Un flic sur le toit

Police lieutenant Nyman is murdered in his hospital bed and Martin Beck and his colleagues have another murder to solve. They discover that Nyman was a very tough policeman who received several complaints about his methods.

The film is based on the novel "The Abominable Man" (1971) by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, though it was actually a book in the middle of a popular detective series rather than the first. Along with the book, director Bo Widerberg was inspired by William Friedkin's film "The French Connection" (1971).

Widerberg has interestingly contrasted himself with the godfather of Swedish cinema, Ingmar Bergman, noting, "Neither I nor my friends saw very much in him. We didn't find the issue of God's existence that damned important. But it's safe to say you'd be putting yourself in a bad position if you're trying to slit the throat of the father figure before your own debut." Around 750,000 people attended the film in Sweden, making it the most successful film produced by the Swedish Film Institute until Fanny and Alexander was released in 1982. The film was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 50th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. A shame, because this film is great and way ahead of its time. The movie looks as good as any movie today (2017).

This movie by Bo Widerberg is the peak performance in his career as I see it. It mixes realism with outstanding action sequences that still today haven't been done this good in Sweden. I haven't seen Mannen pa mallorca by Widerberg but that might be the one that ties this film. My favourite scene is probably when Martin Beck is on stakeout in an apartment where he tries to spot the killer. The scene is very well made and the old lady who owns the apartment is mostly concerned that Martin drinks his coffe and eat his cookies. It's pure magic. The best actor in this movie is Hakan Serner in a minor role, he portray the dull everyday life perfectly and it is very easy to imagine that this guy has been in the force way to long. A must see!

Intense and extremely good police-thriller. Bo Widerberg is earlier responsible for beautiful romantic movies as well as gritty social drama, and suddenly he hits us *slam* right in the face with this movie. "The Man on the Roof" can only be described as the *best* action-thriller ever to come out of Scandinavia. I fear Ingmar Bergman has met his match! The film starts out as a meticulous, detailed account into the investigation of a brutal murder. The search for the killer is lead by homicide detective Martin Beck (surprisingly effectively portrayed by veteran comic actor Lindstedt) and his team in the Stockholm police. Then suddenly barely halfway through, the picture changes pace as it turns into a gripping action movie -and a convincing one at that. Helicopters, machineguns, you name it - and all in the downtown area of Stockholm! I wouldn't believe it had I not seen it for myself. "The Man on the Roof" is definitely as good as expected, and then some.

This was the first attempt to mix social comment and action in a Swedish movie. Bo Widerberg had previously tried, successfully, the social comment. This time he tried action for the first time. And without a doubt he succeeded.

It's about police brutality and a victims attempt to seek revenge. The only trouble is that he doesn't think it's enough to kill the police who was the cause of his anger, but he tries to kill every policeman that comes in sight.

It shows the routines in police-work, as well as fabulous action sequences. The camera-work is brilliant. Notice the sequence when the camera moves backwards with enormous speed in front of the policemen running down the stairs at the subway-station. Steady-cam wasn't invented yet.

Brilliant acting galore. Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt playing the Martin Beck part, was really a comedian, not a serious actor. He did a great job, especially in the balcony scene, which was a very painful experience for him.

If you don't like looking at blood, close your eyes when the curtain opens in the first scene of the film.

This film is still, 25 years later, probably one of the best action films ever made in Sweden. The almost documentary style of shooting, the superb naturalistic performances, gives the movie its immediacy and urgency (The editing of the helicopter sequence is absolutely superb) - the sense that this is actually happening, as opposed to the dreadful American actionmovie stylization that dominates Swedish film-making nowadays (Nolltolerans, Hassle-förgörarna, Hamilton, the list goes on). Swedish directors should take a long, hard look at this movie, and hopefully get a clue as to what works and makes a movie believable, instead of trying to emulate an American-type of movie-making.