Sweeney 2
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Sweeney 2 | |
---|---|
Anna Gaël | |
Cinematography | Dusty Miller |
Edited by | Chris Burt |
Music by | Tony Hatch |
Production company | |
Distributed by | EMI |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | £65,076 (UK)[1] |
Sweeney 2 is a 1978 British
The series and films depict a fictionalised version of the Flying Squad. The term The Sweeney is derived from
The film centres on the investigations of the fictional Detective Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw) and his partner Detective Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman).
Plot
A group of particularly violent armed robbers, who are committing bank and payroll robberies across London, are taking just £60,000 from each robbery, leaving behind cash in excess of this sum. The robbers are willing to kill anyone who gets in their way: they even kill badly injured members of their team to ensure they cannot inform. As Regan puts it after the first raid, "I've never seen so many dead people". Meanwhile, a
A bent senior officer,
Cast
- John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan
- Dennis Waterman as Detective Sergeant George Carter
- Denholm Elliott as ex-Detective Chief Superintendent Jupp
- Ken Hutchison as Hill
- Anna Gaël as Mrs. Hill
- Lewis Fiander as Gorran
- Nigel Hawthorne as Detective Chief Inspector Dilke
- Barry Stanton as Big John
- John Flanagan as Willard
- David Casey as Goodyear
- Derrick O'Connor as Llewelyn
- Frederick Treves as McKyle
- John Alkin as Detective Sergeant Tom Daniels
- James Warrior as Detective Constable Jellyneck
- Brian Hall as Haughton
Production
Sweeney 2 is the second feature film based on Ian Kennedy Martin's original concept for The Sweeney. The first, Sweeney! (1977), followed three series on television.
As seen with Denholm Elliott's character, the film-makers were not afraid to face the fact that there are such things as bent officers. The character may have been based on a real-life former head of the Flying Squad, who had been convicted at the Old Bailey on corruption charges in 1977.
The film tones down the violence of Sweeney!, although it does contain more nudity and swearing, resulting in its release with an AA-certificate (i.e. restricted to those 14 years and over), instead of the X-certificate (adults only) of its predecessor. However, the film is nevertheless significantly more violent than the TV series, and was re-rated as 18 when released on VHS in 1987.
Nigel Hawthorne appears as a bureaucratic senior officer, taking the role usually played in the television series by Garfield Morgan.
As with the previous film, a number of the supporting characters are played by actors who had appeared in the television series, including Lewis Fiander and Frederick Treves.
References
- ^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 302. Figures are distributor's gross.
- IMDb
- ^ Mills, Bart (2 September 1977). "British money is suddenly big in Hollywood, 'right up with Fox and Warner.'". The Guardian. London. p. 8.
External links
- Sweeney 2 at IMDb