Beware of the Jonsson Gang! (1981) User Reviews

One of the funniest Swedish films ever!

[opz · 6/10 · 11 July 2002]

Varning för Jönssonligan was, and still is, one of my favorite movies. The thing that separates it from other movies are the wonderful characters especially "Sickan" played by Gösta Ekman. I recommend it to everyone

Masterful!

[vato129 · 10/10 · 17 October 2007]

Varning för jönssonligan.. if anyone from the USA would ask me what Swedish movie is the best, i'd say the Jonssonleague movies. All those movies are very special and each has a great amount of comedy! The first one is my personal favorite! I saw this movie when i was 3-4 years old.. and i LOVED IT! I have never stopped watching the movies because they never really get boring. Every scene in the movie have a bunch of comedy.

The music made by Ragnar Grippe is perfect, my favorite is the main theme and the intro music.

If you haven't seen it yet,... go check it out because this movie is absolutely fantastic!

I like this movie.

[KrokRos · 20 January 2001]

This is the first of the Jönssonligan movies. There are 7 of them so far. Not always the same actors but always some similarity. The big personality in these movies is Charles Ingvar "Sickan" Jönsson. He is a nutty but very determined thief and an expert on breaking in a special kind of safe called "Frans Jäger". He has two companions in this film called Vanheden and Rocky. They have several different missions in this film but the main one is stealing the Bedford jewels, worth 20 million dollars. Their enemy is Wall Enberg, the richest man in Sweden. He is not the most honorable one. Dirty money. Black market. And lies. Great fun!

What was the point of this?

[anders-n-aa-larsson · 1/10 · 24 January 2021]

This is an almost frame-to-frame copy of the Danish Olsen gang movies, except from the Olsens habitual beer (alcohol!) drinking and visiting prostitutes and making porno movies, which would perhaps offend puritan sensibilities in the Swedish Bible Belt (Småland).

What's the point of making a Swedish version of a Danish institution in movie history, when Danish and Swedish are just mere dialects of a non-standardized Scandinavian language?

Have society been this dumbed down after Scandinavianism in the early 1900s, was displaced by state-nationalism?

A good Swedish movie

[loleralacartelort7890 · 8/10 · 16 January 2006]

This is a good Swedish movie - though it is based on a Danish movie. But to put it into perspective we have to go back in film-history: In 1968 Erik Balling and Henning Bahs created the Danish Classic Olsen-Banden (which Varning för Jönssonligan is loosely based on). The movie became a very big success. It became such a big success, that the Norwegians copied the movie in 1969, and claimed it as their own creation - even though they had not created it, Erik Balling and Henning Bahs had come up with the story. But as always the Norwegians nationalism kicked in and took the honour - even though you can see on this wonderful site that Erik Balling and Henning Bahs have credit for coming up with the story, which the Norwegians tend to forget. The Danish original and propably also the Norwegian copy Olsen-banden became such a success that Sweden wanted a Olsen-banden of their own. The Swedes contacted Erik Balling and Henning Bahs and they came up with some stories for the Swedes - which from they could create Jönssonligan. But unlike the Norwegian copy of the Danish creation, the Swedes made Jönssonligan more different and more Swedish - which I like. In 1981 the first Jönssonliga-movie came: Varning för Jönssonligan. And that was good, and it was very different than the Danish one - though the Danes Erik Balling and Henning Bahs came up with the story. The Swedes managed to twist the movie-mythology in their own good way.

Like it.

8/10 - Nuff Said.

Superb!

[Nero68 · 10/10 · 11 January 2003]

A cult classic in Swedish movies. This is the first movie with the criminal league called Jönssonligan named after the "leader" Charles-Ingvar "Sickan" Jönsson. I have loved these movies the day the came. It blends clever burgler tricks with comedy. The funniest actor is of course Gösta Ekman. He's great as the little bit confused and clumsy but intelligent "Sickan" and he comes up the plans and his colleagues helps him. This is a true classic.

Classic!

[fran-717-228142 · 10/10 · 11 September 2019]

This is one of its kind of all Jönssonligan movies. Simply the best of them. Gösta Ekman was one of the best comedian actor in Sweden of all time. When he gets in chock at the end of this movie he regards to a child and pretend that a shoe is a cat and that is so funny. I have seen the movie I think twenty times and I think I can see it again and again and again...

Great fun! :)

[synthesite · 10/10 · 26 December 2001]

A very cleverly written and produced comedy, clearly stating that Jönssonligan would be a very successful series of films. This can be recommended to anyone between 5 and 95 years of age. Harmless, funny and perfect for the entire family. It's like a modern sequel to Laurel and Hardy. Gösta Ekman is one of the world's most talented actors, period.

Fun, excitement and crazy!.. Excellent!

[MusicRacer · 10/10 · 18 March 2023]

Here we go! One of the best Swedish movies of all times. This is a group of thieves with a mission to steal money and alike but with a very funny twist. I don't know if there are any words that can describe this movie in an honest way. Probably this needs to be watched to understand it. Language is in Swedish though so all jokes might not be understandable for non-Swedish viewers. But I can almost guarantee that for most of you this is definitely worth to be watched.

There is alot of "Jönssonligan" movies. Some are newer with other characters and there are also kids versions. I believe that there are also versions in other countries. Basically the story is built from a danish version that I think is called Olsen-Banden. But this is the first Swedish version.

It is not a very rapid movie but it is basically built up on jokes all the time so it never gets boring. At the same time their mission is sometimes very serious. I want to compare the feeling of the movie with the first "Beverly Hills Cop" movie. The balanced mix of something serious and something fun. But this is really more towards the fun side all the time. I guess it is also more crazy and they are acting more stupid I'd say, but in a very funny way.

Here you can also see how Stockholm (Swedens Capital) looked like around the 1980's. The tempo is alot calmer than today I suppose but it goes well with the amazing script by Mikael Ekman. A true classic movie for many Swedish people so if you want to see just one Swedish movie this might be it!