TARGET

US, 1985, 117 Minutes, Colour.
Gene Hackman, Matt Dillon, Gayle Hunnicutt, Guy Boyd.
Directed by Arthur Penn.

Target is an interesting 80s espionage film. It was made four years before the
Berlin wall came down – though there seem to be no indications of changes in Soviet policy or the wall actually coming down and Germany being united. It harks back to activities of the 1960s in which the central characters were involved, shown in films like The Quiller Memorandum and The Kremlin Letter of that period. They are looked back on as the heyday of Cold War espionage.

Gene Hackman portrays a former CIA agent who has retired for the preservation of his wife and son. He works at a company in Dallas. His son, played by a young Matt Dillon, has no great confidence in his father. Gayle Hunnicutt is his wife. When she goes on a trip to Europe, she is abducted by former agents. However, a gunman has been hired to kill Hackman. With his son, bonding, the two pursue their leads through Paris, Hamburg and Berlin and into East Germany.

The film is colourful in its use of the city locations in which it is set. Gene Hackman is expert of this kind of performance. He is low-key at the beginning – and then suddenly goes into action which shocks the audience and later shocks his son. Matt Dillon had been performing in films for five years, especially the versions of S.E. Hinton films including Rumblefish, Tex and The Outsiders. He was to continue a very successful career for several decades.

The film was directed by Arthur Penn who had directed in The Golden Years of Hollywood television, moved into features with such films as The Left-Handed? Gun, The Miracle Worker and achieved some fame and notoriety with Bonnie and Clyde. He directed Hackman in Bonnie and Clyde as well as in the thriller, Night Moves.

1.An entertaining espionage story? From the Cold War period? From the 1980s? The credibility of the plot, characters, espionage? Exposes?

2.The range of settings and the feeling of authenticity: Dallas, the lumber yard, homes, racing car tracks? The contrast with Paris, the streets, hotels? CIA offices? Hamburg, the river, the bridge? The car chases? Berlin, hotels, the contrast with East Berlin, the checkpoints? The musical score?

3.The title, the focus on Walter Lloyd as a target? By Taber? By Schroeder?

4.The setting of the characters: Walter Lloyd, slow, the lumber yard, very ordinary, hesitating, driving slowly? Donna the excitement of going on the trip, going by herself? Her bond with her husband, with her son? Chris, with the racing cars, thinking he was a disappointment to his father, helping with the packing? The decision to bond, his agreeing to go fishing with his father? The catch, losing it? The phone call about his mother being abducted?

5.The trip to Paris, Chris and his urging his father to go? The arrival, the airport, Chris and the distraction by the young backpacker? Walter, the jewellery in his pocket, the gun at his back, the assassination, his ducking, the other man killed? Saying it was a heart attack? Calmly meeting Chris, their going to the hotel? The surveillance, the phone call?

6.The truth, Chris following him in the street, saving his life from the assassin? Walter explaining himself? His going to the CIA, disguising his presence, the confrontation with the assistant, summoning to the hotel, not telling Chris the truth? The meeting with Taber in the office? Walter and his covering his tracks? The revelation that he was Duncan Potter, Duke? That Chris’s real name was Derek Potter?

7.Leaving Paris, the hiring of the car, the chase, Duke and his rapid driving? The pursuit, the quarry, coming on the agent, the gun, sending him back?

8.Tabor, Clay, the clashes with Duke? Tabor and his offering assistance? Surveillance? Duke and Chris eluding him? Going by train to Hamburg?

9.Hamburg, meeting Lisa? Lisa and the memories of the past, not marrying Duke, Chris listening? The address for the colonel, the visit to the colonel? The discussions about Operation Clean Sweep? Schroeder not being arrested? The massacre of his family? A possible motivation for the abduction, for the pursuit of Duke?

10.The chase through Hamburg, the warnings at the station, the clues, Duke missing them, the car, Chris and the driving, Duke escaping, the boat, in the river?

11.The assassin, killing the nurse, torturing the colonel? The information?

12.Duke going to Berlin, the address? Chris, the encounter with the girl, going to Berlin? With her in the hotel? Going to his father? Her arrival, flirting, the arrival of the assassin, her gun?

13.Duke, relying on Chris? Chris and the girl? The assassin, the attempt to kill Duke, his killing him? Chris pushing the girl out of the way?

14.Duke going into East Berlin, the meeting with Schroeder, the confrontation, the massacre, Schroeder’s anger? Duke and the realisation there was a double agent? The plan?

15.The phone call to Chris, with Tabor, Tabor and Clay coming with him? The set-up with Donna, the explosives? The agent of Schroeder hiding? Tabor and his anxiety? His shooting Clay? Schroeder’s arrival, the revelation of the truth, the confrontation with Tabor? The explosion and Tabor and Schroeder dying?

16.The family, escaping, together? The importance of the theme of family? In the context of Cold War espionage?