Warning Shot
                              
Director: Buzz Kulik
Year: 1967
Rating: 7..0
There isn't really anything special here to grab on to in this cop/crime film but it is all just done so well. It moves at a slow but purposeful pace directed by Buzz Kulik with few flourishes, the cinematography is so clean and well-framed, a fine score from Jerry Goldsmith, the multiple cameos from famous actors may seem pointless but still they are great to see and David Janssen as a cop in trouble is appropriately beaten down by the endless dead-ends he runs into. The plot spells TV movie on it but it isn't. I saw an episode of Dragnet with the same basic premise last week. My guess is that it has been done other times as well. But not as well as this and certainly not with the cast.



Sgt. Valens (Janssen) and his partner and friend Sgt. Musso (Keenan Wynn) are staking out an apartment complex after a complaint of a prowler. There is a serial killer on the loose - but that plotline is soon dropped. Valens is outside hiding in the bushes when a man is seen coming towards him - Valens identifies himself as a cop and asks the man to stop. Instead, the man runs and when Valens corners him the man pulls out a gun. At least we think so. It happens so quickly we can't be sure. But Valens is sure and shoots him dead. The dead man turns out to be a very respectable doctor who everybody loves for his kindness and charity work. Except perhaps his wife (Eleanor Parker) who seems more perturbed that Valens doesn't try and seduce her. They can't find the gun. Valens swears there was a gun but there is no gun.



In ten days they are bringing him up for manslaughter. His captain (Ed Begley) tries to help but no one else. The prosecutor (Sam Wanamaker) can smell blood in the water and an elderly witness (Lilian Gish) explains what the doctor was doing there so late. A weekly call on her. A sweet doctor making house calls. One theory after another is thrown out the window by Valens but why would he make house calls that late. And why did he run? Steve Allen is a sleazy Tucker Carlson news host who admits he lies to attract viewers, George Sanders is a smooth pompous financial advisor, Joan Collins is Valen's wife for three more days till the divorce, Stephanie Powers is the secretary of the dead man, Carrol O'Conner is a judge and Walter Pidgeon is a lawyer. All of these actors basically get one scene and out. But they are all good scenes. This feels very old-fashioned compared to today. Just keep digging till you reach the bone. You know you saw a gun. There has to be something there.