The Sweeney

First of all, no-one ever says, "Get the shooters, George".  

Second, although they did have the theme to "The Sweeney" at the very end, it was a cr&p version for young people who are stupid.  Seriously, the original theme was so COOL it made you want to kick down a door and shout "You're NICKED!" resulting in your mum banning you from watching telly for a week.  Or so I've heard.

Thirdly, the screenplay.  It is like someone got "The Big Book of Cop Movie Cliches" for Xmas and couldn't wait to turn it into a screenplay.  We have:

The maverick cop who doesn't play by the rules!
The smarmy pencil-pusher desk-jockey determined to shut Maverick Cop down!
The bit of dialogue about how the desk-jockey doesn't UNDERSTAND, because he's not ON THE STREETS.  DOING WHAT HAS TO BE DONE.  Etc.
The Sacrificial Lamb!  Now it's PERSONAL!
The requisite "You're FINISHED Stone Sinclair!  Hand over your badge & gun!" scene.  
Desk-jockey even gets to say, "You're a dinosaur!"  At which point I expected Actor to turn to the camera and say, "Look, I didn't write this.  They made me say it."

You could maybe get away with all of the above if it is done tongue in cheek.  But this brings me to my fourth issue with the film - the humour.  I don't think there is any, which is weird because the TV show could be quite funny.  Eric & Ernie even showed up in one episode.  

Finally, Ben Drew has an accent which makes him sound stupid.  Since I have been gifted with a Yorkshire accent I realise I am hardly one to talk, but then I am not trying to sound big & important in a film.  Ben's accent makes it impossible to take him seriously.  A bit like "Business Steph" from the BBC Breakfast News with all her talk about "the staaaait of the 'igh street".  I'm sure she is really very clever but she sounds like she is reading from an autocue written in crayon.

What was I talking about?  Oh yes, "The Sweeney".  It ruined my memories of a once-fine series and I hope those involved fall into a pit of angry squirrels armed with guns.  Get the shooters, Tufty.