Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1984
The Man from Majorca
Buy The Man from Majorca now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'The Man from Majorca' is a 1984 Swedish crime thriller film directed by Bo Widerberg. It is based on the novel 'The Pig Party' by Leif G. W. Persson. The film stars Sven Wollter and Tomas von Brmssen.
The novel has big similarities with the Geijer affair (a rumor that the Swedish minister of justice had been with prostitutes, that the Swedish police had knowledge of it and had informed the prime minister). Leif G.W. Persson lost his job at the police because talking to a journalist about his knowledge about the Geijer case, but denied in the preface of the book ('Grisfesten') which he wrote soon after, that it had any connections to the affair.
Widerberg took inspiration from the 1971 American film 'The French Connection', and 'The Man from Majorca' share similarities with his previous thriller film: 'The Man on the Roof' (1976).
Sven Wollter won the award for Best Actor at the 20th Guldbagge Awards.
Plot
A robber calmly holds up a post-office in Stockholm at Saint Lucy's Day 13 December. The policemen Johansson and Jarnebring are the first on the scene and they chase the robber, who escapes. Shortly after, someone dies in a car accident and a dead body is found at a graveyard. After a while it is clear that these incidents have something to do with the robbery, and when the policemen are investigating further, they are beginning to reveal a bigger scandal. Meanwhile it seems that there is a cover-up going on.
Cast
*Sven Wollter as Bo Jarnebring: Inspector on the investigation department
*Tomas von Brmssen as Lars Martin "Johan" Johansson: Jarnebring's colleague
*Hkan Serner as Andersson: Inspector
*Ernst Gnther as M. Dahlgren: Inspector and chief
*Thomas Hellberg as Berg: Bureau chief
*Ingvar Hirdwall as Fors
*Niels Jensen as Roger "Rogge" Jansson: High school student, previously small criminal
*Tommy Johnson as Rundberg: Inspector
*Rico Rnnbck as Kjell Gran Hedberg: Working at the Swedish Security Service
*Hans Villius as The Minister for Justice
*Sten Lonnert as Erik Harald Olsson: Alcoholic
*Nina Gunke as Eva Zetterberg: Prostitute
*Margreth Weivers as Alva Wistrm: Witness on Skogskyrkogrden
*Gun Karlsson as Fru Forsberg: Witness to the post office robbery
*Marie Delleskog as Janna: Jansson's sister
Trivia
*Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt was originally chosen for the role of Dahlgren but was replaced by Ernst Gnther due to illness just after three days of shooting.
*Some scenes were filmed without permission from the Stockholm police, like the scenes in the subway, because Widerberg was too impatient to wait for the permit. There had been some disputes with the police regarding the helicopter crash scene in his previous thriller 'The Man on the Roof' at Odenplan (also seen in this movie) and for that the film team had to borrow cars from the Solna police instead.
*The movie was shot mainly on Mondays due to the schedules of the two leads who were both appearing in theatre at the time: Sven Wollter in Gvle and Tomas von Brmssen in Gothenburg. Mondays were the only days that both were free.
*Bo Widerberg wanted more realistic, risky, scenes for the car chase scene at Klarastrandsleden and filmed some additional scenes with the actors driving against real traffic.
*There are similarities between 'The Man from Majorca' and Widerberg's first thriller 'The Man on the Roof' (actors, extras, clothes), but also similarities with the 1971 thriller 'The French Connection' (two cops' police work, Christmas setting, quarrel between departments, car chase, unsettling ending), which also was an inspiration for this movie.
References
Notes
* Stardust Allt om Film Magazine #2 2007, article "Sveriges bsta snutar" pp 7273, It is media Svenska AB, Stockholm
Buy The Man from Majorca now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1984