Sweeney!
| Sweeney! | |
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| Directed by | David Wickes |
| Produced by | Ted Childs |
| Written by | Ranald Graham |
| Starring |
John Thaw Dennis Waterman Ian Bannen Lynda Bellingham Barry Foster Diane Keen |
| Music by | Denis King |
| Cinematography | Dusty Miller |
| Edited by | Chris Burt |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | EMI Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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89 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Sweeney! is a 1977 British crime film, made for the cinema as a spin-off from the television series The Sweeney which aired on ITV from 1975 to 1978. It was released on Region 2 DVD in 2007. The film did well enough at the box office that a sequel, Sweeney 2, was released in cinemas in 1978.
The film followed DI Regan and DS Carter as they became embroiled in a deadly political scandal. One of the leading members of the British government, Charles Baker (Ian Bannen), is about to secure a huge deal with OPEC, stabilising the world oil market and boosting Britain's position within it. Baker is the rising star of the government, regarded as a future prime minister, and he is closely controlled by his urbane, manipulative American press secretary Elliot McQueen (Barry Foster).
When Regan investigates the mysterious death of a prostitute (Lynda Bellingham) as a favour to one of his informants, he becomes aware that Baker and McQueen might be involved. A spate of killings follow - which sees Regan take on both the criminals and the hierarchy of the Metropolitan Police and the British security services. The outcome of the film was similar to that of the Profumo affair, though with a typical Sweeney bittersweet ending.
It was praised for capturing the spirit and setting of the original TV series. The film was successful enough for a sequel the following year, Sweeney 2, which saw some of the action relocated to the Mediterranean.
Announcing the sequel, Michael Deeley of EMI said the first film "was successful, so we're helping fill the demand by making another one".
Sweeney! was made by Euston Films, who also produced the television series. They had been planning a feature film version for some time: this movie was part of a £6 million six-film programme announced two years earlier, in 1975, by Nat Cohen of EMI Films.
The movie was released in 1977, following the conclusion of the show's third season on television, as a money-making big screen outing for what had become an extremely popular series. In the 1970s it was common for television shows to be given cinematic releases, amongst which were some of the biggest box office hits of the decade.
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