All Coppers Are… * (1972, Martin Potter, Julia Foster, Nicky Henson, Wendy Allnutt, Ian Hendry, Glynn Edwards) – Classic Movie Review 9312

A young London policeman and a small-time crook are love rivals, in the 1972 British drama film All Coppers Are… with Martin Potter, Julia Foster and Nicky Henson. The dull, dated film has a terrible title too.

Director Sidney Hayers can do nothing with screen-writer Allan Prior’s dull, dated 1972 British drama film All Coppers Are… that tells a tale about a petty crook Barry (Nicky Henson) and a young married copper Joe (Martin Potter) both carrying on with the same girl, the robber’s girlfriend Sue (Julia Foster).

A group of competent actors all look uncomfortable, though that is not their fault because they are doing their best with what is available.

And what went wrong with the original screenplay when talented playwright Allan Prior was a leading light on British TV’s 1962-1978 classic cop show Z Cars (as writer on 102 episodes)?

It has a terrible title too. The title appears as graffiti on a wall as All Coppers Are Bastards but ‘Bastards’ has been crossed out so the title is ‘All Coppers Are…’ The 1971 film A Town Called Bastard had similar problems and was retitled A Town Called Hell.

Martin Potter stars in All Coppers Are… (1972).

Also in the cast are Ian Hendry, Glynn Edwards, Carmel McSharry, Wendy Allnutt, Sandra Dorne, Queenie Watts, Eddie Byrne, David Baxter, Norman Jones, Ellis Dale, Robin Askwith, David Essex, Marianne Stone, Nicola Davies, Stephen Leigh, Tony Wright, Hilda Barry, Michael Balfour, Clifford Earl, Harry Fielder, Tony Allen, and Graham Weston.

It is produced by Carry On producer Peter Rogers, trying to break out with drama, with a score by Eric Rogers (born Eric Gaukroger), best known for composing the scores for 22 Carry On films.

It follows Hayers’s Assault [In the Devil’s Garden] (1971) and Revenge [Inn of the Frightened People] (1971).

All Coppers Are… is directed by Sidney Hayers, runs 87 minutes, is made by Peter Rogers Productions, is released by J Arthur Rank Film Distributors (1972) (UK), is written by Allan Prior (original screenplay), is shot by Arthur Ibbetson (Eastmancolor), is produced by Peter Rogers and George H Brown and is scored by Eric Rogers, with Art Direction by Maurice Carter.

It was shot at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England; Windsor, Berkshire, England, and Battersea, South London, around Nine Elms and Clapham Junction. The street riot scenes were all shot on the exterior Baker Street standing set at Pinewood built the previous year for The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

The music in the pub scene is the same as in Bless This House (1972).

Clifford Earl (as police jailer) is dubbed by George Sewell.

The football match that Joe watches on TV in bed is the 1969 Scottish Cup Final between Celtic and Rangers, re-edited with fake commentary.

The main cast are Martin Potter as Joe, Julia Foster as Sue, Nicky Henson as Barry, Wendy Allnutt as Peg, Ian Hendry as Sonny Wade, Sandra Dorne as Sue’s mother, Glynn Edwards as Jock, Queenie Watts as Mrs Malloy, Carmel McSharry as Mrs Briggs, David Baxter as Fancy Boy, Eddie Byrne as Malloy, Norman Jones as Sgt Wallis, David Essex as Ronnie Briggs, Robin Askwith as Simmy, Tony Wright as Police Inspector, Ellis Dale as Doctor, and Marianne Stone as Woman in Pub.

Martin Potter was born on 4 October 1944. He appeared in Federico Fellini’s Satyricon (1969), Goodbye Gemini (1970), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), The Big Sleep (1978) and Craze (1974) with Jack Palance.

English stage and screen actress Wendy Allnutt (born 1 May 1946) teaches at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, leading a degree course in Training Actors Movement. Her films include Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), as Flo Smith, All Coppers Are… (1972) as Peg, From Beyond the Grave (1974), as Pamela, When Eight Bells Toll (1971), as Sue Kirkside, and Priest of Love (1984) as Maria Huxley.

Nicky Henson (1945–2019).

RIP Nicky Henson, who died on 15 December 2019, aged 74.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9312

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