One of the seminal moments of 1970s British TV drama came with “The Sweeney,” a violent, fast-paced cop show that briefly revolutionized the genre in the UK, following the no-nonsense, heavy drinking, womanizing pair of Jack Regan (John Thaw) and George Carter (Dennis Waterman), members of the London’s Flying Squad, which specializes in armed robbery and volent crime. It was huge hit at the time, spawning two big-screen spin-offs, and serving as one of the major influences on the recent hit BBC show “Life on Mars.”
A film version’s been in the works for a few years now, with DNA Films (“28 Days Later”) initially developing it, with British director Nick Love set to write and direct. It was only a few weeks away from filming, with Ray Winstone set to play Regan and Michael Fassbender attached as Carter, but DNA’s parent company Fox Searchlight got cold feet about the international appeal for a film with a relatively hefty $16 million budget, and the plug was pulled.
Two years on, and DNA’s option on the project have lapsed, and Vertigo Films, Love’s long-time partners, have picked it up, with Love set to write a new version of the script, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Winstone is still on board, although there’s no word if some of the names rumored to be joining him, which included Daniel Craig, Tom Hardy, Ewan McGregor and Orlando Bloom, are in the mix (we were a bit skeptical about that report to begin with, particularly regarding Craig, who’s now a three-franchise man between Bond, “Cowboys & Aliens” and “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”).
This has to be good news, right? Ray Winstone in a hard-boiled, action-packed cop thriller? Right? The big downside here, unfortunately, is writer/director Love. His career got off to a strong start with the coming-of-age drama “Goodbye Charlie Bright,” but since then he’s made a series of terrible, pandering, laddish gangster/football hooligan movies, including “The Football Factory,” “The Business,” “Outlaw” and “The Firm,” the cinematic equivalents of drinking ten pints of lager and then headbutting a brick wall.
Love’s best known for working with ‘actor’ Danny Dyer, a man who, when asked recently by a reader of his advice column at men’s magazine Zoo, how to get over heartbreak, replied “You’ve got nothing to worry about, son. I’d suggest going out on a rampage with the boys, getting on the booze and smashing anything that moves. Then, when some bird falls for you, you can turn the tables and break her heart. Of course, the other option is to cut your ex’s face, and then no one will want her.”
Fortunately, Dyer doesn’t seem to be involved here, but to get a better sense of how unpleasant and deluded him and Love are, you can listen to some (very, very NSFW) highlights to their commentary for semi-fascistic vigilante drama “Outlaw” below, and perhaps understand why we’re dreading “The Sweeney.”