Target (1985)
The late, great Gene Hackman stars in this Cold War thriller alongside Matt Dillon as father and son who head off from Texas to Paris when they find out mum (Gayle Hunnicutt) has been kidnapped.
Arthur Penn's film gave me echoes of the similarly themed Frantic (1988) which i'd seen again recently but after forty minutes or so it became clear they were two separate beasts altogether as Hackman isn't the fish out of water Harrison Ford was in Roman Polanski's thriller but a former CIA operative whose past comes back to haunt him.
I'd never seen this before and watched my Premium Collection Blu-ray to honour Hackman who was along with his wife and one of their dogs reported dead today in suspicious circumstances. Hackman is of course excellent here, as he always is, but the film itself goes a little stodgy lacking excitement around the hour mark as it didn't really feel like there was enough plot for a two hour movie. Once it becomes clear exactly what is happening that second hour is kind of done and dusted in two pivotal sequences in the final twenty minutes. Two sequences albeit that are fraught with both suspense and intrigue.
I feel the film works best as father and son reconnect with each other as they unravel the plot and search for Hunnicutt as the movie leaves Paris and moves into Germany. Hackman works well with Dillon who becomes less of a brat and more of a son the longer the movie runs.
This was the third and final collaboration between Penn and Hackman (Teller was obviously busy) after the superior Bonnie and Clyde and Night Moves which although i also own on a Premium Collection Blu-ray i have yet to see.
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