Open Fire (UK, 1994) 1/9

Brilliant British true-crime TV film from 1994, produced by Jeff Pope and Simon Shaps for LWT (London Weekend Television), written and directed by Paul Greengrass, and starring Rupert Graves in one of his career-best performances.

London, 1982. David Martin -- a provocative, aggressive lock-breaker, jail-breaker, gun-fetishist -- and transvestite -- is released from prison. By 1983, after gratuitously shooting a police officer during a burglary, he's the UK's most-wanted criminal. The Metropolitan Police's panic-stricken pursuit of Martin results in the Met's most notorious 'wrong-man' shooting of the 1980s: the Stephen Waldorf case.

No copyright infringement intended. I'm posting this as a public service (from a 1994 off-air video) because it's a crime that this film is unavailable elsewhere (and I'm a massive fan).

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Crime
• Drama
• Paul
• Greengrass
• Rupert
• Graves
• Kate
• Hardie
• Douglas
• Hodge
• Jim
• Carter
• Freda
• Dowie
• Samuel
• West
• Eddie
• Izzard

[cmciaranmasterson]

DC John Jardine also stood trial for the shooting. Like DC Finch, he was acquitted. Why is DC Jardine not included in the drama?

[OutrageousThings]

@cmciaranmasterson That's an interesting question, and I don't know the answer. The final captions/credits may hold some clues. (I *think* the drama was based on Finch's memoir, or made with his input, but I need to go back and check.) I can't recall seeing any wider coverage that explained this discrepancy...

[OutrageousThings]

hrnciarska, cmciaranmasterson: Thanks for your appreciation – pleased to hear this has been helpful! (I think this film drew on the memoir of one of the police officers involved, which may explain the production date. As explained in the captions at the end, 1994 was also the year that British police officers were allowed to 'openly' carry firearms on the streets for the first time.)

[OutrageousThings]

Aw, thanks for all your thanks! Hope you enjoy it.

[cmciaranmasterson]

Thank you very much for uploading this drama. I had already read the Wikipedia article about the shooting of Stephen Waldorf and I am delighted to obtain the opportunity to see the film.

[hrnciarska]

Excellent drama, remember the shooting like yesterday but didn't realise this was ever made. Thanks for the upload!

[treesny]

Thank you so much for posting this! Thought I'd never get a chance to see it.

[bgd25]

Thank you!!!

[wastingyourgum]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Been looking for this for ages!