''Sweeney 2'' is a 1978 British action

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

film. It was made as a sequel to the successful 1977 film ''

Sweeney! ''Sweeney!'' is a 1977 British action crime drama film and extension of the ITV television series ''The Sweeney'' which aired on ITV from 1975 to 1978. The film did well enough at the box office that a sequel, ''Sweeney 2'', was released in ci ...

.'' Both films are an extension of the popular British ITV television series ''

The Sweeney ''The Sweeney'' is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Insp ...

'' (1975–78). Some of the action in the film is transferred from the usual London setting to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. The series and films depict a fictionalised version of the Flying Squad. The term ''The Sweeney'' is derived from

Cockney rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymin ...

, originating in the expression ''Sweeney Todd: Flying Squad'', and is a real term used by the London underworld to refer to the Squad, whose brief was to investigate armed robbery within the Metropolitan Police District (MPD), an area roughly corresponding to

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

. The film centres on the investigations of the fictional Detective Inspector Jack Regan (

John Thaw John Edward Thaw, (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor who appeared in a range of television, stage, and cinema roles. He starred in the television series '' Inspector Morse'' as title character Detective Chief Inspector ...

) and his partner Detective Sergeant George Carter (

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', '' Minder'' and '' New Tricks'', singing the theme tunes of th ...

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

subplot In fiction, a subplot is a secondary strand of the plot that is a supporting side story for any story or for the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or thematic significance. Subplots often involve supporting c ...

takes place in a large hotel, in which the Flying Squad deals with an eccentric man armed with a bomb (who turns out to be in the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

). A bent senior officer, Detective Chief Superintendent Jupp ( Denholm Elliott), is asked to resign over allegations of corruption, and – just before leaving his post – instructs his subordinate, Regan, to take down the gang. The gang, armed with gold-plated Purdey shotguns, evade the Flying Squad for quite some time, leaving a trail that leads Regan to

and back, before he finds encouragement from Jupp, who meanwhile has been convicted of corruption – Regan having refused to testify in court for him.

Cast

as Detective Inspector Jack Regan *

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 Derrick O'Connor (3 January 1941 – 29 June 2018) was an Irish theatre and character actor. O'Connor was best known for his performance as South African mercenary Pieter Vorstedt in ''Lethal Weapon 2'' and for his roles in three Terry Gilliam ...

as Llewelyn * Frederick Treves as McKyle *

John Alkin John Alkin (born 17 January 1947) is an English actor turned spiritual healer. He was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, under the name John Kenneth Foinquinos. Alkin is best remembered for two roles: DS Tom Daniels in ''The Sweeney'' and barrister B ...

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 Ian Kennedy Martin (born 23 May 1936) is a British television scriptwriter who created the action drama series ''The Sweeney'' (1975–1978). Career He began his television career in the 1960s, first as a script editor on the military police d ...

's original concept for ''

''. The first, ''

'' (1977), followed three series on television.

Barry Spikings Barry Spikings (born 23 November 1939) is a British film producer who worked in Hollywood. Spikings is best known as a producer of the film, ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), which won five Academy Awards. Biography Spikings was born in Boston, Lincoln ...

EMI Films EMI Films was a British film studio and distributor. A subsidiary of the EMI conglomerate, the corporate name was not used throughout the entire period of EMI's involvement in the film industry, from 1969 to 1986, but the company's brief conne ...

said he made the sequel "because there's a demand for it. The first Sweeney film was successful so we're filling the demand by making another one." 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 The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

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

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=078351 1978 films 1978 crime films British crime films Police detective films Films based on television series Films set in London EMI Films films British sequel films Films with screenplays by Troy Kennedy Martin Films directed by Tom Clegg (director) 1970s English-language films 1970s British films