Movie review: ‘Two-Minute Warning’

FloridaGator80
A promotional photo from the 1976 film “Two-Minute Warning.”

Watching some “major” motion pictures from the 1970s today can evoke nostalgia, but in many cases also the feeling that you’re watching an episode filmed by the makers of “The Love Boat” (which I actually enjoy – click here for my look at the series) or “CHiPs” (which I also enjoy – click here for my look at that series). The production values just do not hold up that well and when the acting reflects a poor screenplay, well then you have one such as “Two-Minute Warning.” It’s not a terrible film, but you’d do much, much better with an old “Columbo” episode. Actually, you can find them both in this streaming age, but it’s much easier to track down “Law & Order(s)” (click here to read my look at that series).

‘Two-Minute Warning’
(1976; 115 minutes; rated R; directed by Larry Peerce and starring Charlton Heston, John Cassevetes and Martin Balsam)

IT’S THE 1970s AND IT SHOWS … AND NOT VERY WELL

(NOTE: I reorganized and expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links on Feb. 28, 2021. I again expanded it on June 3, 2026.)

Simply looking at its big cast will give you hope that the 1976 thriller “Two-Minute Warning” will hold up well after nearly 40 years. Sorry, but the actors’ efforts and the poor cinematography are the reflection that leave this one mired by its own ineptitude. Since “Two-Minute Warning” can be difficult to find, don’t do yourself any favor by hunting it down.

It too bad that a supporting cast of Gena Rowlands, David Janssen, Jack Klugman and even the venerable Walter Pidgeon, whose career spanned six decades, couldn’t do any better. Somehow, I don’t believe any supporting cast would have helped “Two-Minute Warning.”

A promotional photo from the 1976 film “Two-Minute Warning.”

As for the plot, it is pretty standard by Hollywood’s measure: A psychotic sniper takes up residence in the L.A. Coliseum’s clock tower before a championship football game … further, he’s mysterious (only called “the sniper” in the credits, but police find ID that calls him “Carl Cook”) and killed an innocent bicyclist at the beginning of the film. Half the film is the run-up to the excitement with cops in the stadium, as the big cast sets the tone of a divergent group of people whose individual stories culminate at the game.

A promotional photo from the 1976 film “Two-Minute Warning.”

The converging stories include a gambler who’s deep in debt (Klugman), a family going to the game (the father played by a young Beau Bridges), a couple (Janssen and Rowlands) seeking something meaningful in their relationship (as if a football game could cure what ails them) and a variety of other ships passing in the night.

The one neat thing to see here, and I remember from going to football games in that era, is how some men dressed up to go to a game by wearing suits (Rowlands even wears a stylish fur coat). Also, the ambience surrounding the game has evolved into a more professional wrestling spectacle today than could ever have been imagined.

Now, for the headliners …

  • A promotional photo from the 1976 film “Two-Minute Warning.”

    An Oscar winner and two-time winner and three-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one, of course), Charlton Heston leads the cast as “Capt. Peter Holly.” Heston gives his usual competent performance here, but there’s nothing special about his work with his character, unlike his effort in “Planet of the Apes” or his little-remembered, but quietly spectacular effort in 1973’s “The Three Musketeers.” Those two roles offer similar expertise to his work in “The Omega Man” or “Soylent Green,” but certainly not like “Ben-Hur” (his Oscar winning performance). I liked his turn in “Midway,” a big-cast, World War II film from the same year as “Two-Minute Warning” (click here to read my review of “Midway”). He had a Golden Globe nomination for BH, “The Ten Commandments” and “The Pigeon That Took Rome” and also had an honorary Oscar and Globe for his body of work on the big-screen. Heston died at 84 in 2008 of pneumonia.

  • A promotional photo from the 1976 film “Two-Minute Warning.”

    A three-time Oscar nominee and four-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), John Cassavetes is Heston’s co-star here as “Sgt. Chris Button,” who is the leader of the S.W.A.T. team (the acronym for “special weapons and tactics” that became the name of a popular TV show). He’s the one who has to go after the sniper, but doesn’t get much to work with at an acting level. Cassavetes is like Heston in this one: competent but nothing special. I thought Cassavetes did a superior job in “Tempest” with real-life wife Rowlands, “The Dirty Dozen” and “Rosemary’s Baby.” I like his work in the little-remembered World War II murder-mystery “Brass Target” (click here to read my review). He got his Oscar nomination for direction and two Globe nominations (direction and screenplay) for 1974’s “A Woman Under the Influence” that stars Rowlands. Cassavetes earned acting Oscar and Globe nominations for playing a psychopath in the World War II flick “The Dirty Dozen” and his other nominations were for writing the screenplays for “Faces” and “Husbands” – both are films that he directed. Cassavetes died young(ish) at 59 in 1989 of cirrhosis of the liver.

Elsewhere in the cast …

  • A promotional photo from the 1976 film “Two-Minute Warning.”

    Janssen as “Steve” and Rowlands as “Janet” show none of their considerable talent and appear to be more in a barbiturate fog than anything else. I’m sure neither one highlighted “Two-Minute Warning” on their resumes. A Golden Globe winner and two-time nominee (not for this one), Janssen was of course TV’s “The Fugitive” as well as being in “The Green Berets” with John Wayne. He died of a heart attack four years after “Two-Minute Warning” at the age of 48. A two-time Oscar nominee (not for this one), Rowlands was absolutely pitch perfect in the original “Gloria” (one nomination – click here to read my review) and was also in “The Notebook” and earned her other nomination for “A Woman Under the Influence.” She died at 94 of complications from dementia in 2024.

