''Target'' is a 1985 American mystery

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Arthur Penn Arthur Hiller Penn (September 27, 1922 – September 28, 2010) was an American filmmaker, theatre director, and producer. He was a three-time Academy Award nominee for Academy Award for Best Director, Best Director, and a Tony Awards, Tony Awa ...

and starring

Matt Dillon Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Independent Spirit Awards alongside nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, ...

and

Gene Hackman Eugene Allen Hackman (January 30, 1930 – ) was an American actor. Hackman made his credited film debut in the drama ''Lilith (film), Lilith'' (1964). He later won two Academy Awards, his first for Academy Award for Best Actor, Best Actor for ...

. It was the last film distributed by Warner Bros. before ending the distribution deal with CBS and shutting down its film production arm.

Plot

In Paris, a woman named Donna Lloyd has been missing for two days. In

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, her husband Walter and their college-age son Chris decide to look for her. At the airport, Chris bumps into backpacker Carla. Walter, on the other hand, bumps into Heinz Henke, a man with a gun who has Donna's jewelry. A man in glasses then tries to kill Walter, accidentally shooting Henke before disappearing. At the hotel in Paris, Walter reveals that Donna has been kidnapped. Chris later saves his life when a car shoots at Walter. After they escape, Walter confesses that he used to work for the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

. Meanwhile, to Walter's chagrin, the CIA are watching the pair to make sure that they do not get into trouble. The two leave for Hamburg by train, evading the CIA in the process. At the train station, Walter and Chris see a man approach a similar pair - a young man and his father - yelling "Mendelssohn" to them. The man then grabs a fiddle and begins playing a tune. Walter and Chris leave. On the way out, Chris spots Clara. The next day, they decide to meet "The Colonel", Walter's old boss. Chris spots the fiddler, and Walter tears off in the car. They attempt to lose their pursuers, but when they cannot, Walter leaves Chris and takes off on foot. Cornered by the fiddler and another agent, Walter jumps off the pier onto a passing ferry. The two agents hum the tune to Walter, and point for him to meet them further up the channel. The assassin who attempted to kill Walter earlier is there. He considers murdering Walter, but ultimately kills the fidler when the latter tries to stop him. Chris later picks Walter up. At the Colonel's, Walter asks him about Henke. They recall "Operation Clean Sweep", where they killed five of six agents. The tune turns out to be a Mendelssohn concerto. "Mendelssohn" was the codename of Schroeder, the agent who escaped "Clean Sweep". Walter later leaves for West Berlin, to a ''Pension''. Chris then leaves on a train to

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, where he will presumably be safe. The assassin later visits and tortures the Colonel for the Lloyds' location. Though the Colonel does not give them up, his caretaker does, and the assassin kills both of them. At the train station, Chris spots Carla, who is supposedly headed to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

to stay with friends. Chris decides to change his travel plans to Berlin, where the two have sex. Chris later visits Walter, who sends him out to keep watch at a café near the ''pension''. Their plan is disrupted, however, when Carla appears. Chris spots the assassin and moves to signal Walter, but Carla pulls out a gun and forces him to stay put. The assassin enters the apartment, where Walter shoots him dead. Chris slugs Carla and flees with Walter. That night, Walter heads alone into

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

and is picked up by a courier who takes him to a farm. Schroeder is there and says that his family, a wife and two children, were murdered by the CIA. Walter denies it, having investigated the killings. He thinks that there is another party involved. The group that has been recently trying to kill him may have "walked in both camps." Meanwhile, following Walter's instructions, Chris heads to the US Embassy in Berlin. Chris is later contacted by Walter, who tells him to head to an abandoned air force base where the CIA used to exchange captured agents with the East. Though he proceeds alone to East Berlin, the embassy's director Barney Taber and agent Clay catch up with him and Walter. While Walter and Taber talk, Chris enters a hangar nearby and finds Donna bound and wrapped in

plastic explosive Plastic explosive is a soft and hand-moldable solid form of explosive material. Within the field of explosives engineering, plastic explosives are also known as putty explosives or blastics. Plastic explosives are especially suited for explos ...

s. Walter and Clay defuse the bomb. Taber then shoots Clay dead. Taber is the

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

who betrayed both Walter and Schroeder and was responsible for the death of the latter's family. Walter gets the jump on him when Schroeder reappears. Schroeder then sends the Lloyds away before blowing himself and Taber up with the explosives.

Cast

- Walter Lloyd/Duncan (Duke) Potter *

- Chris Lloyd/Derek Potter *

Gayle Hunnicutt Gayle Hunnicutt, Lady Jenkins (February 6, 1943 – August 31, 2023) was an American film, television and stage actress. She starred in more than 30 films. Early life and education The daughter of Colonel Sam Lloyd Hunnicutt and Mary Virginia ...

- Donna Lloyd *

Josef Sommer Maximilian Josef Sommer (born June 26, 1934) is a German-American retired stage, television, and film actor. Early life He was born in Greifswald, Germany, and raised in North Carolina, the son of Elisabeth and Clemens Sommer, a professor of Ar ...

- Barney Taber * Guy Boyd - Clay * Viktoriya Fyodorova - Lise *

Herbert Berghof Herbert Berghof (September 13, 1909 – November 5, 1990) was an American actor, director and acting teacher.Kennedy, Dennis. ''The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance'', Oxford Univ. Press (2010) p. 61 Early life Berghof was born in ...

- Schroeder * Ilona Grübel - Carla * James Selby - Ross * Ray Fry - Mason * Richard Münch - The Colonel * Tomas Hnevsa - Henke * Jean-Pol Dubois - Glasses/Assassin * Robert Ground - Marine Sergeant * Véronique Guillaud - Secretary American Consulate * Charlotte Bailey - Receptionist * Randy Moore - Tour Director * Jacques Mignot - Madison Hotel Clerk * Robert Liensol - Cafe Vendor * Werner Pochath - Young Agent *

Jany Holt Jany Holt (born Ruxandra Ecaterina Vladescu Olt, 13 May 1909 – 26 October 2005) was a Romanian-born actress, who worked principally in the French cinema. Holt married French actor Marcel Dalio in 1936, divorcing in 1939. In 1940, Holt married a ...

- Proprietress. Marie Louis Mansion

Production

The film was Penn's first since the commercial failure '' Four Friends'' released in 1981. It was the first film shot by Penn in Europe. Filming took place in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France;

and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany;

and

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

. The film was made for $1.4 million less than its $12.9 million budget.

Reception

The film was released on November 8, 1985 on 1,085 screens in the United States and opened in second place behind '' Death Wish 3'' with a weekend gross of $2,670,522. It grossed a total of $9 million in the United States and Canada. The film received a mixed response from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, ''Target'' holds a rating of 63% from 27 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Target's increasingly implausible plot is offset by a commanding performance from Gene Hackman, reunited with director Arthur Penn."

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{Arthur Penn 1985 films 1985 independent films 1980s spy thriller films 1980s mystery thriller films American independent films American mystery thriller films American spy thriller films CBS Theatrical Films films Cold War spy films Films about kidnapping Films about the Central Intelligence Agency Films about families Films about missing people American films about revenge Films directed by Arthur Penn Films set in West Germany Films set in East Germany Films set in Hamburg Films shot in Corpus Christi, Texas Films shot in Germany Films shot in Hamburg Films produced by Richard D. Zanuck Films produced by David Brown Films scored by Michael Small 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language independent films English-language mystery thriller films English-language spy thriller films Warner Bros. films