The Man on the Roof

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.
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=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.
==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.
==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.
==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.
=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/45BET ==
The Piketen uses specially modified Carl Gustav m/45BE (known as the BET) to fire tear gas at the gunman. 
=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.
==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.
 
Category:Action Movie
Category:Detective
Category:Crime
Category:Mystery
Category:Swedish Produced/Filmed