Here Comes The Cinema: Peter Bogdanovich's 'Targets' Is Up Next

In Peter Bogdanovich’s 1968 film, “Targets,” Boris Karloff (basically playing a version of himself) is Byron Orlok, a horror movie star who has decided to retire and move back to his native England, looking to escape the horrors of real life in Hollywood. He is proven right when a former Vietnam War veteran, armed with a telescopic-sight rifle, attempts a mass shooting in a San Fernando Valley drive-in, where Orlock is making a special appearance to promote his farewell film.

As its next Here Comes The Cinema! offering, the Sag Harbor Cinema will present “Targets” at Pierson High School on Sunday, January 12, at 2 p.m. followed by a conversation with Renée Shafransky moderated by Sag Harbor Cinema Artistic Director Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan.

Loosely based on Charles Whitman, the 25-year-old student who killed 16 people and wounded 32 more at the University of Texas in 1966, “Targets” was the directorial debut of 27-year-old Peter Bogdanovich. The climactic confrontation between Orlok and the gunman is one of the most memorable scenes ever set in a drive-in. It took 12 days to shoot, over half of the picture’s 23-day production schedule. Bogdanovich was helped a great deal by his friend, legendary filmmaker Samuel Fuller, who came up with clever ideas for angles and dialogue, and by Laszlo Kovacs’s beautiful photography. Bodganovich appears in the movie, playing a film director, and producer Frank Marshall makes a cameo as a ticket boy.

Sag Harbor’s Renée Shafransky is a psychotherapist, writer and former film programmer and producer. From 1977 to 1984 she was the program director of the Collective for Living Cinema, a premier venue for avant-garde and independent cinema in New York City. After beginning her writing career as a film critic for The Village Voice, she went on to pen screenplays for directors Harold Ramis, Mike Newell, and Bette Gordon among others.

Pierson High School is at 200 Jermain Avenue, Sag Harbor. Admission is $15 for adults, free for ages 14 and under. Tickets are available at sagharborcinema.org or at the door.