La brigade volante

Detectives Regan & Carter investigate the suspected murder of a prostitute and find that there is major corruption, blackmail and murder bubbling under the surface.

Sweeney! is a TV spin-off that further pushes the grit and grime that had been established in the hugely popular series. Boasting call girls, blood, automatic weapon carnage, more blood and lots of shouting, it does in short have most things fans of the series could want. It also serves as a interesting snap-shot of mid to late 70s London as various sequences operate in and around the old smoke. Yet in spite of its guts and gusto and nicely woven plot {incorporating the oil slant}, it ultimately sags too often and criminally under uses Dennis Waterman's Carter. This is really about John Thaw's Reagan. Fine for fans of the always excellent Thaw, but this was a dynamite duo, and somewhere along the way somebody made a poor decision to focus on one part of the team.

The cast is filled out with notable British actors as the story unfolds. Barry Foster {Frenzy}, Ian Bannen {Too Late the Hero}, Colin Welland {Straw Dogs}, Brian Glover {Kes} and Diane Keen; who was a star of many a British TV production. It's pretty much one for fans only, because you get the feeling that newcomers, although sure to be impressed with its toughness, will wonder just what all the fuss was about back in the sweary Sweeney 70s. 6/10

An excellent spinoff off from the popular TV series. The story is bigger but has all the grittiness and natural interaction of the characters that made the series so good. It's of it's time and anyone watching it today should remember that the language isn't tame and will offend some. Oh dear, never mind. It's genuine and that's what makes it believable.

The only let down is the lack of supporting characters carried over from TV. Many didn't have big roles but were familiar faces in the background. Haskins was especially missed.

If you remember The Sweeney from the first time around or just like gritty seventies British movies, then this is a great watch.

A no frills film in keeping with the series, the genre and the time.

This is a film about edgy London police in an edgy London in the edgy 70's. You could of course substitute "edgy" for "dodgy" in the above sentence and it would still be true...

For those of us around in the 70's it, like the series, is fantastically atmospheric. The hair, the clobber (look out for Regan's green anorak), the boozers, the motors, the women.

The plot is far less important than the characters who are all superb, and a particular mention for the young (and very beautiful) Diane Keen, and to a lesser extent Linda Bellingham - whose nudity makes you look at those OXO adverts very differently (or it would if they were still on) The film also gives some extra scope to the relationship between Regan & Carter, and there are some edgy moments between the 2, starting with their morning-after-the-night-before and culminating in the dramatic ending and indeed the film's last words. One of the many things I liked about the Sweeney was its realism and how it didn't portray its main characters as heroes but showed their dark sides and their failures.

I loved the TV Sweeney, for me John Thaw's (God rest his soul) Regan is one of, if not the, best TV characters of all time and this is an appropriate and very satisfying movie length "episode" Hollywood it ain't guv'nor, and for me thats what makes it the boll***s.

Yikes but there's some shocking acting in this film adaptation of the popular television series. It seems that one of Her Majesty's ministers - "Baker" (Ian Bannen) might be a little too close to the oil industry as a major announcement on pool pricing is due to be made in London. The Flying Squad's finest "Regan" (John Thaw) and sidekick "Carter" (Dennis Waterman) are soon embroiled, but as the body count starts to mount up the former is suspended from duty. Undeterred, he faces the wrath of not just his own bosses but also of some blokes who're marauding round the city with machine guns. His searching leads him to high-class hooker "Bianca" (Diane Keen) and all of this is going on whilst we the just sense that adviser "McQueen" (Barry Foster) is up to no good. Thaw does try, a bit too hard I reckon, but the rest of this is pretty sloppy stuff. Keen dreadfully over-acts, Foster seems to pick up an accent that vacillates wildly from scene to scene and Waterman doesn't really feature enough to make much difference to this pretty predictable cop drama where the rules are meant for someone else. Gritty? Possibly - but I just figured that in the end, they all pretty much deserved each other. Of it's time, I'd say - and that day has long gone.

I absolutely love The Sweeney, it is gritty, violent and very addictive not to mention compelling and I never miss it. Then again, I am a huge John Thaw fan, having loved him since Inspector Morse. Sweeney! is not quite as good as the show, which is a classic to me, but it is a worthy film. The plot is complicated with some holes and the violence level did 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 love the Sweeney is because of its irresistibly quotable dialogue, and here there is some really juicy dialogue. Maybe I am biased but anything Regan said stood out a lot. The direction is good, but the acting was really good bringing to life some very intriguing characters. 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(actually didn't mind his accent) and Diane Keen. Overall, a worthy film with flaws and not as good as the show, but it is very entertaining on the whole. 8/10 Bethany Cox