Produced by Roger Corman and written by Polly Platt and Bogdanovich, the film was loosely based on the case of Charles Whitman, a mass shooter who committed the Tower shooting at the University of Texas in 1966.

Byron Orlok, an aged, embittered horror movie actor, abruptly announces his decision to retire from Hollywood and return to his native England to live out his final days.

Orlok considers himself outdated because he believes that people are no longer frightened by old-fashioned horror, citing real-life news stories as more horrifying than anything in his films.

However, after much persuasion, particularly from young director Sammy Michaels, Orlok agrees to make a final in-person promotional appearance at a Reseda drive-in theater before leaving Hollywood for good.

Bobby Thompson is a young, quiet, clean-cut insurance agent who lives in the suburban San Fernando Valley area with his wife and his parents.

That afternoon, Thompson continues the killing spree, shooting people in passing cars from atop an oil storage tank that sits alongside a busy freeway.

Polly Platt was the film's production designer, in addition to developing the story, and it was her idea to set the ending at a drive-in movie theater.

[9] Although the film was written and production photography completed in late 1967, it was not released until after the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and that of of Robert F. Kennedy in the summer of 1968, thus having topical relevance.

Around five years after release, in March 1973, New Zealand refused to issue a 'certificate of approval' for the film's trailer on the basis that it was "contrary to public order and decency".

The website's critical consensus reads: "A startling directorial debut by Peter Bogdanovich mixes an homage to Boris Karloff horror films with a timely sniper story to create a thriller with modern baggage and old school shock and awe.

"[11] Howard Thompson of The New York Times called the film an "original and brilliant melodrama", and concluded that "Targets scores an unnerving bullseye.

"[13] Variety wrote of the film: "Aware of the virtue of implied violence, Bogdanovich conveys moments of shock, terror, suspense and fear.

"[19] In 2018, on the film's 50th anniversary, Mark Lager wrote on Cinema Retro that "Bogdanovich had been deeply disturbed by Charles Whitman's mass shooting and felt compelled to write a screenplay based on the event.