[jacwah]

> It would be wonderful for say 10 c files compiling one way, and the 11th having a different option.

You can do this by combining implicit and explicit rules:

  target: $(OBJ)
  
  # default rule
  %.o: %.c
      cc -o $@ $^
  
  # special case
  special.o: special.c
      specialc -o $@ $^

[Pete_D]

Another way, with target-specific variables (might be a GNUism):

    special.o: CFLAGS += -Wno-blah
    
    %.o: %.c
     echo $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<