Martin Beck

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For other uses, see Martin Beck (disambiguation).

Martin Beck is a fictional police detective who is the main character in ten novels by Sjöwall and Wahlöö. The stories are often seen largely from his perspective, and as head of the department he is the logical hero of the series. That may be why people sometimes refer to the novels as Martin Beck stories.

Contents

[edit] Character

Throughout the novels, he goes from being an unhappily married man and father to two young teenagers, to a divorced man in an unmarried relationship. Beck also gets several promotions, seemingly much to the chagrin of everyone involved, including himself.

In the novels he is a tall man who smokes. In one of the novels he gets shot and heavily wounded.

All novels have been produced as movies, although some appeared with different names and three have been filmed abroad. In the movies the first actor to play Martin Beck was Keve Hjelm in 1967 and Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt also portraited Beck in 1976. In 1993 and 1994 Gösta Ekman played the character in six movies based on the novels, as of 1997 Martin Beck is played by Peter Haber. The most notable actor to play Martin Beck abroad was Walter Matthau, who 1973 played him in the movie called The Laughing Policeman, though his character received another name. In the movie he was referred to as "Jake Martin". Martin Beck has also been played by Jan Decleir and Derek Jacobi. Roseanna is the only one that has been filmed twice.

[edit] Novels

Title - Year - English title

[edit] Movies

[edit] Movies based on the novels

  • Roseanna (1967)
  • The laughing policeman (1973)
  • Mannen på taket (1976)
  • Der Mann, der sich in Luft auflöste (1980)
  • Beck - De gesloten kamer(1993)
  • Roseanna (1993)
  • Brandbilen som försvann (1993)
  • Polis polis potatismos! (1993)
  • Mannen på balkongen (1993)
  • Polismördaren (1994)
  • Stockholm Marathon (1994)

[edit] Movies only based on the characters

  • Beck (1997)
  • Spår i mörkret (1997)
  • Mannen med ikonerna (1997)
  • Vita nätter (1998)
  • Öga för öga (1998)
  • Pensionat Pärlan (1998)
  • Monstret (1998)
  • Moneyman (1998)
  • Hämndens pris (2001)
  • Mannen utan ansikte (2001)
  • Kartellen (2001)
  • Sista vittnet (2002)
  • Enslingen (2002)
  • Okänd avsändare (2002)
  • Annonsmannen (2002)
  • Pojken i glaskulan (2002)
  • Skarpt läge (2006)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Sjöwall and Wahlöö novels, featuring Martin Beck
Novels: Roseanna | The Man Who Went Up in Smoke | The Man on the Balcony | The Laughing Policeman | The Fire Engine That Disappeared | Murder at the Savoy | The Abominable Man | The Locked Room | Cop Killer | The Terrorists
Authors: Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
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