Targets

[Drucker]

Are these financial issues also in place if it's presented with the alternative music track that's currently available on home video? Just wondering.

[Finch]

Targets is back on for mid-September. Extras TBC.

[What A Disgrace]

I wonder if Zavvi ever bothered to cancel my pre-order.

[willoneill]

I wonder if Zavvi ever bothered to cancel my pre-order.

They canceled mine. Certainly can't re-order from them now. Either way, I'm waiting to see whether the BFI or Criterion is the better option.

[Finch]

Extras for Targets

New 2K digital restoration supervised by director Peter Bogdanovich and presented in High Definition
New audio commentary by author and film critic Peter Tonguette
Audio commentary by Peter Bogdanovich (2003)
Introduction to the film by Peter Bogdanovich (2003)
Newly recorded interview with Sara Karloff (2022)
Newly recorded interview with Stephen Jacobs, author of Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster (2023)
Video essay by Vic Pratt on Karloff, Targets and the changing face of horror (2023)
The Guardian Interview: Peter Bogdanovich (2005, c60 mins): the Oscar-nominated writer and director is interviewed on stage by Clive James
Trailers From Hell: Joe Dante on Targets (3 mins)
Gallery
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet featuring an introduction by Sara Karloff, new writing on the film by Stephen Jacobs and an essay on Peter Bogdanovich by Peter Tonguette

[cdnchris]

I also mention this in the matching Criterion topic, but I received an email from BFI stating they are using a master that was supplied to them directly from Paramount but it is sourced from the same restoration. They were told by Criterion (not Paramount) that the restoration was undertaken in 2K and that's how it was delivered but BFI's Technical Manager confirms that, at the very least, the original negative was scanned in 4K. Not sure why Criterion's specs now says it was finished in 4K.

[What A Disgrace]

Looking at these supplements, I've no interest in the Criterion unless they decide to do a UHD later, and even then I'll be double dipping after having first acquired the BFI.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I was sort of hoping that the BFI version would include the public domain The Terror, but I’ll still be purchasing it over the Criterion.

[MichaelB]

I was sort of hoping that the BFI version would include the public domain The Terror, but I’ll still be purchasing it over the Criterion.

It’s not public domain in the UK, and with Roger Corman still alive it’s not going to pass into the public domain in Europe until the 2090s at the earliest.

[Orlac]

I was sort of hoping that the BFI version would include the public domain The Terror, but I’ll still be purchasing it over the Criterion.

It’s not public domain in the UK, and with Roger Corman still alive it’s not going to pass into the public domain in Europe until the 2090s at the earliest.

From memory, MGM in the US has the elements for this and other Corman Filmgroup titles. Do we know who has the UK rights? Might be a good candidate for a release from a UK boutique label.

I could swear I saw a UK DVD of THE TERROR from one of those cheap knockoff companies years ago (might have been Elstree Hill), and the cover was Nicholson in THE SHINING!

[ikms]

I also mention this in the matching Criterion topic, but I received an email from BFI stating they are using a master that was supplied to them directly from Paramount but it is sourced from the same restoration.

In which case I have the Secret of the Incas release mentioned in the review and agree that the underlying image restoration was very strong, but the final color (similarly) off.

[MichaelB]

Full specs announced:

TARGETS
A film by Peter Bogdanovich
Starring Boris Karloff

BFI Blu-ray release on 25 September 2023

Both a comment on the terrors of contemporary America and homage to the horror films of Roger Corman, TARGETS is a thrilling crime drama that launched the career of its director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) and is rightly hailed as one of the most powerful films of the late 1960s. On 25 September the BFI brings it to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, with a raft of extras including an audio commentary by the director from 2003, a new audio commentary by Peter Tonguette, a filmed interview with Boris Karloff’s daughter Sara Karloff, a filmed interview with Stephen Jacobs, author of Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster and more.

Byron Orlok (Boris Karloff) is a retiring horror-star bidding farewell to the limelight. Bobby Thompson (Tim O’Kelly) is an unassuming but disturbed Vietnam veteran who suddenly embarks on a murderous shooting rampage. As Byron makes one final public appearance, their worlds collide as Bobby brings carnage to a suburban Los Angeles drive-in cinema.

Special features
• New restoration supervised by director Peter Bogdanovich;
• Audio commentary by Peter Bogdanovich (2003);
• New audio commentary by author and film critic Peter Tonguette;
• Targets: An Introduction by Peter Bogdanovich (2003, 14 mins);
• Hitting Targets: Sara Karloff on Her Father, Boris (2022, 40 mins): Boris Karloff’s daughter looks back on the life, career and legend of her famous father;
• On Target: Boris Karloff in the 1960s (2023, 17 mins): Stephen Jacobs, author of Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, considers the great man’s final decade;
• Gentleman of Horror (2023, 8 mins): a video essay on Boris Karloff by the BFI’s Vic Pratt;
• The Guardian Interview: Peter Bogdanovich (1972, 42 mins): the director of Targets recounts tales of films and filmmaking at the National Film Theatre;
• The Guardian Interview: Roger Corman (1970, 64 mins): the filmmaking legend who gave Peter Bogdanovich the opportunity to make Targets discusses his work;
• Trailers From Hell: Joe Dante on Targets (2013, 3 mins): filmmaker Joe Dante provides his personal take on Targets ;
• Image gallery;
• Newly commissioned sleeve art by Matt Needle;
***First pressing only*** illustrated booklet with an introduction by Sara Karloff, essays by Jason Wood, Stephen Jacobs and Ellen Cheshire, credits and notes on the special features.

Product details
RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1409/ 15
USA / 1968 / colour / 90 minutes / English language with optional descriptive subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.85:1 BD50: 1080p, 24fps, LPCM 1.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit)

[MichaelB]

Are these financial issues also in place if it's presented with the alternative music track that's currently available on home video? Just wondering.

Sorry, I've only just seen this.

The alternative DVD cut was created to get around the music-rights problems, and there'd have been nothing to stop Indicator releasing that version - aside from the fact that the full version is available on streaming services (which wasn't the case when the DVD came out), and so it would inescapably look like an inferior product. Hence the decision not to go down that route.

Similarly, they could have released a largely barebones version of Ishtar with only the trailer (but not the booklet), but they decided that that would be a compromise too far and scrapped the release altogether.

[swo17]

DVDBeaver says the image is identical between the Criterion and BFI editions. The BFI is more stacked with extras, though the Criterion has unique half-hour interviews with both Richard Linklater and Polly Platt

[colinr0380]

It should be noted that the Polly Platt interview on the Criterion disc is an audio only recording, if that swings things for those on the fence. Still well worth listening to though.