A bit sophomoric, yes, but Bogdanovich made one heck of a thriller here. The story is quite clever: a juxtaposition of an aging Hollywood boogie man and a modern day monster. Boris Karloff, Byron Orlok in the movie, has a gait slow and deliberate, his manor of speaking is much the same, and the violence he delivers that of strong camp. The sniper on the otherhand is quick, precise. More importantly it's quiet and he is always on the move. The sniper doesn't need lengthy speeches to frighten an audience. Instead it's a simple "Hardly ever missed, did I?" or "Gonna shoot some pigs." He is something that feels a bit too real, his actions could be taken by anybody. He could be anybody. In the pictures, there's only one Karlof.

There is something to be said about movies that try desperately to be funny (The Love Guru, Little Nicky, anything by Jerry Lewis) and those that don't try (Dr. Strangelove, Singin' in the Rain, MASH). And it's that those that don't keep pushing the gags, the cheap laughs, work out better. Now that's not necessarily true, which you'd know being a fan of the Marx Brothers, but seems to be the standard.

Unfortunately, this is one of those film that goes for the small laugh way too often. And that compounded with the fact that this doesn't have that much of a plot, which is somewhat popular of '60s comedies. But it's not all bad, some of it does play of pretty well and Peter Sellers is always good for a laugh or two.