Two-Minute Warning (1976)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Larry Peerce

Writers:

Edward Hume (screenplay)
George La Fountaine Sr. (novel)

Release Date:

12 November 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

For some...too much time to wait. For the rest...too little time to run.

Plot:

Broadcast television version: A group of art thieves plan a daring robbery by using a sniper to cause...

Plot Keywords:

Panic | Sniper | SWAT Team | Football Game | Stadium

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Capt. Peter Holly
John Cassavetes	...	Button
Martin Balsam	...	McKeever
Beau Bridges	...	Mike Ramsay
Marilyn Hassett	...	Lucy
David Janssen	...	Steve
Jack Klugman	...	Sandman
Gena Rowlands	...	Janet
Walter Pidgeon	...	The Pickpocket
Brock Peters	...	Paul
David Groh	...	Al
Mitch Ryan	...	The priest (as Mitchell Ryan)
Joe Kapp	...	Charlie Tyler
Pamela Bellwood	...	Peggy Ramsay
Jon Korkes	...	Jeffrey

Runtime:

115 min | USA:180 min (TV version) (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) (1987) | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1977) | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1977) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum - 3911 S. Figueroa Street, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Filmways Pictures

Trivia:

There was a later version released that had footage not shown in theaters. In the original version, the snipers motives were not known. In the later version, it was revealed that the attack was done to cover an art robbery next door.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): After maintenance man Brock Peters is struck in the face by the assassin with a rifle butt and falls 60 feet to his death, Charlton Heston's character tells other policemen that Brock was "butt stroked" off the ladder. This is not correct military or police jargon. The only people who were "butt stroked" were poor Heston, who had to keep a straight face while he said it; poor Brock, who supposedly suffered the indignity; and the producers, who paid some expert to advise them and left the line in the movie.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Break-Up (2006)

Good sniping fun

The sheer atmosphere of this film tells the tale right off the bat. First off all, we see the sniper shoot a man riding a bike for no reason. This is to show us that this man is really nothing but a psychopath, and we have no choice but to hate him for the remainder of the film.

Charleton Heston, Hollywood's most conservative actor (my kind of guy!) decides to try to take the sniper out when he sneaks into a football game and spend the majority of the film looking at people through his rifle scope. With the help of John Cassavettes and his team of SWAT supermen, the cops try to figure some gameplan to stop the sniper before he opens fire on the crowd.

The film itself is uneven, (don't even try to watch the tv version) but you will be cheering for the good guys when the two minute warning is called. By the way, for the reviewer who dissed this movie two reviews ahead of me, quit reading to far into things! The sniper is a cold blooded killer; from when we see him shoot the bicyclist we know he has a compeupance in store for him. I don't want to feel sorry for him!

Anyway, this is a decent movie to watch on a slow day. By the way, for all the people who thought that slasher movies invented first person perspective camera work of seeing what the killer sees, obviously they never saw this movie. I think this was the first time in Hollywood the camera tried to show such a perspective.