Editing Targets (section)

{{Short description|1968 film by Peter Bogdanovich}}
{{About|the film|other uses|Target (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Targets
| image          = Targetsposter.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Peter Bogdanovich]]
| producer       = Peter Bogdanovich
| screenplay     = Peter Bogdanovich{{efn|Although [[Samuel Fuller]] greatly assisted Bogdanovich in writing the screenplay, he insisted on not receiving a credit for his work.}}
| story          = {{plainlist|
* [[Polly Platt]]
* Peter Bogdanovich
}}
| starring       = {{plainlist|
* [[Boris Karloff]]
* [[Tim O'Kelly]]
* [[Nancy Hsueh]]
* [[James Brown (actor)|James Brown]]
* [[Sandy Baron]]
}}
| music          = 
| cinematography = [[László Kovács (cinematographer)|László Kovács]]
| editing        = Peter Bogdanovich
| studio         = Saticoy Productions
| distributor    = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1968|08|13|ref1=<ref name=afi/>}}
| runtime        = 90 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $130,000 (estimated){{sfn|Corman|Jerome|1990|p=143}}
}}
'''''Targets''''' is a 1968 American [[Crime film|crime]] [[thriller film]] directed by [[Peter Bogdanovich]] in his [[List of directorial debuts|theatrical directorial debut]], and starring [[Tim O'Kelly]], [[Boris Karloff]], [[Nancy Hsueh]], Bogdanovich, [[James Brown (actor)|James Brown]], [[Arthur Peterson (actor)|Arthur Peterson]] and  [[Sandy Baron]]. The film depicts two parallel narratives which converge during the climax: one follows Bobby Thompson, a seemingly ordinary and wholesome young man who embarks on an unprovoked killing spree; the other depicts Byron Orlok, an iconic [[horror film]] actor who, disillusioned by real-life violence, is contemplating retirement.

Produced by [[Roger Corman]] and written by [[Polly Platt]] and Bogdanovich, the film was loosely based on the case of [[Charles Whitman]], a mass shooter who committed the [[University of Texas tower shooting|Tower shooting at the University of Texas]] in 1966.{{sfn|Jacobs|2011|pages=487–492}} The film was shot in late 1967 in the Los Angeles area.

Released by [[Paramount Pictures]] shortly after the assassinations of [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|Martin Luther King Jr.]] and [[Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy|Robert F. Kennedy]], it was considered a [[box-office bomb]].{{sfn|Nollen|Nollen|2021|pages=323–325}} Despite initial commercial failure, the film was well-received by critics, and was included in the 2003 book ''[[1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die]]''.