cult film freak: NEO NOIR 'THE SWEENEY' EPISODE OF 'CHALK AND CHEESE'

Written by James M. Tate / 4/02/2022 / No comments / boxing , british , cop , crime , david lodge , dennis waterman , john thaw , lesley-anne down , neo noir , paul jones , seventies , shane briant , sweeney , thriller , TV

NEO NOIR 'THE SWEENEY' EPISODE OF 'CHALK AND CHEESE'

4/02/2022 | No comment

Paul Jones on The Sweeney Year: 1974 Rates: *****

Beginning with a rubbed water-glass rim creating a crystalline sound, there's a misleadingly mellow vibe as we cut from an orange car on the highway to an old rich couple's vehicle cruising a rural, wooded area followed by a blunt-bullying robbery, filmed in askew angles more like an art film than cop TV-show, THE SWEENEY episode title CHALK AND CHEESE means the two ski mask-wearing bandits are polar opposites... yet they have one thing in common...

Real life singer Paul Jones is a lowly boxer... his dad the owner of a grungy boxing gym... while Shane Bryant's a rich kid grown-up flaky and gambling-broke into his mid-twenties...

Paul Jones on The Sweeney: Chalk and Cheese

And there's a femme fatale between them; although the poor tough guy doesn't know everything as Lesley-Anne Down brought both money-hungry fellas together, but is only pretending to belong to him: And as the show will sometimes focus on either John Thaw's Regan or his younger partner Carter in Dennis Waterman, the latter gets the focal point here...

Once a close childhood friend of the boxer, whose "Pop" was like a dad to both of them, enter the episode's most sympathetic character in David Lodge, the working-class gym-trainer who knows something's awry with his son; so the conversations with a subtly investigating Carter ties this slowburn and sublime, unflinching and streamlined neo noir together: like a movie in itself.

From THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

Paul Jones on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

Shane Briant in THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE with Paul Jones

THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE with Paul Jones

John Thaw and Dennis Waterman on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

Paul Jones on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

Paul Jones on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE with Dennis Waterman

David Lodge on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE with Dennis Waterman

Shane Briant and Lesley-Anne Down on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

Lesley-Anne Down in THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE with Paul Jones

Lesley-Anne Down on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

Shane Briant in THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE with Paul Jones

Lesley-Anne Down on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

Lesley Anne-Down on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

John Thaw on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

Dennis Waterman & David Lodge on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

David Lodge & Dennis Waterman from 1963 to 1975

Dennis Waterman & John Thaw on THE SWEENEY: CHALK & CHEESE

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Tags : boxing , british , cop , crime , david lodge , dennis waterman , john thaw , lesley-anne down , neo noir , paul jones , seventies , shane briant , sweeney , thriller , TV

James M. Tate

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