'Target' right on the mark as spy thriller By Patrick Taggart American-Statesman Staff Things aren't always what they seem, and sometimes the most unlikely people live - or have lived lives of high intrigue and even higher levels of excitement. That's the premise of Target, a dandy new spy film that takes a ho-hum Dallas family and turns it inside out. The film was directed by Arthur Penn, who hasn't enjoyed a thoroughly successful picture since Little Big Man 15 years ago. But after weathering the eccentricity of The Missouri Breaks and the gagging sentimentality of Four Friends, he seems to be back on course - and in good company. Target is his third picture with Gene Hackman, and the same magic that fueled their relationship in Bonnie and Clyde and Review Night Moves has found its way into the new picture. Not one of the daring narratives that used to be Penn's trademark, Target is a genre picture - the international thriller. The action begins and lingers in Dallas where the Lloyds are seen leading the unspectacular life of upper-middle-class suburbanites. Mom (Gayle Hunnicutt) is about to begin a Paris vacation, son Chris (Matt Dillon), a sometime college student, is preparing to move into his first apartment. That leaves Walter (Hackman), the patriarch, a cautious, quiet man whose risk-averse personality has fueled a brooding anger in Chris. "You're the only guy I know who lets the car warm up in the Matt Dillan plays the son in actionpacked Target. summer," grouses the son. We know this is a set-up for the thrills to come later, and you can bet much will be made of Dad's reputation for driving everywhere at 20 miles an hour. In the early portion of the movie, though, the men must figure out how they're going to get along with each other while Mom's away. They don't have much time, as it turns out: they are barely home from their first awkward fishing trip when news comes that Mom has been kidnapped. At this point, one layer of Walter Lloyd quickly peels off. The creature that emerges from the lumberman's shell has nerves of steel, the stealth of a cat, and a real knack for the spyin' bidness. Dad, it turns out, is retired CIA, and somebody in Europe, carrying a grudge from the old days, wants to settle a score. This much out of the way, it's best to let the viewer see how Penn, working from a script by Howard Berk and Don Peterson, lets the drama play out. Target is definitely an action picture, but it's not one of those noisy thrillers that sets a quick pace and harsh tone and never lets up. One may well wish for a little more action, in fact, but there's no denying that what Penn allows us is imaginatively staged and satisfying to watch. Hackman's performance is almost sneakily good. It isn't until after the movie is over that one realizes how well he played his character's dual personality. It's not a Jekyll -and-Hyde kind of thing, either; the differences are subtle and contained. Matt Dillon gives a good performance, too, and Target is his first film in years that hasn't let him hog the screen with a smoldering punk pose. There may be a good actor about to be born in Dillon; anyone who can hold the screen with Hackman has a good deal going for him. Target, rated R for violence; at the Arbor, Highland and Westgate.
