6.2
Viewer Rating
Combines user and critic ratings from four sources
The Laughing Policeman (1973)
Bias Rating
Analyzing...
Leans Traditional
Viewer Rating
Rating: 6.2
Overview
When a gunman opens fire on a crowded city bus in San Francisco, Detective Dave Evans is killed, along with the man he'd been following in relation to a murder. Evans' partner, Sgt. Jake Martin, becomes obsessed with solving the case.
Starring Cast
Bias Dimensions
Political: Leans Right
Diversity: Moderate
LGBTQ: Neutral
Overview
When a gunman opens fire on a crowded city bus in San Francisco, Detective Dave Evans is killed, along with the man he'd been following in relation to a murder. Evans' partner, Sgt. Jake Martin, becomes obsessed with solving the case.
Starring Cast
Detailed Bias Analysis
Analyzing...
Leans Traditional
Primary
The film's narrative champions the efficacy of traditional police work and individual detective dedication as the primary solution to urban crime, aligning with a law-and-order perspective.
The movie features visible diversity in its supporting cast, including a prominent role for a Black actor. However, it does not engage in explicit recasting of traditionally white roles for DEI purposes, nor does its narrative critically portray traditional identities or center on explicit DEI themes.
Secondary
The film features a gay murder victim whose identity is revealed during a police investigation. His homosexuality is treated as an incidental plot point, a factual detail relevant to the case, without strong positive or negative narrative emphasis. The portrayal is neither affirming nor problematic.
The movie does not contain any action or adventure elements.
The film adapts the novel by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, retaining the male gender of its primary detective characters, despite changing their names and setting. No established characters from the source material are portrayed as a different gender.
The film adapts a Swedish novel series, changing the setting to San Francisco. The main characters, Jake Martin and Leo Larsen, are portrayed as white, consistent with their original counterparts, Martin Beck and Lennart Kollberg. While the film introduces new characters of different races, these are not race swaps of established characters from the source material.
Viewer Rating Breakdown
User Ratings
6.4
6.3
Critic Ratings
5.9
N/A
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