Target (1985)

Director:

Arthur Penn

Writers:

Howard Berk (writer)
Don Petersen (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

8 November 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

Nothing exciting ever happened in Chris' family. But within 48 hours, his mother will be kidnapped, His father will be forced to reveal a secret past and he will find himself at the center of an adventure he never dreamed could happen to him. [US Theatrical]

Plot:

Chris Lloyd does NOT get along with his father Walter. Walter is too careful, cautious, and boring to Chris...

Plot Keywords:

Fire | Subway | Tied To Chair | Border Crossing | Spy

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Walter Lloyd / Duncan (Duke) Potter
Matt Dillon	...	Chris Lloyd / Derek Potter
Gayle Hunnicutt	...	Donna Lloyd
Randy Moore	...	Tour Director
Ilona Grübel	...	Carla (as Ilona Grubel)
Tomas Hnevsa	...	Henke
Jean-Pol Dubois	...	Glasses
Robert Ground	...	Marine Sergeant
Véronique Guillaud	...	Secretary American Consulate
Charlotte Bailey	...	Receptionist
James Selby	...	Ross
Ray Fry	...	Mason
Josef Sommer	...	Taber
Jacques Mignot	...	Madison Hotel Clerk
Robert Liensol	...	Cafe Vendor
Guy Boyd	...	Clay
Ullrich Haupt	...	Older Agent
Viktoriya Fyodorova	...	Lise
Werner Pochath	...	Young Agent
Catherine Rethi	...	Nurse
Richard Münch	...	Colonel
Jany Holt	...	Proprietress Marie Louis Mansion
Herbert Berghof	...	Schroeder
Jean-Pierre Stewart	...	Ballard
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dean Denton	...	Airline Passenger (uncredited)
Gabrielle Scharnitzky	...	Check-In Agent (uncredited)

Directed by
Arthur Penn

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Howard Berk		writer
Don Petersen		writer
Leonard Stern		story

Produced by
David Brown	....	producer
Richard D. Zanuck	....	producer

Original Music by
Michael Small

Cinematography by
Jean Tournier

Film Editing by
Richard P. Cirincione
Stephen A. Rotter

Casting by
Gene Lasko

Production Design by
Willy Holt

Set Decoration by
Gabriel Béchir

Costume Design by
Marie-Françoise Perochon

Makeup Department
Jean-Max Guérin	....	hair stylist
Paul Le Marinel	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Claude Albouze	....	unit manager
Bernard Farrel	....	production manager
Uwe Petersen	....	production manager: Germany
William Watkins	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gene Lasko	....	second unit director
Vincent Macheras	....	second assistant director
Alain Tasma	....	first assistant director

Art Department
René Albouze	....	property master

Sound Department
Bernard Bats	....	sound mixer
Richard Bats	....	sound mixer
Marko A. Costanzo	....	foley artist
Lee Dichter	....	sound re-recording mixer
Neil L. Kaufman	....	sound editor
Dan Lieberstein	....	sound editor
Peter Odabashian	....	sound editor
Steven Visscher	....	assistant sound editor

Special Effects by
René Albouze	....	special effects

Stunts
Claude Carliez	....	stunt coordinator
Michel Carliez	....	stunt double
Jo Cote	....	stunt double (as Joe Cote)
Fred Culbertson	....	stunt double
Fabrice Houy	....	stunt double (as Fabrice Huoy)
Michel Julienne	....	stunt coordinator
Rémy Julienne	....	stunt coordinator
Gérard Moisan	....	stunt double (as Gerard Moisan)

Camera and Electrical Department
Jean Fontanilles	....	gaffer
Etienne George	....	still photographer
Joachim Scholz	....	electrician
René Strasser	....	key grip

Editorial Department
Richard Friedlander	....	apprentice editor
William Kruzykowski	....	assistant editor
William S. Scharf	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Clifford Carter	....	musician: synthesizers (as Cliff Carter)
Norman Hollyn	....	music editor
Sonny Kompanek	....	orchestrator
Robbie Kondor	....	musician: synthesizers
Jay Rifkin	....	music engineer

Transportation Department
Fred Culbertson	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer
Jacqueline Gamard	....	script supervisor
Gene Lasko	....	special consultant
Jette Sorensen	....	production accountant
Claudine Strasser	....	script supervisor assistant

Production Companies

• CBS Entertainment Production
• CBS Productions

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1985) (USA) (theatrical)
• Concorde Filmverleih (1986) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• CBS/Fox Video (1987) (Belgium) (VHS)
• Fox Video (1987) (West Germany) (VHS)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Citizens and Police of Corpus Christi, Texas, The  thanks
• Clinton Recording Studios  score recorded at
• Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport  thanks
• Hamburg Airport  thanks
• Hamburg Port Authority  thanks
• Intersound  additional music
• Laboratoires LTC  film processing
• Lanvin  Josef Sommer's wardrobe by
• Panavision  lenses and Panaflex camera
• Polizei Hamburg  thanks
• Port Autonome de Paris  thanks (as the Port Authority of Paris)
• Prefecture De Police De Paris  thanks
• Technicolor  prints

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Iceland:14 | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

CBS Entertainment Production

Goofs:

Factual errors: Chris changes his mind and boards the Berlin plane instead of the Frankfurt plane without rebooking his ticket.

Quotes:

Proprietress Marie Louis Mansion: Welcome to Berlin! Are you here for -business or pleasure?
Walter Lloyd: Funeral.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Arthur Penn (1995)

Soundtrack:

Lost In Love

Target misses the bull's-eye

I'm a sucker for espionage movies filmed on location in Europe, so I was positively inclined toward this film, which I had never heard of before it cropped up on cable this week. I'm not sure how I missed it back in 1985, because I'm a Hackman fan and usually like movies of this type.

This is an OK film, but not a great one. The locations are superb, and there are enough car chases to keep guys like me happy. The basic idea of the film (family of man with secret past must pay for his actions) is all right, too, but it plays out in a rather clunky way. (The story, by the way, was written by Leonard Stern, the executive producer of the GET SMART TV show, and the co-inventor of "Mad Libs".)

Hackman is the best part of the picture. Josef Sommer is also good, but is basically playing the same role he played in WITNESS (also in 1985). He could phone in a part like this. What drags this movie down is the thoroughly annoying Matt Dillon subplot. I'm not sure if it's just Dillon the actor that bothers me, or his character. The screenwriters try to turn this film into a family drama, where the father is reconciled to his son while they search for the kidnapped mother. But the son is SO stupid and annoying, that if I were Gene Hackman, I'd let the KGB put Dillon in a cement overcoat and toss him in the Baltic. IMHO, this would have been a better film with Hackman searching by himself (along with his former lover, perhaps, who is a more interesting character than Dillon).

The closing climactic scene drags on WAY too long. The tension is gone long before it's over, and the fade-out shot of the cuddly family is trite. (If you think about it, they're still in a LOT of trouble at that point, probably more than an hour before!) A much better film with a similar plot (and good locations) is the Harrison Ford vehicle FRANTIC. For spy fans, TARGET is worth watching once, but won't bear repeating.