Editing Targets (section)

==Release==

===Box office===
''Targets'' premiered in New York City on August 13, 1968.<ref name=afi/> It later screened at the [[Edinburgh Film Festival]] in September of that year.<ref name=afi>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/19593|work=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|title=Targets|access-date=May 20, 2023}}</ref> [[American International Pictures]] offered to release, but Bogdanovich wanted to try to see if the film could get a deal with a major studio. It was seen by [[Robert Evans]] of [[Paramount Pictures]], who bought it for $150,000, giving Corman an instant profit on the movie before it was released.{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=32}}

Although the film was written and production photography completed in late 1967, it was not released until after the [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.]] and that of [[Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy|of Robert F. Kennedy]] in the summer of 1968, thus having topical relevance.{{sfn|Nollen|Nollen|2021|p=324}}

Bogdanovich, who appears in the film as a young writer-director, credits it with getting him noticed by the studios, which in turn led to his directing three very successful studio films (''[[The Last Picture Show]]'', ''[[What's Up, Doc? (1972 film)|What's Up, Doc?]]'', and ''[[Paper Moon (film)|Paper Moon]]'') in the early 1970s.

Around five years after release, in March 1973, New Zealand refused to issue a 'certificate of approval' for the film's trailer on the basis that it was "contrary to public order and decency".<ref>{{Cite letter|recipient=Cinema International Corporation|subject=Refusal of censor to approve film under the Cinematographic Films Act 1961|title=|first=B C|last=Tunnicliffe|date=14 March 1973|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

===Critical response===
On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''Targets'' has an approval rating of 89% based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "A startling directorial debut by Peter Bogdanovich mixes an homage to Boris Karloff horror films with a timely sniper story to create a thriller with modern baggage and old school shock and awe."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/targets|title=Targets (1968)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref>

[[Howard Thompson (film critic)|Howard Thompson]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the film an "original and brilliant melodrama", and concluded that "''Targets'' scores an unnerving bullseye."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/08/14/archives/screen-two-case-histories-of-horror-are-joinedboris-karloff-stars.html|title=Screen: Two Case Histories of Horror Are Joined: Boris Karloff Stars in Gripping 'Targets' Film by Bogdanovich at 46th St. Embassy|last=Thompson|first=Howard|author-link=Howard Thompson (film critic)|date=August 14, 1968|website=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=July 21, 2020}}</ref> [[Dave Kehr]] of ''[[The Chicago Reader]]'' called the film "an interesting response to the demands of low-budget genre film making."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/targets/Film?oid=1049426|title=Targets|last=Kehr|first=Dave|author-link=Dave Kehr|website=[[The Chicago Reader]]|date=November 22, 2007|access-date=July 21, 2020}}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote of the film: "Aware of the virtue of implied violence, Bogdanovich conveys moments of shock, terror, suspense and fear."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/1967/film/reviews/targets-1200421555/|title=Targets|date=December 31, 1967|website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|access-date=July 21, 2020}}</ref> In a retrospective review of the film, [[Geoff Andrew]] of ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' called it "a fascinatingly complex commentary on American mythology, exploring the relationship between the inner world of the imagination and the outer world of violence and paranoia, both of which were relevant to contemporary American traumas."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/en_gb/film/targets|title=Targets|last=Andrew|first=Geoff|author-link=Geoff Andrew|website=[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]|date=September 10, 2012|access-date=July 21, 2020}}</ref>

Writing for the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', critic [[Roger Ebert]] gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, and wrote that "''Targets'' isn't a very good film, but it is an interesting one." He called Karloff's performance "fascinating" but noted that the film may have been "more direct and effective" without his scenes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/targets-1968|title=Targets movie review & film summary (1968)|first=Roger|last=Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert|date=August 15, 1968|work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|via=[[RogerEbert.com]]|access-date=July 24, 2017}}</ref> A review of the film published by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' stated that "''Targets'' eventually falls victim to artistic overkill."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838718,00.html|title=New Movies: Targets|date=September 13, 1968|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=July 21, 2020}}</ref>

[[Stanley Kauffmann]] of ''[[The New Republic]]'' wrote, "''Targets'' showed considerable skill, but was trapped in Movieland, in more than subject matter".{{sfn|Kauffmann|1974|p=82}} [[John Simon (critic)|John Simon]] wrote- "''Targets'' handled a valid subject but in a trashy way."{{sfn|Simon|1982|p=49}}

In 2018, on the film's 50th anniversary, Mark Lager wrote on ''[[Cinema Retro]]'' that "Bogdanovich had been deeply disturbed by [[Charles Whitman]]'s mass shooting and felt compelled to write a screenplay based on the event. ''Targets'' was released in August 1968 and was especially relevant that year in the wake of the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/10246-REVISITING-BOGDANOVICHS-TARGETS-AT-50.html|title=Revisiting Bogdanovich's ''Targets'' at 50|last=Lager|first=Mark|website=[[Cinema Retro]]|date=2018|access-date=July 29, 2023}}</ref>

In 2020, [[Quentin Tarantino]] called ''Targets'' "the most political movie Corman ever made since ''[[The Intruder (1962 film)|The Intruder]]''. "And forty years later it's still one of the strongest cries for [[gun control]] in American cinema. The film isn't a thriller with a social commentary buried inside of it (the normal Corman model), it's a social commentary with a thriller buried inside of it... It was one of the most powerful films of 1968 and one of the greatest directorial debuts of all time. And I believe the best film ever produced by Roger Corman."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thenewbev.com/tarantinos-reviews/targets/|title=Targets|last=Tarantino|first=Quentin|author-link=Quentin Tarantino|date=March 19, 2020|work=[[New Beverly Cinema]]|access-date=March 23, 2020|archive-date=March 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323113636/http://thenewbev.com/tarantinos-reviews/targets/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Home media===
[[Paramount Home Entertainment]] released ''Targets'' on [[DVD]] on August 12, 2003.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[DVD Talk]]|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s919targ.html|title=DVD Savant Review: Targets|date=August 12, 2003|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230520043022/https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s919targ.html|archive-date=May 20, 2023|url-status=live|last=Erickson|first=Glenn}}</ref>

In 2023, ''Targets'' was remastered in [[4K resolution|4K]] and released on DVD and [[Blu-ray]] by [[The Criterion Collection]]. BFI released Targets on 25th September 2023 for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Slant Magazine]]|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/targets-blu-ray-review-peter-bogdanovich/|title=Blu-ray Review: Peter Bogdanovich's Crime Thriller Targets on the Criterion Collection|date=May 18, 2023|last=Henderson|first=Eric|url-status=live|archive-date=May 20, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230520043135/https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/targets-blu-ray-review-peter-bogdanovich/}}</ref>