this drama about the tentative relationship between two people navigating the conundrum of being minorities in an increasingly gentrifying city.
Whisper of the Heart (2022): A live-action, sort-of-sequel to the beloved Studio Ghibli animated film.
Red River (1948): My beloved Criterion Collection brings this classic Howard Hawks western starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift to Blu-ray with their usual aplomb.
My wife is not a fan of horror movies, at least not the blood-soaked, gore-filled variety and so every once in a while I throw on an older film and we watch them together. I can’t remember the first time I watched Frankenstein. It is such a part of the culture I probably saw parodies of it before I ever actually watched the film. I’m pretty sure I watched Young Frankenstein (1974) before I watched the original.
Whenever I watched it first, I have seen it many times since. It is a genuine classic. Frankenstein (or technically Frankenstein’s Monster) is my favorite of the Universal Horror Monsters. I actually prefer the sequel, Bride of Frankenstein (1935), slightly more than this one, but they are both terrific.
Young Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorite comedies and I’ve probably watched it more than any of the original films. So much so that it is a little difficult to watch the original because my mind always goes back to the comedy. I find myself muttering the jokes to myself and anticipating certain sight gags. When the Monster meets the young girl, for example, I’m confused when they don’t play on a teeter-totter.
But really, this is a great film and if you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it, even if you don’t like horror.
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