Two-Minute Warning (1976)

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:

The movie was deemed too violent to show intact on broadcast television, so they re-wrote the story and added a heist element. The re-written material minimized both the main storyline and the subplots.

Goofs:

Factual errors: While moving into their firing positions at the stadium, several SWAT members have their fingers on the triggers of their M16 rifles. This violates a basic rule of gun safety, which says that the finger must stay off the trigger until the sights are on the target. Until that time, the finger should be placed alongside the trigger guard.

Movie Connections:

Edited into The Day After (1983) (TV)

Flawed But Interesting

The previous reviewer completely misses the point. The reason why the sniper in "Two Minute Warning" isn't given any lines or isn't shown to have humanity is because what this man is doing is a crazy, psychotic act with no rational purpose to it, and that is what makes him a more terrifying threat (I can't begin to imagine how watered down the threat would seem if I ever saw the alternate version that made him part of a rational plot) and makes the story suspenseful. Only those with a visceral hatred of Charlton Heston because of his off-camera politics would try to read anything else into that (it is amusing that Heston has to suffer this from so many liberal reviewers while Hollywood liberals like Paul Newman never have to worry about conservatives reading between the lines of every film they're in).

That said, "Two Minute Warning" ultimately is flawed because it does have a less than stellar script when it comes to the supporting characters, not very interesting performances from a largely TV cast (Jack Klugman, David Janssen) and also the sense of realism is hurt by the fact that the NFL didn't give permission to use the names of real football teams thus creating too much of a sense of artificialness with people just rooting for a generic "Baltimore" and "Los Angeles". "Black Sunday" works a lot better in that regard because it made sure to get permission from the NFL and do actual filming during the Super Bowl.