Two-Minute Warning

Rating:
Summary: Horrible Terrible Awful ... and Stupid
Review: (This review is based on the original theatrical version.)

There is a superficial similarity between this terrible film (to think baby celluloids died for this) and Peter Bogdanovich's vastly superior 1967 debut film, "Targets" (qv) -- in each, there is a sniper in Los Angeles shooting (supposedly) random people. In "Targets" he winds up shooting through a drive-in movie screen, in this he's in the scoreboard at a football game.

Once cannot help but feel that this film was partially inspired by "Targets", but (as with all the slasher films that the original "Halloween" inspired) they missed the point.

In "Targets", the film's focus is tightly on two characters -- the disaffected kid who does the shooting, and an aging horror star who plans to retire because he knows there are much scarier things than himself in the Modern World (played to a turn by Boris Karloff, in his last watchable film). Most of the victims are totally anonymous figures the sniper sees over his gunsights in various places. The effect of this is to make people with any imagination (who know that there really are people like Charles Whitman, whose Texas Tower shooting spree inspired the film) to regard high places that might serve as sniper's nests with suspicion; the sheer "It could be anyone -- even me!" of it is chilling. Plus there is a terrific buildup of suspense and foreshadowing before anything Actually Happens that raises the tension factor several notches.

In "Two-Minute Warning", on the other hand, we know nothing about the sniper. And, while a crowd of 91,000 potential victims ought to yield randomness, the fact that a dozen or so "celebrities" are scattered through the cast sort of telegraphs the point that the actual victims will come from among these.

Further, as other reviewers have mentioned, there are HORRIBLE logic lapses.

Not worth watching even once -- if i could, the above rating would be "zero stars". Or even a negative number. Or perhaps i ought to borrow from Maltin and rate this steaming mass of cinematic garbage "BOMB"...

((When this was shown on television, it was re-edited and re-shot to make the sniper's motivation semi-plausible by making his rampage a cover for a major robbery, designed to occupy the police's attention while the robbery went down. It wasn't any better a film, but it was slightly -- only slightly -- more plausible.))

((I really recommend that you check out "Targets" rather than this film; it is more logical, better written and downright scarier.))

Rating:
Summary: It's definitely a disaster film.
Review: ..."Two Minute Warning" is one of the most incompetent films I have ever seen. It does almost nothing to be realistic and believable.

As you probably know, "Two Minute Warning" is about a sniper who is perched atop the scoreboard at a championship football game in Los Angeles. What you may not know, however, is how awful the scenario is handled. Hmmm...Where do I begin?

Perhaps I should give a condensed version of the problems with this film. If I were to be more detailed, this would take all day. First, the President of the United States is possibly going to show up at halftime. That alone should have the security at the football field to be of the highest order. It's not though. Second, this movie contains one of the most ridiculous pieces of dialogue of any movie made in the past century. Charlton Heston plays Police Captain Peter Holly. How does he think the situation should be handled? He thinks they should try and sneak the 91,000 people out of the LA Coliseum without the mad gunman noticing. I am not kidding!!! Really...I'm not! Eventually, after a LONG time, the LA SWAT team makes its way to the game. You would think that a couple of highly trained police snipers could take the mad gunman out with a shot or two, right? Well, you would be wrong! There is actually a scene where the SWAT team member has his sniper scope trained on the gunman. What happens? The gunman sets up his gun, picks out a target in the crowd, aims and shoots the football fan. The SWAT team member never even attempts to shoot the sniper. Why? I have no idea whatsoever.

This movie continues in this inane fashion. It attempts to make some sort of statement at the end but falls flat. One of the sloppiest and insulting movies ever made.

Rating:
Summary: It's definitely a disaster film.
Review: ..."Two Minute Warning" is one of the most incompetent films I have ever seen. It does almost nothing to be realistic and believable.

As you probably know, "Two Minute Warning" is about a sniper who is perched atop the scoreboard at a championship football game in Los Angeles. What you may not know, however, is how awful the scenario is handled. Hmmm...Where do I begin?

Perhaps I should give a condensed version of the problems with this film. If I were to be more detailed, this would take all day. First, the President of the United States is possibly going to show up at halftime. That alone should have the security at the football field to be of the highest order. It's not though. Second, this movie contains one of the most ridiculous pieces of dialogue of any movie made in the past century. Charlton Heston plays Police Captain Peter Holly. How does he think the situation should be handled? He thinks they should try and sneak the 91,000 people out of the LA Coliseum without the mad gunman noticing. I am not kidding!!! Really...I'm not! Eventually, after a LONG time, the LA SWAT team makes its way to the game. You would think that a couple of highly trained police snipers could take the mad gunman out with a shot or two, right? Well, you would be wrong! There is actually a scene where the SWAT team member has his sniper scope trained on the gunman. What happens? The gunman sets up his gun, picks out a target in the crowd, aims and shoots the football fan. The SWAT team member never even attempts to shoot the sniper. Why? I have no idea whatsoever.

