Man on the Roof (1976)
"Mannen på taket" (original title)

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 brutal and tough policeman who ... See full summary »

Director:

Bo Widerberg

Writers:

Maj Sjöwall (novel), Per Wahlöö (novel),

Stars:

Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt, Sven Wollter, Thomas Hellberg

2 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt	...	Martin Beck (as Carl Gustaf Lindstedt)
Sven Wollter	...	Lennart Kollberg
Thomas Hellberg	...	Gunvald Larsson
Håkan Serner	...	Einar Rönn
Ingvar Hirdwall	...	Åke Eriksson (as Ingvar Hirdvall)
Bellan Roos	...	Mrs. Eriksson
Gus Dahlström	...	Mr. Eriksson
Harald Hamrell	...	Stefan Nyman
Birgitta Valberg	...	Mrs. Nyman
Carl-Axel Heiknert	...	Palmon Harald Hult (as Carl Axel Heiknert)
Torgny Anderberg	...	Malm
Folke Hjort	...	Melander
Eva Remaeus	...	Mrs. Kollberg
Gunnel Wadner	...	Mrs. Beck

Storyline

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 brutal and tough policeman who received many complaints about his brutality. Particularly interesting is a complaint from Åke Eriksson, whose wife died in police custody because of Nyman. Eriksson climbs up on a roof in central Stockholm and starts to shoot at people on the street below...

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Plot Keywords:

police | roof | brutality | policeman | hospital | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Release Date:

April 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Man on the Roof

Filming Locations:

Bagarmossen, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Box Office

Budget:

SEK 3,900,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 10,780,000 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Svensk Filmindustri (SF), Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Insurance companies claimed that the helicopter crash would be too dangerous to shoot from a close distance, so director Bo Widerberg himself shot the sequence with a hand-held camera from the riskiest angles.

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Goofs

After Malm's speech via loudspeakers, the man on the roof shoots a cop using his Mauser rifle. Seconds before, however, the man on the roof was seen carrying his Johnson machine gun, and he couldn't have changed guns in between.

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Quotes

Policeman throwing up at hospital: Sorry
Einar Rönn: That's ok. It can happen to the best of us.
Policeman throwing up at hospital: Is it always like this?
Einar Rönn: Seriously; I've been a policeman for twenty years, and i never seen anything like this...

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Connections

Referenced in Ninja Mission 2000 (2000)

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Soundtracks

"Fjällbruden"
Composed by Arthur Hedström
Lyrics by Fritz Gustaf and Oleg Quist (Helge Roundquist)

User Reviews

Video surprise of the year: realistic, engrossing, ranks with best American crime films of the 70's

Wow! I wasn't expecting this - a sober, detailed, semi-documentary study of police investigation and tactics from, of all people, Bo Widerberg?!

I am astonished to say that this is a remarkably realistic and believable film and, as another viewer suggested, should be viewed by current filmakers as a prime reference for how films in this genre can be successfully approached. This truly ranks with the best American crime/police films of the 70's (and soars above all their pale French imitations), though it may lack the visceral impact of DIRTY HARRY or a character as indelible as Popeye Doyle. But character development is not really the film's focus; it is getting the details right - which it does - of the methodical police investigation of a murder and then their forced tactical response to a sniper. In doing this Widerberg and co. avoid a number of cliches and dramatic pitfalls that have plagued other films and television dramas working this turf over the last 40 years. These include cowboy heroics by "rogue" cops, an over-reliance on police jargon (that supposedly lets us know we are "inside the world" of police work), allowing interpersonal melodramas between characters to blur the focus of the story (i.e. catching the criminal), and, of course, the now ritual abuse of explosions, car chases, and machine-gun editing (to supposedly heighten our excitement). There are also no cartoonish twisted-genius serial killers masterminding absurd plot twists. Here the killer is as unspectacular, and as understandable (although we never meet him) as the men pursuing him. It is also remarkable how characters casually enter into the film as they enter the investigation - no one emerges as THE hero - everyone just does his job. And Widerberg is so effective at focusing us on the quiet, "routine" details of how the case develops that when violence erupts in the later part of the film it is truly startling. The scenes of panicking crowds have an unsettling documentary feel. The police response to this threat is, again, restrained, unspectacular (all right the helicopter attack may be pushing it a bit) and intensely dramatic for just that reason (no bells or whistles required). When the criminal is finally stopped it is almost anti-climatic (no drawn-out battles to the death, no swelling music) and this is as it should be for the world remains the same, evil still exists, and the job goes on. Can't wait to see MAN FROM MALLORCA. 9 out of 10.