Open Fire

Recorded from Talking Pictures TV.

I have never heard of this film and I wonder why. It is worth watching if only for Rupert Graves outstanding performance as the transvestite locksmith, David Martin.

Serious issues were raised as a result of the whole affair, mainly relating to the Metropolitan Police's firearms policy, but I also wonder what counselling Martin had during the 9 years in prison before the affair.

He is portrayed as a very confused and psychologically scarred man at odds with his sexuality and role in society. I am guessing the system let him down as well.

Open Fire is single British television crime drama film, made for ITV, which first broadcast on 12 November 1994. The film was written and directed by Paul Greengrass, and concerns the police manhunt for David Martin, who escaped from custody following his arrest for shooting a police officer, leading up to the shooting in error of another man, Stephen Waldorf. The film starred Rupert Graves as Martin, as well as Samuel West as Waldorf, Douglas Hodge as investigating officer DC Peter Finch, and Kate Hardie as Sue Stephens. The film has never been released commercially.

This film is about David Martin, who apparently was the most wanted man in Britain back in 1982. I can't help thinking though, that if he really was the most wanted man, then we didn't have much to worry about back then, if all we had to worry about was David Martin. He robbed a bank, whilst dressed as a woman. But the reason he was wanted so much, was probably because of the mistaken identity when a policeman shot the wrong man, Stephen Waldorf, whilst he was waiting in his yellow mini, at the traffic lights. We learn quite a bit about David Martin, not just about his crimes as a banker robber, but about the person, and why he did what he did, how he felt. Rupert Graves portrays him with feeling and sensitivity.