Search - Warning Shot on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1967 DVD Release: 11/01/2005 Format: DVD - Color,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 39 mins Studio: Paramount Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Action, Drama, Mystery, Crime, Action Thriller, Crime Thriller, Police Detective Film

LAPD detective Sgt. Tom Valens (David Janssen) is a ten-year veteran of the force who has had more than his share of hard luck lately -- his marriage is a wreck, and he hasn't fully recovered from a serious wound suffered in the line of duty a year ago. He and his partner, Sgt. Ed Musso (Keenan Wynn), are working a stakeout one night at the Seascape Apartments, in hope of catching a killer who has already claimed three victims in that part of the city, when he confronts a man seemingly trying to sneak off the premises. The man tries to run, stops when ordered but starts to pull a gun, and Valens shoots him dead. The deceased turns out to be Dr. James B. Ruston, a well-known humanitarian and pillar of the community -- worse yet, the police can't find any trace of the gun Valens says he saw Ruston pull. Valens' nightmare builds gradually, as he's first assigned to a desk, then hung out to dry by an indifferent coroner (Carroll O'Connor) at an inquest, suspended from the force, and then indicted for manslaughter by a crusading prosecutor (Sam Wanamaker) with a personal ax to grind. Villified in the press and by protesters in the street, Valens has few even slightly sympathetic ears around him -- his partner, his captain (Ed Begley Sr.), and his soon-to-be-ex-wife (Joan Collins) -- and even fewer allies. The one attorney (Walter Pidgeon) with enough juice to fight the case on an even footing with the DA says he would only plead him guilty and try for a deal, based on his understanding of the law and of juries; and the one public pundit (Steve Allen) who takes his part is doing so for the most cynical of reasons. Valens realizes that the only way to save himself is to first prove that the so-called victim wasn't quite the candidate for sainthood that he seemed -- why did he run? -- and to find the missing gun. To do all of that, he's got to confront the victim's aggrieved patients (Lillian Gish), his alcoholic widow (Eleanor Parker), and his employees (Stefanie Powers), all of whom have every reason to hate Valens. He starts to dig into the doctor's finances and finds some anomalies that no one can explain (or wants to look at -- they'd rather hang Valens), and as he puts together the pieces of the puzzle, helped by a sympathetic tenant at Seascape (George Grizzard), Valens finds himself pursued by the doctor's thug of son and his friends with mayhem on their minds -- and someone else with a deadlier agenda. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

David Janssen - Sgt. Tom Valens
Ed Begley, Sr. - Capt. Roy Klodin
Keenan Wynn - Sgt. Ed Musso
Sam Wanamaker - Frank Sanderman
Lillian Gish - Alice Willows

Buzz Kulik's Warning Shot (1966), based on the Whit Masterson book -711 -- Officer Needs Help, never made it to VHS tape or laserdisc, so its arrival on DVD is a welcome surprise. The film was one of the better police dramas of the 1960s, less flashy but still more a match for Peter Yates' Bullit or Don Seigel's Madigan in its overall power -- the credit mostly goes to director Kulik, cinematographer Joseph Biroc, and the first-rate cast led by David Janssen, Joan Collins, Ed Begley, Lillian Gish, and Keenan Wynn; critics and audiences sold it short at the time of its release, but this reviewer saw it (on a double-bill with William Castle's black comedy The Busy Body) in a theater and he was impressed. The movie has received a film-to-video transfer so sharp and carefully balanced for color that it looks better here than it has in decades of television showings, and recalls favorably memories of the theatrical version. The image has been masked to the non-anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85-to-1, which is especially satisfying for its capturing Kulik and Biroc's use of tight close-ups and odd camera angles; watching the movie this way restores the visual impact that Kulik intended, and is a lot more powerful an experience than watching the film in the usual full-screen format. The movie has been given a reasonably generous 13 chapters, and there are no other special features, apart from optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired. The disc opens automatically on a simple two-layer menu that extremely easy to maneuver around. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide