THE MAN ON THE ROOF Movie Review

Manen Pa Taket

The director of Elvira Madigan shifts gears dramatically in this tense and effective little thriller, which begins with a policeman being gruesomely murdered in his hospital bed. Soon, the investigating team suspects police corruption may be at the heart of the case, and it all leads to a rooftop sniper endangering a densely populated section of busting Stockholm. The Man on the Roof divides its time equally between the domestic lives of the cops on the case and the red tape and bureaucracy they need to go through to nail their suspect. The picture never really catches fire, but the slick, location camerawork and tough-talking script (from a Martin Beck novel by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo) makes for a taut and moderately diverting couple of hours.

NEXT STOP … High & Low, Dirty Harry, Garde a Vue

1976 110m/C SW Carl Gustav Lindstedt, Ingvar Hirdwall, Sven Wollter, Thomas Heelberg; D: Bo Widerberg; W: Bo Widerberg; C: Odd Geir Saether, Per Kallberg. VHS NYF