Man on the Roof (1976)

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 tough policeman who received ... See full summary »

Director:

Bo Widerberg

Writers:

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

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 tough policeman who received several complaints about his methods. His partner Hult defends him against these accusations, while Nyman's widow explains that Hult was the only one outside of the family who knew where Nyman was hospitalized. It becomes obvious to Beck, that a lot of people wanted Nyman dead, but he is not the only one targeted. Soon a sniper kills policemen from a roof in central Stockholm.

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Plot Keywords:

roof | policeman | police | hospital | murder | 

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Taglines:

Detective Story Fans Will Be Gripped By This Realistic, Human Police Thriller

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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:

SEK3,900,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI), Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

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

The Police bus that has the front window shot out and then crashes has the same registration number as the bus used to transport the lead characters out of the crowded city square later in the movie.

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Quotes

Malm: [a police helicopter has been shot down by the man on the roof] He shot down the helicopter.
Gunvald Larsson: So that's your conclusion?

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Connections

Featured in 100 höjdare: Tidernas på ett eller annat sätt mest spektakulära debuter (2005)

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Soundtracks

LTO-tango
Composed by Björn Afzelius

User Reviews

One of the all-time best Swedish action-movies

This film is still, 25 years later, probably one of the best action films ever made in Sweden. The almost documentary style of shooting, the superb naturalistic performances, gives the movie its immediacy and urgency (The editing of the helicopter sequence is absolutely superb) - the sense that this is actually happening, as opposed to the dreadful American actionmovie stylization that dominates Swedish film-making nowadays (Nolltolerans, Hassle-förgörarna, Hamilton, the list goes on). Swedish directors should take a long, hard look at this movie, and hopefully get a clue as to what works and makes a movie believable, instead of trying to emulate an American-type of movie-making.