Produced and directed by Buzz Kulik, Warning Shot is 1967 mystery film about a cop who kills a man in self-defense, but the gun of the person he shot is missing, which makes the cop look as if he killed him for no reason and could be accused of murder! The film has a lot of cameos by veteran actors to add a little spice to the movie and iconic composer Jerry Goldsmith(Chinatown, Planet of Apes) adds a snazzy jazzy score for the film!
Sergeant Tom Valens(screen legend David Janssen, Twenty Plus Two, Superdome), an officer from the L.A.P.D shoots and kills a doctor who is on the run and appears to be reaching for his gun. Valens fires his gun before the doctor can get his gun, and soon after the gun is suddenly nowhere to be found, making for a really bad situation for the officer. Still worse, this doctor has a clean reputation with no criminal record. Valens, who swears he saw the gun, is charged with manslaughter and is suspended from the force by Captain Roy Klodin(Ed Begley, 12 Angry Men, The Dunwich Horror). Even Valens partner, Sgt. Ed Musso (Keenan Wynn Song of the Thin Man, Piranha) is suspicious of him. Valens then goes on an obsessive mission to prove his innocence and find the gun, while also producing evidence that the doctor he killed isn’t the nice innocent human being that he appears to be. During his investigation, he crosses paths with an all-star cast that had connections to the doctor. The cast of cameos includes Steve Allen, Joan Collins, Lillian Gish, George Grizzard, Carroll O’Connor, Eleanor Parker, Walter Pidgeon, Stefanie Powers, George Sanders, Sam Wanamaker.
Normally I find mystery thriller movies like Warning Shot to be fun and enjoyable to watch, but this one was rather drab and lifeless. David Janssen isn’t appealing at all, and the movie dragged with a bit too much dialogue with a payoff ending that was flat. Even the cameos by some of the legendary Hollywood actors couldn’t save it. The musical score was excellent and the best part of the film, and the cinematography by Joseph F. Biroc is also great, capturing some nice Los Angeles locations.
Warning Shot arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber who advertised this release as sporting a “Brand New HD Master – From a 2K Scan of the 35mm Interpositive”. The video quality for this release is so remarkably good that in some instances it makes the film look like it was made yesterday. The colors and details are strong and robust throughout the video presentation with rich textures. Skin tones look accurate as well. Details are amazingly clear when it comes to close-up shots of the actors’ faces.
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is also fantastic with the dialogue, action sounds and Jerry Goldsmith’s excellent jazz score coming in perfectly crisp and robust. Action sounds including gunshots and breaking glass and the musical scores do tend to come in a bit more aggressively. No audio issues such as crackling and hissing were detected. Optional English subtitles are available for this release.
Warning Shot’s Blu-ray has a commentary track by Film Historian/Filmmaker Steve Mitchell and Film Historian Howard S. Berger that discuss the film including a great quote about how Steve Allen’s resembles Tucker Carlson in this picture and other social implications the film caused!
This release has some trailers from the Kino Lorber catalog including Masquerade, The Thomas Crown Affair, Coogan’s Bluff, The File of the Golden Goose, P.J., When Eight Bells Toll, The Icpress File, Arabesque, and The Counterfeit Traitor.
If I only enjoyed the film as much as I did watching and listening to it! But that’s how it goes sometimes, but I do recommend this release to fans of this film and those curious about it. because of the A/V quality plus a commentary track to boot.
Warning Shot
Director – Buzz Kulik
Cast- David Janssen, Joan Collins, Carroll O’Connor
Country of Origin- USA
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –2/17/2023