Great Britain

When the television Sweeney first exploded on British screens to the often patronizing praise or outright hostility of many critics, viewers were quick to spot its merits, and to recognise that here at last was a British police series which could meet, and sometimes beat, the Americans at their own game. They took to their hearts the rough, tough, often foul-mouthed and insubordinate detective partnership of Regan and Carter, and some nine million sets were tuned in every week to the series, This runaway success made translation to the big screen inevitable. Sweeney!, made in 1976, deals with the convoluted plotting by the sophisticated agents of a multinational oil cartel, who shrink neither from murder nor from the blackmailing of Britain's Minister for Energy to gain their ends. Whilst recognizing the quality of the script (by Ranald Graham) and the direction (by David Wickes) most patrons probably shared the view expressed by Alexander Walker that this was quintessentially an actor's film, and a particular triumph for John Thaw. His Regan, a heavy drinker, womaniser, tough as old boots, well aware of his own limitations but bitterly resentful of undue interference from above, formed with the Carter of Dennis Waterman a sort of latter-day Laurel and Hardy partnership for the rough trade, and they were ably supported by Barry Foster as the arch-schemer, Colin Welland as a muchraking Tribunite journalist whose death by bombing inspires the biggest headlines of his career, the delectable Diane Keen as a high-class call-girl and Ian Bannen as her hard-drinking politician lover. With its almost painfully topical plot, its titillating exposure of sex and corruption in high places, its tough and realistic depiction of Flying Squad procedure, Sweeney! well deserved its success, and the sequel Sweeney 2, which, coming close on its heels, brought some consolation to the countless addicts mourning the premature demise of the television series. JACK IBBERSON