  • A two-time Oscar nominee (not for this one), Pidgeon is in this one just as a blast from the past as “The Pickpocket.” He was also in “How Green Was My Valley” and “Funny Girl.” Pidgeon’s two nominations came in back-to-back years of 1942 and 1943 for “ Miniver” and “Madame Curie” and both were him playing opposite Greer Garson. He died at 86 of a stroke in 1984 just two days before his 87th birthday. Pidgeon was born in 1897 (yes, EIGHTEEN-97).
  • A Golden Globe winner and nominee (not for this one), Klugman, as the down-on-his-luck gambling “Stu Sandman,” should have stuck to TV episodes of “Quincy, M.E.” that debuted the same year as this film, instead of giving this horrid effort. “Two-Minute Warning” is a long way from TV’s “The Odd Couple” for him and his three wins and seven Primetime Emmy nominations. He was also in “12 Angry Men” and died at 90 in 2012 of prostate cancer.
  • Former college and pro quarterback Joe Kapp, not surprisingly, plays star quarterback “Charlie Tyler” here (both he and his characters had bad knees as competitors). Kapp, who does an acceptable job in this one, is a very interesting real person: He was the only quarterback to start in the Rose Bowl, the Super Bowl and Canada’s Grey Cup games and then turned that fame into roles in films such as the original “The Longest Yard” and the execrable “The Choirboys” (click here to read my review). Kapp’s final acting credit was in 1982 and he died at 85 of complications from dementia in 2023 – as have so many football players of his generation.
  • Brad Savage, who had a small role as one of Bridges’ children, would go on to better roles in the very scary TV adaptation of Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” (click here to read my review) and the original “Red Dawn” (click here to read my review) – and his characters’ name in each was “Danny.”

So, it’s a big … yawn … for the supporting actors.

A promotional photo from the 1976 film “Two-Minute Warning.”

As for director Larry Peerce, he has a resume of mostly TV work, but with some big-screen films tossed in, too. Peerce a bunch of well-known (well, well-known back-in-the-day to abuse hyphens) TV shows from “The Rifleman” to “The Green Hornet” to “Batman” and “The Wild Wild West.” However, his body of work is watchable, as is “Two-Minute Warning,” so I’m not gonna rag on him too much.

I’d say there was more Peerce could have done to get better out of his talented cast, but, with the big cast and a limited screenplay, you just can’t judge his overall career with this one.

OK, now, you ask, “Why watch it?” I’d say, “Why not?” It’s a big-cast, big budget flick from 50 years ago as of the updated posting in 2026. I guess the best thing I can write about it is that is not like most films arriving today – you know, mind-numbing crap unworthy of your attention or just another superhero mess. I guess that’s just damning with faint praise, though.

“Two-Minute Warning” was far out of the top 10 films for 1976, which was chock full of hits with “Rocky” as the No. 1 film at the U.S. box office with $117.2 million, according to Wiki. Other top grossers were “All the President’s Men,” “The Omen,” “Silver Streak” and Clint Eastwood’s “The Enforcer.” Even “Midway,” also a big-cast spectacle film with Heston, was No. 10 with $43.2 million. “Two-Minute Warning” just didn’t measure up in dollars, either. Here are the films from 1976 that I’ve reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Heston’s birth name was John Charles Carter; Rowlands’ full birth name was Virginia Cathryn Rowlands; Klugman’s birth name was Jacob Joachim Klugman; Pidgeon’s birth last name was spelled Pigeon (without the “d”); and Janssen’s birth name was David Harold Meyer.
  • Cassavetes’ Oscar nominations reveal his talent: He has one each for acting, directing and writing. Quite a resume for the late Mr. Cassavetes.
  • Heston, who was first a Democrat, changed parties to become a Republican in the 1970s and espouse conservative causes. He was a five-term president of the National Rifle Association and retired after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. Click here for his biography via Wiki …
  • Allan Miller plays the “Mr. Green,” who menaces Klugman over a gambling debt. I don’t mention him here for his acting but because he has the same name as one of my family members (although he does have two “Ls” in Allan). Miller was also in “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.”
  • One actor with a bit part as “vendor” is Robert Ginty, who would go on to a career spent in supporting roles including “Coming Home,” “Loverboy” and a string of TV roles including “Black Sheep Squadron” (original title: “Baa Baa Black Sheep”) with Robert Conrad. Ginty’s middle name was Winthrop; and he died at 60 of cancer in 2009.
  • Klugman was the only primary cast member to do an episode of “The Love Boat” (click here for my look at that kitschy series). Too bad as I really would have enjoyed seeing many on that venerable TV series.
  • The movie bills the football game as a “championship,” but it is obviously plying the part of the Super Bowl. Another film, “Black Sunday” (click here to read my review), uses the Super Bowl name in the film’s plot about terrorism.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Most of the movie was filmed at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum after the 1975 American football season had ended. Game footage seen in the picture was taken from a Pac-8 college football game between Stanford (4-3-1) and USC (7-1), where Stanford won 13-10. The game was played on November 8, 1975, at the Coliseum.“

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