Sweeney!

A great film adaptation of the legendary tv series. 'Sweeney!' was a milestone for all 'Brit' Gangster' movies that followed (two decades later). See vintage 'Jags' and Ford Granada's, tearing up the streets of London; plus with an increase in violence, to give it a more brutal reality. The complicated plot was criticized for slowing the action but the 'Sweeney!', remains a great sign-of-the-times piece. Sort of dated but in the most endearing of ways.

'' Sweeney'', made in 1977 is a spinoff from the hugely popular and acclaimed drama which ran from ( 1975-1978), and starred John Thaw, Dennis waterman as two gruff and world weary policeman in the fast paced world of 1970s London in the department of the Police known as ' the flying squad'.

It was customary at the time for British Sitcoms if they were popular to get the big screen treatment. The sweeney was one of the few dramas which got the opportunity the film takes a different creative approach than the series and is more on the level of James Bond and the Professionals than anything else.

The plot: after a call girl played by the late Linda Bellingham is found dead in a hotel room after an supposed overdose, an old associate of Jack Regan's asks him to investigate the circumstances of her death his investigation leads him into a murky world of corruption and unpleasantness against an almost unstoppable criminal organisation with more than its fair share of double dealings.

The film Isn't as quite as good as the series but it's professional and competent piece of work in the quality of storytelling which isn't a routine cops and robbers story but the slant of political intrigue is a nice breath of fresh air.

The performances are decent the film is a showcase for the late John Thaw as Regan who is brilliant in the film, Dennis waterman is left on the sidelines in this film and doesn't have a lot of screentime with Thaw but otherwise turns in a fine performance. Barry Foster from the tv series ' Vander Faulk' is a credible villain if a bit over the top and pantomime at times his American accent isn't very good but otherwise he does alright.

Diane Keen from the BBC one sitcom: ' the cuckoo waltz', starring with another pre famed action hunk named Lewis Collins from the professionals is a good counter argument to thaw's gruff streetwise performer as a local lady of the night caught up in political intrigue.

Garfield Morgan who played John and Dennis' superintendent ' Frank Haskins', was absent from the film because he asked for a bigger salary than the producers could accommodate him for so his role was taken by Morris perry who was quite lacklustre but a satisfactory replacement.

Overall: ' Sweeney Is a decent spinoff of the popular 1970s drama, whilst not quite as good it benefits from intricate storytelling, a tour de force performance by John Thaw as Jack Regan which keeps the film balanced and script is a sharp and witty as ever.

Highly recommended if you're a fan of the series.

I absolutely love The Sweeney, it is gritty, violent and very addictive not to mention compelling and I never miss it. Then again, I am a huge John Thaw fan, having loved him since Inspector Morse. Sweeney! is not quite as good as the show, which is a classic to me, but it is a worthy film. The plot is complicated with some holes and the violence level did get quite shocking at times, but the location shooting is superb, the music is great and the action pieces are a real joy. As is the dialogue, one of the main reasons why I love the Sweeney is because of its irresistibly quotable dialogue, and here there is some really juicy dialogue. Maybe I am biased but anything Regan said stood out a lot. The direction is good, but the acting was really good bringing to life some very intriguing characters. The late great John Thaw is outstanding as Regan, and Dennis Waterman is delightful as Carter. Their chemistry together is wholly believable as well, and I also enjoyed the performances of Colin Welland, Barry Foster(actually didn't mind his accent) and Diane Keen. Overall, a worthy film with flaws and not as good as the show, but it is very entertaining on the whole. 8/10 Bethany Cox

"Sweeney!" was one of the innumerable TV spin-offs which kept the British film business perilously afloat in the 1970s. For once this low-budget work did not spring from a sitcom but from Britain's best ever cop show, which made "Starsky and Hutch" look like "Sesame Street" with its relentless violence and raucous backchat. ("Sweeney Todd", it should be explained , is London rhyming slang for the Flying Squad, an elite detective unit of the Metropolitan Police.)

Jack Regan and his sidekick George Carter here find themselves out of their depth with a bigger budget and canvas than on the boob tube: they get "webbed up"in an international conspiracy to lower, or raise, or something, oil prices. A suave Energy Minister is too fond of the high-class "brasses" furnished by his American PR agent. He is blackmailed, with multiple-murderous consequences and mucho ketchup.

In some ways this is very much a 1970s period piece: flared trousers, two-tone grey telephones and no computers, police who drink and smoke heroically, ugly lowlifes, hideous pubs, tyre abuse, shootouts in junkyards and an overall grey, downbeat atmosphere which is a far cry from the Swinging London of Hollywood England in the previous decade. "Sweeney" was conceived at the moment of maximum crisis when OPEC was holding the industrialised nations to ransom, inflation was the highest for 60 years and trade unionists and militant socialists seemed poised to seize power in Blighty.

True, a red double-decker bus figures during one chase, but the film makes concessions to mid-Atlanticism neither in casting, nor by moderating the constant Cockney badinage ("leave it aht!", "you wot?", "shut it!", "dull it isn't" (mocking a Met recruitment slogan)) nor by glamourising its high-life scenes. Also carried over from the series is the endless friction between different law enforcers: Regan clashes not only with his superior but with the security services and Special Branch, the Met's anti-subversion arm. Typically, he cocks up the operation to snatch the PRO and bring him to justice. Regan is no superhero.

Contrary to what others have posted, I find Foster's accent and manner all too convincing, and his performance incisive. The theme of politicians being corrupted by their spin doctors remains fresh. Ian Bannen as the blackmailed MP looks and has a role not unlike Robert Vaughn's. Thaw and Waterman are the same crumpled reprobates as on the small screen, but the plot makes too little of their partnership; Regan is suspended and lone-wolfing it for much of the running time.

No doubt the best of "The Sweeney" was on TV, but this is a fair-value distillation and introduction. It makes the mockney gangster movies of Mr Madonna and his posse look pathetic. "Up yours, sunshine!"

An excellent spinoff off from the popular TV series. The story is bigger but has all the grittiness and natural interaction of the characters that made the series so good. It's of it's time and anyone watching it today should remember that the language isn't tame and will offend some. Oh dear, never mind. It's genuine and that's what makes it believable.

The only let down is the lack of supporting characters carried over from TV. Many didn't have big roles but were familiar faces in the background. Haskins was especially missed.

If you remember The Sweeney from the first time around or just like gritty seventies British movies, then this is a great watch.