This movie continues in this inane fashion. It attempts to make some sort of statement at the end but falls flat. One of the sloppiest and insulting movies ever made.

Rating:
Summary: Good Football Thriller
Review: Director Larry Peerce masterfully directs "Two-Minute Warning", a thriller that successfully juxtaposes competing story threads; a gut-wrenching football championship game, a sniper perched atop the stadium scoreboard, the crowd atmospherics, and the police tactical operation to intercept the sniper. Peerce is abetted by great camerawork and brilliant editing. There are varied subplots involving the games spectators but they are merely filler. It is debatable as to whether this film is exploitative and could be the impetus for some copycat. As for myself, I am not certain. I am certain that "Two-Minute Warning" is thrilling entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: "the whole place is a kill-zone"
Review: Filmed in and around the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, this often absurd but always entertaining thriller will be enjoyed by those like me who have an affection for '70s action/disaster movies like "Airport", and the many that followed it.
This like the other films follows the usual formula in the first half by giving us a glimpse into the lives of the participants, which the net of fate reels in for the grand finale, and Charlton Heston and John Cassavetes have a slew of excellent actors to back them in these many parts, like Martin Balsam, Beau Bridges, Gena Rowlands, and even Walter Pidgeon as a pickpocket.

The plot starts with an unidentified sniper killing a cyclist from a hotel window, and then moving to a rooftop location in the stadium, where a championship football game will be played to a sold-out crowd. One of the more realistic parts of the film is how the screaming, cheering crowd is oblivious of what is happening around them (some of it amusing if one has a dark sense of humor), as I'm sure would be the case if this event occurred in real life.

In our age of terrorism as the "war of our time", films like this spark the imagination, and make one wonder how this sort of situation would be dealt with in a crowded stadium; there's no doubt that chaos and mayhem would be the inevitable result.
Another interesting aspect is how times have changed in 30 years as far as security for the president and other officials; in the last few decades, one of the things that has changed the most in the world is the size of its governments, and films like this bring that fact into sharp focus.

Fantastic cinematography by Gerald Hirschfeld in the last part of the film, a score by Charles Fox that adds to the tension, and fast-paced direction by Larry Peerce make this a good film for rainy weekends and '70s disaster fans. It received a 1976 Oscar nomination for Best Editing, and total running time is 115 minutes.
DVD extras include Production Notes/Cast & Filmmaker's Bios/Film Highlights/Theatrical Trailer/ Web Links.

Rating:
Summary: Heston in god like performance
Review: I remember the first time I saw this movie, I was about 16 and the film was being shown on channel 4. I was only watching out of boredom but became transfixed from start to finish. The tension is red hot, acting superb and the decision to keep the rifleman annonymous a classic. His evil shines through but you have no face to hate! I highly recommend this to younger people who think that only contemparary movies, with big explosions and expensive effects, can hold their attention. Gripping from start to finish.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite movie until Star Wars came out in 1977
Review: I was only 8 years old when this movie came out, but my uncle took me to see it. I loved this movie then. The intensity, the tension, the sniper - what more could a young boy ask for? This movie played at the Cerritos Mall at the Twin for months. I saw this movie at least twelve times back in the day. When I saw the DVD I didn't even think, I bought it on sight. A very underrated movie with a great cast. The 70s actually had a few things to offer our culture after all - a darn good flick!

Rating:
Summary: Superbowl Sniper
Review: I was recently trying to recall some of the better disaster movies that came out of the Sixties and Seventies. Two that stood out in my mind was "Black Sunday" and I couldn't recall the name of the other but I recalled a sniper shooting people at a championship football game and S.W.A.T. trying to stop him. I was interested enough in tracking it down that I went to imdb.com and did a search on the word sniper in the plots. When I saw the title "Two Minute Warning" more started to come back to me. The cast is good, but not all of them do much more than cameos. But some performances are quite good, like that of John Cassavetes. The tension, camerawork, and music are excellent. It is intense watching the S.W.A.T team try to stop the sniper without starting a panic at the stadium. Although they eventually get the sniper, he racks up a sizeable body count, especially once the stampede of people try to exit the stadium. I couldn't help thinking of cattle when I saw it. This may not be up to some movies of today, but it is still well worth owning. I recommend it to anyone that likes action movies, especially police related. The movie was popular enough at the time to help bring about the S.W.A.T. TV series.

Rating:
Summary: Buy "Black Sunday" instead
Review: In late 1976-early 1977 two films opened that involved terrorist threats at the NFL Super Bowl--Paramount's "Black Sunday" and Universal's "Two-Minute Warning." Of the two, take my advice and buy "Black Sunday." Directed by legendary filmmaker John Frankenheimer, it is a superior, sweat-inducing suspense thriller based on the Thomas Harris novel about a terrorist attack involving the Goodyear Blimp and football's biggest game. And considering the reality of today, it is as relevant and scary as ever. Under all circumstances, skip "Two-Minute Warning," a cheap, cheezy, exploitative piece of sleaze from Universal's 1970's assembly line of all-star disaster atrocities, which stars Charlton Heston, who evidently made this one instead of "Jaws" and "The Omen"! No wonder his once storied career would essentially be over just three years later.

