Two-Minute Warning

A great movie showing law enforcement attempting to take down a spree shooter before he begins shooting people in a football stadium.

While Two Minute Warning had it's moments, one should look at how it could have done a profesional insult to the members of the elite S.W A.T teams. Too many of the SWAT guys got shot, SWAT would never be that careless, these guys portraying the SWAT team looked like a bunch of reckless soldiers dressed like cops. They probably should have called Steve Forrest's SWAT team from the TV show in the 70's (at least they didn't get shot).Heston's character got in the way until the end and it never ceases to amaze me how movies insult professionals this way, such a similar insult occured in a movie released in the 1990's about atomic war started by an accidental firing of a stolen nuclear missile,launched into Russian territory from Turkey and it was blamed on the U.S. and the Russians automatically retaliated and better than 85 percent of the alert nuclear forces of the U.S were anihilated on the ground. I don't remember it's name but it had Martin Landau, Powers Boothe and Rebecca DeMornay, anyhow it was an insult to the alert forces of the U.S. Two minute warning shows how badly security issues were back then as compared to now, when any idiot could walk in and take refuge with a rifle and start shooting while the law spends too much time fumbling about,they took too long trying to set up and outflank this guy. What gets me is the individuals the sniper shot, they were (in the story line) NOBODIES. They got randomly picked out of over 95 thousand persons ,what odds? Still that guy could have been taken out if they shot him correctly and nobody can withstand that many gunshot wounds and live. The only advantage was that many budding stars got to be seen in thier youth as opposed to the fact they either are dead today or too old to act on screen. Granted the 70's was a time era when disaster, action and suspense films were good and now are classics, without using computer animations to save an otherwise bad script, but the story lines were original and basically are what keeps these films alive 30 plus years later. What should be noted is the short but obvious movie career of the GOODYEAR Blimp, which appears in this film as well as in" Black Sunday", years later we don't see too much of it in the sky but it ,like the Hindenburg ,made a lasting impression at least until someone blows them up ! Now a days if such a sniper existed at a ball game, its more likely he'd shoot the refs or the team coaches for bad plays or bad judgement calls. Also if you're able to afford to go see a sporting event,(Especially at today's prices) always remember this, it's not what's on the scoreboard, but what's behind it!

This is as good of an HD presentation of this film as one could possibly hope for. It's great that Shout Factory are showing interest in this sort of back catalog film material; most of the big studios certainly aren't. The film looks great in HD, just as it should for a film of its era. The film itself is one you should probably know ahead of time whether you'll like or not. If you like 70s "disaster" films, but the more low-key variety, you'll dig this one. If slow 70's films bug you, you can probably pass. Shout even has included a few extras here. The most intriguing is the "TV Version" of the film, which is vastly different with a bunch of newly-shot material drastically changing the film and its plot. There are apparently no original film elements of this cut of the film, nor apparently even any videotape masters. So it looks like Shout had to go the route or sourcing a VHS off-air recording from a fan/collector. Some scoff at this, but I think it's stunning that Shout went to these lengths to get the alternate cut on the DVD. Yes, a TNT logo even pops up on screen at times. Overall, the alternate version looks solid, about as good as a VHS off-air copy possibly could.

People should watch this movie based on the story line. Kind of a little corny being out dated, but things like what's in the movie could very well happen in today's society! Thanks to the ignorance of not making safety a major concern for the protection of the general public.

I very seldom write reviews, and as a result this one wont be as concise as I would like, but I gotta say I was absolutely floored by this movie. I can only assume that the low 6.2 rating on IMDB results from this version being confused with the 1979 made for TV movie featuring many of the same scenes and situations. This theatrical version is some seriously uncompromising storytelling; it pulls no punches and makes no apologies. John Cassavetes gives a fantastic low-key performance as the pragmatic SWAT team leader. Thumbs WAY up for a movie that could never be made today. I was genuinely scared.

Underrated 70s disaster movie with another all-star cast. The story is simple: there's a football playoff game in the 90,000+ capacity LA Coliseum and a sniper is on the loose. When the blimp-cam spots him, it's up to the stadium security chief (Charlton Heston) and the SWAT-team leader (John Cassavettes) to stop him before he starts shooting. Who is the sniper? What does he want? Who is the target? The rest of the characters, predictably, exist to get blown away (or not) by the madman shooter, who remains mysterious throughout the film. (The sniper is limited to first-person shots and long shots as he waits in his nest.) The tension builds...and you know how this is gonna end. What to say? It was the 1970s, the ratings code was still relatively new, and movies were pushing it. Portrayals of mass murder were becoming more common, and here we have a rather cynical film...quite cynical even by today's standards. We know where it's going. You know the random characters at the stadium---the priest, the gambler, the pickpocket, the bickering couple, the cop---exist as mere sketches before they are relegated to flesh and blood spattering. Even when a fan (a young Beau Bridges) notices the sniper up in his perch, his attempt to warn someone results in an icy confrontation with suspicious and uncaring cops. Even those charged with stopping the killing cannot agree on how to do so, as Heston and Cassavettes bump heads over methods. These scenes, depicting disparity between authority figures either too soft, too gung-ho, or too uncaring, give the film a chilling edge that other entries in the genre either missed or purposely avoided. We are not treated to a deep study of the sniper, or his motives, which may be more 'old fashioned' in this regard. No long speeches about the political motives, for instance. No boogieman of the day (pick your ethnic terrorist or madman profile). Just sit back and watch the chaos unfold. Could have been better, though the ending, perhaps still prescient even then, shows what we still do after this kind of thing (back then, mass murder was still relatively 'new'): profile the killer, talk to his high school teacher, and try and catalog the 'warning' signs. Perhaps the appearance of a film like Two Minute Warning, and its ilk, was itself a warning sign. Being unfamiliar with the source novel of the same name by George La Fountaine, I can't comment on the transition or differences. The movie is recommended for football, disaster movie, and insanity fans, the cast (particularly the two leads) make it quite watchable, and the ensuing mayhem's built-in appeal still keep this baby in print. It's rather nihilistic, even for a disaster movie. The DVD is rather bare bones but looks good enough...like so many films, you can pick it up on the cheap and have money left for popcorn.

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.

Great thriller! Madman sharpshooter...could possibly happen....and was fun to see Andy Sidaris being the tv director in this film (he was a multi emmy award winning director for ABC Wide World of Sports during the day...and i actually had filmed for him when he became a film director)...film is good....watch this and Black Sunday back to back!