Target: Harry

Roger Corman had successfully directed an "A" movie in 1967, "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre", but he reverted to his much-lauded quickie movie roots for "Target: Harry", an ABC-TV pilot/telefilm that boasts a very fine cast but plays as flat as a pancake. It's a shame.

Watching it so many decades later was like sitting in a screening room watching an assemblage of film dailies: lots of background shots, listless reverse-shots' conversations (edited by Monte Hellman, who apparently had not much material to work with) and evident guerrilla filmmaking (extras staring toward the camera, no film permits obtained for a shoot) that reminded me of a couple of my favorite indie directors of the time, like Larry Cohen and Fred Williamson. The footage was lifeless, and if it had been a major film studio project I suspect Corman would have been fired and replaced (as later happened with Cohen on "I, The Jury") after a week or so.

The actors are pros, and even though at times he seems to be acting under protest, Vic Morrow is believable as our no-nonsense tough guy hero, the type (like Mitchum) that might get into bar fights with "fans" anxious to pick an argument with him. Supporting cast on paper is A-List, but only Victor Buono, too obviously styled as an imitation of Sydney Greenstreet, seems alive. The fault is not all Corman's - a screenplay by hack Bob Barbash is completely uninteresting throughout.