I won't go into details about how bad this film is. Just consider the following: in the very first scene, a sniper takes target practice by blowing away a bicyclist in West Los Angeles. He shoots from a nearby hotel, across the 405 freeway into a quiet neighborhood on a Sunday morning. Nobody hears or sees him. Not even anybody in the hotel, including the maid who is working in the hallway just outside his room. Also, Universal evidently didn't want to pay the NFL for rights to its logo or the Super Bowl or team names. So the game in question isn't called the Super Bowl but "Championship X." And while the teams playing are from Baltimore and Los Angeles, they are not the Colts or the Rams. Actually, we never know their names.

Then there's this classic scene between Police Capt. Heston and flaky SWAT sergeant John Cassavetes: When discussing what to do about the sniper, Cassavetes wants to do the logical thing and take him out but Heston has a better idea. They'll evacuate the entire Los Angeles Coliseum without the sniper noticing. Honest!

I can go on and on, but the logic goes downhill from there. How about the subplot with the father (Beau Bridges) of two young boys who is the only spectator in the entire Coliseum who sees the sniper? (He's evidently the only one with eyes.) Does he do the logical thing and remove his wife and kids from the line of fire until he finds out what's going on? Of course not. He tells them to stay in their seats while he investigates. And how about the scene where the sniper takes out a SWAT officer who has positioned himself in a light tower? The officer falls and hangs behind thousands of spectators for a full ten minutes of screen time before anybody in the stadium notices.

Then there's the depressing sight of an all-star cast (including, remarkably, some good and recognizable actors) strategically positioned throughout the Coliseum and given nothing to do but sit around like ducks in a shooting gallery.
David Janssen and Gena Rowlands as a bickering couple from Baltimore; Marilyn Hassett and David Groh flirting with each other like customers in a singles bar; Martin Balsam as the Coliseum manager looking like a deer-in-the-headlights; Mitchell Ryan as a football-loving priest; and Jack Klugman as a sleazy gambler who'll be killed if L.A. doesn't win the game. But nothing is as sad as watching the great Walter Pidgeon in what amounts to a glorified cameo, ending his storied career playing a sleazy picketpocket who is blown away in a gratuitously bloody, sadistic climax. While it's obvious everybody is simply picking up a paycheck, Cassavetes and Rowlands can at least be forgiven, since they evidently needed the money to finish one of their classic '70's independent films ("The Killing of a Chinese Bookie", perhaps?) And then there's Hassett, who just happens to be Mrs. Larry Peerce, the awful auteur who directed this mess and shows no style, builds no suspense and exhibits no filmmaking talent whatsoever. At least Charles Fox contributes an eerie score that belongs in a much, much better film.

Thank goodness Universal finally came to its senses in the late '70's and, for the most part, stopped foisting cheap, cold-blooded Hollywood product like this on the public. The sad thing is this mess was actually based on a pretty good book--George LaFountaine's "Two-Minute Warning." Of course, the filmmakers threw away everything about it, including the sniper's identity, his motivations, and all the characters, keeping only the catchy title and main story thread, which was normal for this period.

Incidentally, "Two-Minute Warning" is presented in 2:35:1 widescreen and has been remastered so that it looks as good as it did in its 1976 release. Too bad they couldn't have improved the film itself. This one's the pits. * (out of *****)

Rating:
Summary: It only takes one sniper...
Review: It only takes one sniper to cause mayhem at a jam-packed Los Angeles Coliseum in this terribly underrated film that was wrongly tagged as an assembly-line disaster pic or a violent big-budget exploitation film. TWO-MINUTE WARNING gets good performances from leading actors Charlton Heston, Martin Balsam, and John Cassavetes in this well-made suspense thriller of police forces trying to stop a mysterious psychotic sniper from shhoting into a crowd of between ninety and one hundred thousand at a championship football game in the Coliseum. The film concludes with a horrible stampede of panic and horror that has all too accurately been repeated in real life in European soccer violence.

Although it has certain melodramatic elements and an all-star lineup (Brock Peters, Gena Rowland, David Janssen, Jack Klugman, etc.), TWO-MINUTE WARNING mostly avoids the pratfalls common to the disaster genre. And the climax, while indisputably violent (earning the film its 'R' rating) is never strictly speaking an overt case of blood and gore. And like Steven Spielberg with the psychotic trucker in DUEL, here director Larry Peerce decides to keep the sniper's identity a secret (until the end).

Since TWO-MINUTE WARNING is on both DVD and VHS, there is now no longer any need to see the butchered, watered-down version that ended up on television. It is in the original director's version that this film should be seen; it is well worth it.