cult film freak: NICOLA PAGETT & BILLY MURRAY ON 'THE SWEEENEY: STOPPO DRIVER'

Written by James M. Tate / 4/15/2022 / No comments / action , aubrey morris , british , british neo noir , dennis waterman , gangster , getaway driver , john thaw , nicola pagett , seventies , sweeney

NICOLA PAGETT & BILLY MURRAY ON 'THE SWEEENEY: STOPPO DRIVER'

4/15/2022 | No comment

Billy Murray & John Thaw in The Sweeney: STOPPO DRIVER Year: 1975 Rating: ***1/2

Another action-packed opener that winds up in a den of thieves with loads of pulpy dialogue... and a titular STOPPO DRIVER in this first SWEENEY season, played by Billy Murray, drives like... as described by John Thaw's Inspector Regan... Evel Knievel in that rudimentary chase that winds up killing the crime family's own driver, and they want this whipper-snapper wheelman for their own, so far as kidnapping his just-married wife...

But story-wise the DRIVER winds up riding backseat to the likes of gambling-house moll Nicola Pagett, who, along with her crooked brothers and father (including a rowdy card playing Aubrey Morris), could have had a gritty gangster series of their own, which is what made THE SWEENEY often play out like a gritty criminal's anthology series with our mainstay SWEENEY partners Thaw with Dennis Waterman serving as their inevitable foil.

Nicola Pagett in THE SWEENEY: STOPPO DRIVER

Billy Murray in THE SWEENEY: STOPPO DRIVER

Nicola Pagett in THE SWEENEY: STOPPO DRIVER with Aubrey Morris

Nicola Pagett in THE SWEENEY: STOPPO DRIVER with Paul Angelis

Carrie Lee Baker (driver's bride) in THE SWEENEY: STOPPO DRIVER

Nicola Pagett in THE SWEENEY: STOPPO DRIVER with Aubrey Morris

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Tags : action , aubrey morris , british , british neo noir , dennis waterman , gangster , getaway driver , john thaw , nicola pagett , seventies , sweeney

James M. Tate

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