The Man on the Roof

The Man on the Roof (Mannen på taket) DVD Cover Country Sweden Directed by Bo Widerberg Release Date 1976 Language Swedish Studio Svensk Filmindustri (SF) Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI) Distributor Cinema 5 Distributing Main Cast Character Actor Martin Beck Carl Gustaf Lindstedt Gunvald Larsson Thomas Hellberg Lennart Kollberg Sven Wollter Åke Eriksson Ingvar Hirdwall

The Man on the Roof (Mannen på taket) is a Swedish 1976 crime/action movie based on the 1971 Sjöwall-Wahlöö novel The Abominable Man" (orginal Swedish title: "Den vedervärdige mannen från Säffle", literally "The repulsive man from [the city of] Säffle"). It follows homicide detective Martin Beck (Carl Gustaf Lindstedt) in his investigation of a brutal murder of a fellow policeman. The investigation eventually leads to a shootout in downtown Stockholm where a mad gunman fires on anyone wearing a police uniform.

WARNING! THIS PAGE CONTAINS SPOILERS!

The following weapons were used in the film The Man on the Roof:

Pistols

Smith & Wesson Model 52

Detective Gunvald Larsson (Thomas Hellberg) carries a Smith & Wesson Model 52 during the movie. An odd choice of sidearm for a police officer, as the pistol is specifically designed for target shooting and built to fire low-pressure "wadcutter" rounds (for paper targets only), although the gun itself looks enough like a deadly piece of hardware for the uninitiated.

Smith & Wesson Model 52 - .38 Special

A closeup of the S&W M52.

Larsson fires his S&W Model 52 to light a fuse connected to a breaching charge. There is no recoil, brass ejection, or cycling, indicating the gun is either a prop or was otherwise rigged to fire only a small flame.

A wounded Larsson brandishing his S&W Model 52 during the final shootout.

Walther PP

Police Lieutenant Martin Beck (Carl Gustaf Lindstedt) and uniformed police officers carry a Walther PP, which was the standard service pistol of the Swedish police until it was replaced by the SIG-Sauer P226 (and later SIG-Sauer P-models) in the mid to late 1980s. In the movie, the Walther PP is never fired by any character.

Post-war Walther PP - .32 ACP (which was the caliber used by Swedish police)

Martin Beck with his Walther PP.

Walther or Hammerli .22 LR competition pistol

Both the the novel and the movie are quite specific about the pistol that mad gunman Åke Eriksson (Ingvar Hirdwall) uses, which is a Hämmerli International pistol. The gun in the film appears to be a Walther/Hämmerli Olympia, or it could be a pre-war Walther Olympia.

Åke Eriksson brandishes a .22 LR pistol during the final shootout.

Side view of the .22 LR. Note the thick thumb-rest and the barrel weight.

Top view of the .22 LR pistol.

Front view of the .22 LR pistol.

Colt Woodsman

When it's time for the final storming of Eriksson's position, Detective Gunvald Larsson asks for volunteers to come up with him. A civilian who owns his own 1st Series Colt Woodsman volunteers to go up with the police task force. The "deputizing" of a civilian is strictly forbidden in Sweden, both then (1976) and present time, which is confirmed by Larsson's boss. Larsson, being a maverick, goes ahead anyways.

Colt Woodsman 1st Series - .22 LR

The Colt Woodsman carried by civilian.

Submachine Guns

Carl Gustaf m/45

The Carl Gustaf m/45B is used by members of the Swedish "Piketenheten", (literally Picket Unit, which is the Swedish version of S.W.A.T, also known as "Piketen"), during the shootout.

Carl Gustaf m/45 - 9x19mm‎. The Swedish police variant m/45BE, although virtually identical to the military m/45B version, has an added single-shot switch.

A member of the "Piketen" preparing his m/45B. This version does not have the selector switch meaning it was probably on loan from the Swedish military as opposed to a genuine police variant.

Another police officer with a m/45B preparing to insert via helicopter on the roof where the gunman is holed up. He is wearing a Huvudskydd m/69 bulletproof mask which was the standard of the Swedish Piketenheten from 1969 up until modern times.

Carl Gustaf m/45BET

The Piketen uses specially modified Carl Gustav m/45BE (known as the BET) to fire tear gas at the gunman.

The CG m/45BE - Tear gas launcher. The red sticker on the weapon is to act as a reminder that the weapon is a tear gas only weapon (which fires blanks as a propellant) and not to be used with regular ammunition.

A "Piketen" officer attaches a tear gas grenade to the BET.

The unique front sight of the BET.

Rifles

"Swedish Mauser" 6.5x55mm

In the shootout, the gunman Åke Eriksson (Ingvar Hirdwall) is both seen and described as using a bolt-action rifle, described only as a "Mauser" in the film, fitted with a scope. The gunman is most likely using the 6.55mm "Swedish Mauser" due to its origin, long popularity, and availability in Sweden. Some 600,000 rifles were made between 1898 to 1925. This rifle (including variants) were used in the Swedish Armed Forces from 1896 and throughout most of the 20th century. In 1976, there would have been no lack of Swedish Mausers available for filming of the movie, or indeed available to civilians. The version shown in the movie has a bent-down bolt handle which probably makes it a model from the 1930s onward.

In both the novel and movie, the gunman is described as specifically using a Mauser bayonet to kill his first victim.

Carl Gustaf Prickskyttegevär m/41 - 6.5x55mm

The Swedish Mauser with a scope and bent down bolt.

FN FAL (M1944 Johnson machine gun mockup)

In the novel, the gunman uses a M1944 Johnson machine gun throughout the shootout. For the movie, a FN FAL was modified to look like a Johnson machine gun, which can be identified as such by a number of signs. The charging handle is on the right side on the original weapon, but on the left in the FN FAL movie version. The carry handle of a standard FN FAL is also obvious in the movie version of the M1944 Johnson. The original Johnson has a left-side ammo feed, and therefore in the movie version of the MG, a false magazine (taken from the Sturmgewehr 44) had been attached on the left side of the FN FAL. For scenes that required the FN FAL mockup to actually be fired, the camera was angled away from the action or the weapon's bottom part (which housed the necessary FN FAL magazine not present on an actual Johnson machine gun) was otherwise concealed.

FN FAL - 7.62x51mm NATO. This particular version has a folded bipod but is otherwise almost identical to the FN FAL used in the film.

Later M1944 Johnson LMG - .30-06. Judging by the look of the movie mock-up, it was this Johnson model the FAL was supposed to represent.

Good view of the fake magazine from a StG 44.

Åke Eriksson (Ingvar Hirdwall) with his mock-up Johnson LMG. The original FN FAL rear sight seems to have been removed and a copy of the MG 1944 rear sight welded on further ahead. Note the classic FN FAL carry handle and the equally distinctive breech. The magazine is also different from that of a real Johnson LMG.

Åke Eriksson firing at the police. Note the FAL magazine inserted at the bottom of the weapon.

Side view of the mocked up FN FAL during the final assault on the Eriksson's position. In this scene, the fake side magazine is removed, and seen the mount for it on the rifle.