John Thaw, a tv Icon who made 2 great films

[stuart.uk]

John Thaw didn't make many feature films as such, but tv movies and series was something else.

in the 2 noteable films he made, his roles were short, but very effective. in Cry Freedom, he was the two faced Police chief and in Chaplin he was Charlie's UK mentor Fred Karno. it was interesting to compare his Karno to Dan Akroyd's Mac Sennett, Chaplin's first boss in Hollywood.

however, it was in tv John Thaw made his biggest impact. in the 60s in played a Military Policeman in Redcap, but it was in the 70s he played the first of two roles that he would forever be remembered for. he played Inspector Jack Reagen in a tv movie called Reagen with Dennis Waterman and Garfield Morgan. such was it's impact a series was commissioned and it was called The Sweeney. The Sweeney was about the newly formed Scotland Yard outfit called The Flying Squad and it changed the life of British cop shows forever. Thaw's Reagen and Waterman's Sargeant George Carter played Policemen, who met force with force when dealing with hard nosed London villians. Thaw and Waterman reprised their roles in two spin-off feature films The Sweeney and Sweeney 2, but as entertaining as they were, they weren't a patch on the outstanding tv show. i think the reason why it never got to America was the level of violence in the show. as i understand it in American many cop shows like Starsky And Hutch had to tone down the violence in their shows in order to stay on air. That wouldn't have worked with The Sweeney, its gritty realism was its strength!

after 3 seasons The Sweeney ended with Reagen resigning after being cleared of curruption by Carter. While Waterman went on to make the acclaimed series Minder with young Mr. Scrooge George Cole as his co-star, Thaw's career appeared to slow down with only the sit-com Home To Roost to speak off. however, the second role he was famous for came his way, Morse! Inspector Morse was as different a character as Jack Reagen as could be. where has the foul mouthed Reagen used his fists and sometimes his gun to solve his cases, the more politely spoken Morse used his brain to solve his murders in what was a who-done-it-type of show. he was supported by Kevin Whately as his Sargeant Lewis. Whately now plays the same character in Lewis, who with sidekick Hathaway carries on the Morse tradition.

Thaw played the head of Bomber Command Sir Arthur Harris in an acclaimed tv movie with Robert Hardy as Winston Churchill. he also played a Barrister in Kavanagh QC with Lisa Harrow as his wife, though she was killed off midway through the show

though not seen in America, in the UK it's accepted by many that John Thaw's finest hour was when he played a grumpy widowed white bearded old man, who his given a small boy to look after in his small village during the WW2 in tv movie Goodnight Mr. Tom

John's widow is the much respected actress Shelia Hancock

[movieman1957]

Stuart:

John Thaw gets very little showing except for Morse. (I'm enjoying going through the whole series.) Incidently we have only had the first of the "Lewis" series here. (Note: I have been paying attention to know what Morse's real first name is.)

The only other thing I remember seeing Thaw in was a Masterpiece Theatre was the "Monsignor Renard" film. I thought was good but it's hard separating him from Morse when that is all you know him for.

I'm hoping we'll get more of him over here.

Thanks for bringing up people we know of but maybe not know a lot about.

[stuart.uk]

movieman

The Sweeney is his other great tv role and as i said earlier his character of Reagen, though also a Policeman, is completly different to Morse and is available on dvd. it's funny how the feature length movies also didn't see the light of day in the U.S, but it was very violent compared to it's American counterpart. i suppose NWPD Blue is the closest comparision to it

PS i only recently discovered Lewis' first name Robbie

[movieman1957]

Stuart:

I have added "Goodnight Mr. Tom" to my Netflix list but "The Sweeney" hasn't made it here yet.