Tir (1979)

Based on a play by V. Slatkin. An unemployed American gets a job in a shooting gallery as a live target; the greedy capitalist owner charges patrons double for the chance to hoot at a human being. Tarasov, a fan of J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye,” modeled the film’s hero on Holden Caulfield. An artist as well as an animation director, Tarasov combed through back issues of “America,” a magazine published by the U.S. government during the Cold War, and American comic books, to lovingly create the film’s fabulous New York City back drop. The attention to detail is amazing (and sometimes off base), from the graffiti on the buildings to the brand name on the back of the hero’s tennis shoes.