Un flic sur le toit

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.

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!

This is director Widerberg's widely acclaimed first action film, based on a crime story by famous Swedish writers Sjowall/Wahloo. It's a complex story, involving both the frantic efforts to stop a man from shooting people from a roof top, and the bit by bit revelations of why he's doing it.

Widerberg could make movies, in this and other genres, and this time he was praised for accomplishing what many regarded as the first Swedish action film, which did not look like high school work, even in an international comparison.

A lot of effort was put into it, involving large parts of Stockholm city at the time, and countless citizens volunteering as extras. It got to be much larger than the movie team had anticipated, but Widerberg managed to be creative about that chaotic situation, giving the film a sense of documentary, of not being fiction at all. Of course that heightened the suspense, and made its social message more urgent.

In the 60s I was very keen on Swedish films and especially Ingmar Bergman like The Virgin Spring (1960) and The Silence (1963) but also Bo Widerberg like of Love 65 (1965) and really Elvira Madigan (1967) but probably never seen this before. It is wonderful, not so much an art movie, but really well done. At first there is a surprising killing and then, perhaps even more of a lot which seems to relate to Police corruption, and how. They are telling us of a terrible story and then not just the death of a Policeman but more to come, of course, on the roof. Some of the people not actors and the mix does well as it is so thrilling. At the very end maybe it doesn't seem quite as realistic but it is all together splendid.