Year: 1975
Language: English
Format: 16mm Colour
Runtime: 27 min
Director: Marrin Canell, Michael Scott
Producer: Barrie Howells, Michael Scott
Executive Producer: Ian McLaren
Writer: Donald Brittain
Cinematographer: Henry Fiks
Editor: Marrin Canell, Michael Scott
Sound: John Knight, Fraser McAninch
Music: Larry Crosley
Cast: Bernie Smith
Production Company: National Film Board of Canada

This short documentary, shot on the mean streets of Vancouver’s downtown east side, explores the underbelly of big city life with one tough cop who cares. Bernie "Whistling" Smith’s methods of policing are old school and unorthodox. In the year he has been in charge of his beat, crime has dropped by over forty per cent. To the petty criminals, drug users and prostitutes he encounters, he is more than just the iron hand of the law – he is a friend and counsellor.

Whistling Smith was produced as part of the National Film Board’s PacifiCanada series, which aired on CBC television in early 1975. The film received an Academy Award® nomination for Documentary Short Subject and won a Canadian Film Award for Sound Re-Recording.