Two-Minute Warning main backdrop
Two-Minute Warning main poster

Two-Minute Warning

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6.1/10 • 88

1976-11-121h 55m

ActionThriller

91,000 people. 33 exit gates. One sniper…

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 and the SWAT commander, learn of the plot and rush to the scene.

Directors
Larry Peerce
Editors
Eve Newman

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Charlton Heston

    Charlton Heston

    Capt. Peter Holly

  2. John Cassavetes

    John Cassavetes

    Sgt. Chris Button

  3. Martin Balsam

    Martin Balsam

    Sam McKeever

  4. Beau Bridges

    Beau Bridges

    Mike Ramsay

  5. Marilyn Hassett

    Marilyn Hassett

    Lucy

  6. David Janssen

    David Janssen

    Steve

  7. Jack Klugman

    Jack Klugman

    Stu Sandmann

  8. Gena Rowlands

    Gena Rowlands

    Janet

  9. Walter Pidgeon

    Walter Pidgeon

    The Pickpocket

Reviews1

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John Chard Avatar

John Chard

Apr 20, 2020

8/10

Undervalued thriller. 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.

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  • Two-Minute Warning poster
  • Two-Minute Warning poster
  • Two-Minute Warning poster
  • Two-Minute Warning poster
  • Two-Minute Warning poster
  • Two-Minute Warning poster
  • Two-Minute Warning poster
  • Two-Minute Warning poster
  • Two-Minute Warning poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$6,700,000.00
Revenue
$6,700,000.00
Keywords
assassinassassinationusa presidentsportsfirearmlos angeles, californiaamerican football stadiumdisaster movieintensedistressingominous