Wylfryd S
This is a masterpiece. London is filmed beautifully. The sky is always washed out grey. There is often a distant mist. The buildings are either Victorian or space age, modern and alienating. Amusingly on Amazon, it is classified as science fiction - which almost makes sense in some of the urban scenes. This film must have felt like cold dirty water thrown over the audience coming after the clean, moral, prudent, uptight films and TV series which preceded. There's a pervading sense of corruption and violence which merges indistinguishably between crooks, police and politicians. John Thaw and Denis Waterman give terrific performances. The scene where Regan is in George's flat with the (ahem) "high-class call girl" is powerfully romantic. They are both lying on the bed. He is wearing one of George's raincoats. They are drinking whisky and looking at the paper. It's a beautiful scene.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
11/04/23
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Audience Member
A good fast paced political crime thriller in the old style of policing. Fun watch.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
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Audience Member
Between 1974 and 1978, The Sweeney was the most popular police drama on British TV, getting over 15 million viewers at a time. As a result, EMI Films offered them the chance to make a film version, which they thought would make them famous overseas. They couldn't refuse, while that didn't work, it was still a very successful film in the UK. It still holds it's own to this day as a gritty and powerful police drama. DI Jack Regan (John Thaw) and DS George Carter (Dennis Waterman) are part of Scotland Yard's Flying Squad, they have a tough stance on crime, acting like the criminals they're sent out to nab. Here, they get involved in something very high up, involving government minister Charles Baker (Ian Bannen), who is in the middle of a deal regarding Britain's position in the world oil market, Baker's American Press Secretary Elliot McQueen (Barry Foster), is a shady character whose clients are dubious people. When a prostitute turns up dead, Regan begins to think that Baker and McQueen are involved, and the deeper Regan and Carter get, the body count goes up. While the TV series was quite tame, here they had they opportunity to add sex, violence and bad language, it's well made and it's a who's who of British film and TV of that time, it's success enabled them to make a sequel a year later, which was more of the same.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
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Audience Member
An above average violent thriller from the 70s, but it ends loosely and Morse, sorry I mean Thaw, is far too over dramatic.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/29/23
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Audience Member
The Sweeney was one of the most popular and violent TV cop shows of the 70's in the UK and is fondly remembered by those that watched it in it's heyday which followed the rough and tough officers of The Flying Squad. Free from the restrictions of television guidelines and budgets, the makers of Sweeney! show us what a sleazy and violent world 1976 London can be. The plot is complicated with some holes and the violence level does 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 loved the Sweeney is because of its irresistibly quotable dialogue, and here there is some really juicy dialogue. 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 and Diane Keen. Overall, a worthy movie with flaws and not as good as the TV show, but it is very entertaining on the whole.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The Sweeney was one of the most popular and violent TV cop shows of the 70's in the UK and is fondly remembered by those that watched it in it's heyday which followed the rough and tough officers of The Flying Squad. Free from the restrictions of television guidelines and budgets, the makers of Sweeney! show us what a sleazy and violent world 1976 London can be. The plot is complicated with some holes and the violence level does 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 loved the Sweeney is because of its irresistibly quotable dialogue, and here there is some really juicy dialogue. 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 and Diane Keen. Overall, a worthy movie with flaws and not as good as the TV show, but it is very entertaining on the whole.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/20/23
Full Review
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