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Two-Minute Warning (1976)

5/3/2012

 
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Two genres flourished in the 1970s: the disaster epic and the realistic crime film. Two-Minute Warning is a curious but entertaining hybrid of the two. Its main star, Charlton Heston, was himself something of a specialist in the disaster genre, having made Skyjacked, Airport 1975 and Earthquake before this film. Two-Minute Warning, about a psychotic sniper loose in a packed football stadium during the Superbowl, proves the most interesting of these, though much less so for its disaster movie elements than its far more gripping police procedural ones.

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The film’s first hour is a slow burn as all the disparate characters make their way to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the big game (never called the Superbowl, for obvious reasons, but clearly intended as such). In similar fashion to Dirty Harry, the film opens from the sniper’s point-of-view, as he takes out a random cyclist as a sort of dry run. Unlike the Eastwood film, we never get a good look at the sniper until the very end. Instead, we get a lot more POV shots of him checking out of his hotel, driving his car to the stadium, and sneaking his way up into a vantage point above the scoreboard.

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Big Chuck Heston on the case.
We also get introduced to the typical disaster movie cast of name actors, all en route to the game. We have contentious lovers David Janssen and Gena Rowlands; gambler Jack Klugman, in deep to the Mob and his life riding on the bet he placed on the final score; Walter Pidgeon as an elderly pickpocket; and Beau Bridges and Pamela Bellwood as a young couple on a fun day out with their two young sons. We also get brief scenes establishing LAPD Captain Peter Holly (Heston), SWAT team leader Sgt. Button (John Cassavetes), stadium manager Sam McKeever (Martin Balsam) and head maintenance man Paul (Brock Peters).

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Mitchell Ryan and Jack Klugman
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Martin Balsam
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Pamela Bellwood and Beau Bridges
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SWAT leader Sgt. Button (John Cassevetes)
There’s just enough of that docudrama feel so prevalent in 70s movies, plus lots of time capsule real crowd footage, to keep the film’s deliberate set-up interesting. But the movie really starts to hum when one of the TV crew covering the game spots the sniper in one of the Goodyear blimp camera feeds and alerts the police. Soon Heston, Cassavetes and his super-cool SWAT team swing into action, and the superior crime drama side of the movie takes over.

The disaster film side comes back with a vengeance in the surprisingly violent final 20 minutes when the game’s two-minute warning starts and all manner of holy hell breaks loose. I was expecting the typical ending for films of this type: the ratcheting up of tension until the final few minutes, with Heston, Cassavetes and company taking out the killer in the nick of time, panic averted. I should have realized that 70s movies don’t play that safe. What we get instead is sheer pandemonium on an epic scale, very realistically depicted. We even get our fateful shootout between cops and the killer as well, just to tick all the boxes. And in a refreshingly true-to-life touch, we never do find out what the killer's motivation is.

Any way you slice it, the ending is a doozy.

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Heston and Cassavetes have fun with their undemanding roles, doing solid work but mostly coasting on their effortless natural charisma. The physical production is quite effective, and little-known director Larry Peerce skillfully marshalls all the busy crowd scenes and other logistical hurdles into a coherent whole. There are some quietly eerie early shots of the empty coliseum, nicely bookended by the apocalyptic aftermath visible in the film’s closing shots.

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David Janssen and Gena Rowlands (Cassavetes' real-life wife)
Some fun faces can be caught in small roles. Mitchell Ryan (the main baddie from Lethal Weapon) is the priest who lends some comfort to Klugman. The director of the TV network team is played by infamous B-movie schlockmeister Andy Sidaris, while 80s action star Robert Ginty pops up as a snack vendor. And there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him bit with Larry Manetti (“Rick” from Magnum, P.I.) as one of the SWAT team members.

A fun movie with a GREAT ending.



Colin link
5/4/2012 06:55:01 am

I really ought to get round to seeing this one again. I remember seeing it in the cinema when it was first released - I was still a kid and my mom brought me along - and enjoying it a lot. I think it was somewhat overshadowed by Black Sunday at the time though.

