Two-Minute Warning

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 (Charlton Heston) and SWAT commander Sergeant Button (John Cassavetes), learn of the plot and rush to the scene.

This film probably maintains a level of popularity (if it has one) due to its cast, as the film itself is largely forgotten. But it should not be, as it takes the threat of a sniper (much like with Dirty Harry) and puts him into a crowded, confined area:a football stadium. Security today may never allow such things to happen, but the thought is scary.

There is plenty of action, but even more suspense. And that is what makes it more than just an action film. Who will be targeted? What is the sniper's motive? So much unknown.

A determined sniper is discovered by a TV crew in a scoreboard tower at a football game and how will police deal with the situation. The placement of S.W.A.T. sharpshooters on the light towers to take out the gunman would be the logical response since sneaking up on the guy might provoke him to shoot into the crowd.

I find this film to be a bit slow as stock characters are introduced and placed at the game. Once the sniper takes his position and becomes a threat, this film turns exciting, gritty and violent as shots are exchanged.

The fact that the shooter is faceless adds to the scariness of the situation. Who is this guy and what is his major malfunction?

The recent events in the Washington D.C. area add an air of reality to the movie. Previously no one would have believed that people were capable of such an ugly crime.

"Two-Minute Warning", aside from the formula melodrama, is a creepy thriller that might be a little too real now.

The Seventies was the decade of the disaster film, but oddly enough Charlton Heston has never been credit for being King of the genre. We know Heston for his work in big budget spectacles like The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur, but he's probably appeared in more disaster films than any other player.

Think about it, Heston during the seventies starred in Earthquake, Grey Lady Down, Skyjacked, Airport 75 and this film Two Minute Warning. All of them with a cast of well known players put in harm's way of a terrible act.

In this case it's some psycho freak with a rifle with telescopic sight who decides he's going to take out a whole load of people at a championship football game at the Los Angeles Coliseum. As in all disaster films the guessing is as to who among the cast will survive until the end of the movie.

We're not sure what the freak's motivation is, we do know that as the film opens for target practice he shoots down one of a pair of bicyclers driving past his motel. On some level I really don't care. The time for societal soul searching stops when the bullets begin to fire. After that it's only one thing, get him.

Charlton Heston is the police captain at the precinct where the Coliseum is located and John Cassavetes is the SWAT commander assigned to kill or capture. By the way it is also shown earlier Cassavetes SWAT team actually taking a suspect alive, so it's not that they are just looking for an opportunity to use the weapons.

Among the crowd at the football game there are some performances I especially liked, one of them being Beau Bridges as a young father out with his family for the game who spots the sniper and tries to warn the already informed police. Also Mitchell Ryan and Jack Klugman have some nice scenes as a priest who happens to be sitting next to a gambling addict who literally has his life riding on the point spread.

Two Minute Warning is not the best or worst of the Seventies disaster films. The cast is competent enough, a bunch of real professionals without a sour note among them.

Terror is real, an evil unto itself without reason and Two Minute Warning dramatically drives that point home.

As a fan of suspense, I definitely have rated this film as a classic edge-of-your seat cliffhanger. It contained all of the elements of a real-life thriller. The actual mounting of the suspense itself up until the end is the most rewarding effect this film possesses. As frightening and terrifying as the climax was, it nevertheless demonstrated how the actions of one individual can cause a catastrophe to unfold.

A lone gunman has his sights set on a sell-out crowd at a championship football game. Captain Peter Holly leads the desperate fight to try and stop the maniac from picking people off at will. Perched high on top of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the gunman has his pick of the targets, the Mayor -the President - or merely the innocent? Either way he has to be stopped before all hell breaks loose.

Much like "Rollercoaster" a year later, Two-Minute Warning is wrongly lumped in with the disaster movie genre that flooded the 1970s, and just like Rollercoaster, Two-Minute Warning is an excellently taut thriller. The build up is paced to precision, all characters are introduced to us to give us something to associate with should things go very wrong. As this is happening we get little POV snippets of our killer, accompanied by Charles Fox's harshly impacting music, the killer is never seen but we feel the dread, the impending sense of murder is a constant presence.

Once we are at the game and the authorities are aware that a sniper is on the roof, the film shifts up a gear and lays on the suspense thick and heavy. Captain Holly (Charlton Heston in authoritative scene commanding form) is joined by the SWAT team, led by the cool and serious Sgt. Chris Button (John Cassavetes), whilst stadium security manager Sam McKeever (Martin Balsam) prays that disaster can be averted. Then the final third of the picture is a ripper of heart pounding stuff, a final third that rewards the viewers patience for having invested in the film and the key characters. Filling out the cast is Gena Rowlands, Jack Klugman (brilliant interplay with Mitch Ryan's priest), Beau Bridges, Walter Pidgeon and David Jansen.

Two-Minute Warning is a quality thriller that is sadly undervalued on the big IMDb site, go on, give it a go and you might just be pleasantly surprised. 7.5/10

Footnote: I should point out that my thoughts are on the original unedited cut of this film, I have never seen the watered down TV cut and have no plans to ever do so.have never seen the watered down TV cut and have no plans to ever do so.