Istanbul, mission impossible

I am doubtful if other IMBD user reviewers have given 1969's TARGET: HARRY a true taste ...

Unsure of what to expect, I dove into its opening Gran Prixesque formula high-tension race car pile up action sequence, while lapping up raw location scenery from Monaco, Turkey and environs with laconic, tosseled haired Vic Morrow and sizzling Suzanne Pleshette in her prime, decked out in chic colorful ensembles; young freckled laser blue-eyed Charlotte Rampling, fey Victor Buono as the heavy; decent action sequences and plenty of softcore porn interludes (some are violent) all served up from the Corman Company with a cheezy score. If your interest is peaked, this one's for you!

Mr New York Swagger that is the only actor in history that could ever get away with being Mr. New York Tough Guy, who would have died from lung cancer and emphasema had he lived any longer; well its not him at the beginning. Vic's been one of my goons for a long time so i know him well. The sex scene at the beginning which sparked my constant case of jealousy, i thought that's not Vic's back. Anyone who knows Vic as intimatly as I knows his right index finger is greatly shorter than normal. The guy in bed with the Suzanne chick has a normal finger.

I watched Target: Harry because I thought it was a type of James Bond spy movie starring Cesar Romero as the "M" character. While that turned out to be true, Cesar was only in about fifteen minutes the movie. He's in the first ten minutes, luring unsuspecting audience members like me in. Then, we hang in there for the next hour, hoping in vain to see him again.

The bulk of the movie is extremely cheesy. "I'll buy that." "You can't afford it," she quips back. It's all very 1970s tv-movie-ish. Lots of zooms, lots of unrealistic, supposedly clever dialogue, and a huge rip-off of the James Bond theme. Vic Morrow is the too-cool-for-school lead who can't be bothered to care about anything. Suzanne Pleshette is his love interest who can't be trusted. Victor Buono is the bad guy. There's not much else to know, really, but you'll see some familiar faces as well: Stanley Holloway, Michael Ansara, and Charlotte Rampling as a blonde. I don't really recommend this one.

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.

'Target: Harry' was originally meant for television pilot for ABC, but was released theatrically instead. For some reason, Roger Corman took his name off the film and was credited as Henry Neill. Well, if you've already seen the film then you might understand his decision. 'Target: Harry' is not so much awful film, but it is boringly generic. Vic Morrow is awesome as a pilot Harry Black, a man in the wrong place at the wrong time, and strutting through dangerous situations while throwing one-liners and puns to the left and to the right. The problem is, the protagonist looks too cool and gets out of serious situations too easily.

Harry Black is a private pilot who flies Jason Carlyle (Stanley Holloway) into Istanbul where Carlyle gets murdered. Harry gets associated with the murder and his paths cross with mysterious woman Diane Reed (Suzanne Pleshette) and powerful crime lord Mosul Rashi (Victor Buono). Harry finds out that Carlyle was carrying plates for counterfeiting money that got lost. Both, Reed and Rashi, thinks that Harry got them, or at least he knows where they are. One double cross follows another and so on.

'Target: Harry' is nothing spectacular in the pile of similar James Bondish spy themed action films that were popular at that time. Even the main score is awfully similar to one of James Bond. The acting is good and there are some fine moments in dialogue to make 'Target: Harry' passably entertaining while watching but nothing else. Rather forgettable and not very thrilling action piece.