Two-Minute Warning (1976)

A crazed sniper is set to kill spectators at an L.A. Coliseum football championship game and the police races against time to eliminate him.

Director:

Larry Peerce

Writers:

George LaFountaine (novel) (as George La Fountaine), Edward Hume (screenplay)

Stars:

Charlton Heston, John Cassavetes, Martin Balsam

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlton Heston	...	Capt. Peter Holly
John Cassavetes	...	Sgt. Button
Martin Balsam	...	Sam 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
Mitchell Ryan	...	The Priest
Joe Kapp	...	Charlie Tyler
Pamela Bellwood	...	Peggy Ramsay
Jon Korkes	...	Jeffrey

Storyline

A psychotic sniper plans a massive killing spree in a Los Angeles football stadium during a major championship game. The police, led by Captain Peter Holly and SWAT commander Sergeant Button, learn of the plot and rush to the scene.

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Plot Keywords:

hyphen in title | three word title | suspense | tension | cult film | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 November 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pánico en el estadio

Filming Locations:

Angeleno Hotel - 170 N. Church Lane, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,700,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmways Pictures, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min 180 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's "Two-minute Warning" title is a sports term taken from the American Gridiron National Football League. A "two-minute warning" is made when there are only two minutes of game time left at the end of the second and fourth quarters of an American football match.

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Goofs

When Pratt, the SWAT team member, is climbing up to the stadium lights platform, he is first shown in a long shot climbing up the fixed rung ladder attached to the platform's support pole. A close-up then shows Pratt climbing up the steel extension ladder that he used a moment before to ascend to the support pole. A wide shot then shows him ascending the fixed rung ladder on the support pole again.

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Quotes

Lucy: Are you a doctor?
Al: Yeah, how'd you know?
Lucy: Dirty shoes and clean white hands.
Al: A lot of guys have clean hands.
Lucy: But not that clean. It must have taken you ten years at least to get them that clean.
Al: What are you, a commercial or what?

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Alternate Versions

Also, although Larry Peerce's name remains in the credits of the alternate version ("A Larry Peerce-Edward S. Feldman Film"), "Gene Palmer" is credited as director and Francesca Turner a co-screenwriter.

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Connections

References Ben Casey (1961)

User Reviews

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.