Jeff
5/4/2012 08:02:41 am

Colin,

I'm glad to hear you have fond memories of seeing this one as a kid...but the slow opening must have had you twitching in your seat!

I'd never seen (or frankly, heard of) the film until I rented it at the local video store last week. I can see why it got overshadowed by Black Sunday, of course, as that's a better film. I ended up having a lot of fun with Two-Minute Warning, thanks mainly to watching Cassavetes and Heston flash their huge grins at each other, and also the pretty startling and memorable finale.

Thanks for stopping by!

Colin link
5/7/2012 08:37:50 pm

Well, that cinema viewing was a long, long time ago Jeff! I can't say I recall being a twitchy kid though, even with slow burn movies. I think we were just conditioned differently in those pre-Star Wars days.

Jeff
5/9/2012 08:40:04 pm

Same here, Colin...as a child of the 70s myself, raised on 50s and 60s TV shows and old movies on the tube, I was pretty patient when it came to entertainment. I gladly sat through some things as a kid I would probably find terminally slow now.

Neil
5/6/2012 04:41:56 pm

That is the most bell-bottoms I have seen in one place since my entrance ceremony to pre-school... ; )

Jeff
5/6/2012 09:30:32 pm

It's definitely bell-bottom city, all right. Plenty of sideburn action going on too...

Thanks for checking out the blog, Neil!

ruth link
5/9/2012 07:19:07 am

I must admit I have never heard of this but Heston in a realistic crime drama? I gotta check this one out!

Jeff
5/9/2012 08:31:39 pm

Hi Ruth! Yes, it's somewhat of a different role for old Chuck, playing a policeman, but he still brings that iconic Heston persona to the table. I think you'll get a kick out of the movie, especially if you have any sort of fondness for either the cop or disaster movie subgenres. It's readily available on DVD in the U.S., so Netflix may have it.

Laura link
5/29/2012 04:20:08 am

I got a big kick out of SKYJACKED and AIRPORT 75 (EARTHQUAKE, not so much). I've got vague memories of TWO-MINUTE WARNING being out when I was a kid but I was too young to go see it (grin). Just added it to my Netflix Instant queue thanks to your post!

Best wishes,
Laura

Jeff
5/29/2012 07:47:55 am

Hi Laura! TWO-MINUTE WARNING is an interesting flick and I think you'll enjoy get reacquainted with it. I haven't seen SKYJACKED and will be keeping an eye out for it. I'm on a (gradual) quest to see all of Charlton Heston's films...yes, even EARTHQUAKE, bad as that may be. :)

Thanks for the comment!

Jeff
7/31/2012 06:48:33 am

This was my first R-rated movie - I was obsessed with disaster movies when I was a kid and I BEGGED my dad to take me to see this - I remember seeing a full page color ad in the TV Guide - the kind where they had the boxes with the stars along the bottom of the movie poster - so prevelant in the 70's! I don't think my dad realized how violent the movie was going to be - it's pretty tame by today's standards, but at the time it was shocking and it was highly criticized. When it was broadcast on TV a few years later, the censors had to edit so much out that a whole new subplot was re-shot and added (horrible, BTW - the original director Larry Peerce disowned the TV version) and most of the shooting violence was removed. Avoid the TV version at all costs! I just watched the movie again yesterday - while the fashions, hairstyles, technology, etc. are obviously dated, I think it still holds up as a suspenseful and well-made movie. I don't think it would be made the same way today - it definetely has that cynical 1970's vibe - and I like it that way!

Jeff F.
8/4/2012 07:39:52 am

Thanks for the comments, Jeff! I appreciate you sharing the fun personal anecdote. I grew up around the same time you did and can remember the disaster movie cycle very well (though I wasn't a big fan at that time like you). I agree, TWO-MINUTE WARNING has dated in some respects, but it remains pretty compulsive watching.


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