The plot is set on a group of bank robbers, who are both violent and successful, strangely getting away each time with an amount around the £60,000 mark, and often leaving behind cash in excess of this sum. The robbers are willing to kill their own team, to get away. As Jack Regan himself puts it after the first raid in the film: "I've never seen so many dead people". Armed with gold-plated Purdey shotguns, they evaded Regan and the Flying Squad for quite some time, before Regan finds encouragement from his Detective Chief Superintendent who was sent down for corruption because Jack wouldn't testify in court for him.
Acting
Thaw's Regan—exhausted, bitter, barely holding it together.
Practical Effects
Pre-CGI car chases through actual 1978 London streets.
Writing
Regan's deadpan one-liners cut through the carnage.
Director
Tom Clegg
John Thaw
Det. Insp. Jack Regan
Dennis Waterman
Det. Sgt. George Carter
Denholm Elliott
Ex-Det. Chief Superintendent Jupp
Nigel Hawthorne
Det. Chief Insp. Dilke
Ken Hutchison
Hill
Anna Gaël
Mrs Hill
Derrick O'Connor
Llewellyn
Georgina Hale
Switchboard Girl
Brian Hall
Haughton
James Warrior
Jellyneck
Barry Stanton
Big John
John Alkin
Tom Daniels
Guy Standeven
Logan
Johnny Shannon
Harry
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Sweeney' nickname comes from Cockney rhyming slang: Sweeney Todd = Flying Squad.
Released during the 'Winter of Discontent,' its bleakness mirrored a Britain literally going dark with strikes.
US
GB
