Themes: Fighting the System, Police Corruption, Whistleblowers
Main Cast: Al Pacino, Tony Roberts, Jack Kehoe, Cornelia Sharpe, Barbara Eda-Young
Release Year: 1973
Country: US
Run Time: 129 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Adapted by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from Peter Maas's book, Sidney Lumet's drama portrays the real-life struggle of an honest New York City cop against a corrupt system. Neophyte officer Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) is determined not to let his job get in the way of his individuality. Despite his colleagues' leery reactions, he keeps one foot firmly planted in the counterculture, sporting a beard and love beads and living in bohemian Greenwich Village, while he performs his police duties with dispatch. Serpico's peers genuinely ostracize him, however, when he refuses to take bribes like everybody else. Appalled by the extent of police corruption, Serpico goes to his superiors, but when he discovers that they have ignored his charges, he takes the potentially fatal step of breaking the blue wall of silence and going public with his exposé. Serpico's revelations trigger an independent investigation by the Knapp Commission, but they also make him a marked man, permanently changing his life. Shot on location with a gritty emphasis on documentary-style realism, Serpico presents a city in decay both literally and morally, as everybody is in on the take, and the cops and criminals are almost interchangeable. Released in late 1973, after months of revelations of Presidential malfeasance in the breaking Watergate scandal, Serpico's true story of bureaucratic depravity touched a cultural nerve, and the film became a hit with both critics and audiences, particularly for Pacino's complex performance as the honest, long-haired whistleblower. One year after his star-making triumph in The Godfather, Pacino was nominated for an Oscar again, and lost again; Lumet and Pacino would reunite two years later for another true New York story, Dog Day Afternoon. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Review
The first of two Sidney Lumet movies to feature stellar performances from the kinetic Al Pacino, Serpico was released at a heated moment in American culture and touched a nerve with American audiences. Based on a series of real events, the film targeted institutional corruption in the New York City Police Department and fit in stylistically with the gritty cop dramas of the time, including The French Connection and the Dirty Harry movies. Thematically, it was one of the first pictures since the heyday of film noir to tackle police corruption. Fresh from his breakthrough in The Godfather, Pacino is excellent as the whistle-blowing title character; he received his second Oscar nomination for the role. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
Lewis J. Stadlen - Berman; James Tolkan - Steiger; M. Emmet Walsh - Gallagher; Kenneth McMillan - Short Order Man; John Randolph - Chief Sidney Green; Biff McGuire - Capt. McClain; F. Murray Abraham - Detective Partner (uncredited); Bernard Barrow - Palmer; Don Billett - Detective Threatening Serpico; Mildred Clinton - Mrs. Serpico; Ed Crowley - Barto; George Ede - Daley; Rene Enriquez; Richard Foronjy - Corsaro; Hank Garrett - Malone; Nathan George - Detective Smith; Gene Gross - Capt. Tolkin; Edward Grover - Lombardo; Albert Henderson - Peluce; Judd Hirsch; Damien Leake - Joey; John Lehne - Gilbert; John Medici - Pasquale Serpico; Alan North - Brown; Norman Ornellas - Rubello; Mary Louise Weller - Girl; Charles White - Commissioner Delaney; Allan Rich - D.A. Tauber; Franklin Scott - Black Prisoner; Ted Beniades - Sarno; Joe Bova - Potts; Sal Carollo - Mr. Serpico; Tim Pelt; John Stewart - Waterman
Credit
Douglas Higgins - Art Director, Anna Hill Johnstone - Costume Designer, Burtt Harris - First Assistant Director, Sidney Lumet - Director, Dede Allen - Editor, Richard Marks - Editor, Mikis Theodorakis - Composer (Music Score), Bob James - Musical Direction/Supervision, Reginald Tackley - Makeup, Charles Bailey - Production Designer, Arthur Ornitz - Cinematographer, Martin Bregman - Producer, Thomas H. Wright - Set Designer, James J. Sabat - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Vorisek - Sound/Sound Designer, Norman Wexler - Screenwriter, Waldo Salt - Screenwriter, Peter Maas - Book Author, Peter Mass - Book Author
The film opens with Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) covered in blood and slumped in the backseat of a police car as it races to a hospital with lights and sirens blaring. He has just been shot in the face. The rest of the movie tells the story of Serpico's career up to this moment, starting with him becoming a police officer in 1960. He is very idealistic and believes in non-brutal methods to catch criminals. Serpico also refuses to join in on police corruption, specifically that which involves shaking down and taking payoffs from gambling and drug dealing organizations. His refusal to take bribes earns him the suspicion of his fellow officers throughout the majority of the precincts to which he is assigned. Additionally, Serpico finds trouble fitting in due to his embrace of the counterculture of the 1960s: He moves to Greenwich Village, grows his hair and beard long to the point where he must maintain a plainclothes appearance, and associates with a more left-wing crowd that is distrusting of the NYPD.
Production
Prior to any work on the movie, producer Martin Bregman had lunch with biographical book author Peter Maas to discuss a film adaptation. Waldo Salt, a screenwriter, began to write the script which director Sidney Lumet deemed to be too long. Another screenwriter, Norman Wexler, did the structural work followed by play lines. Screenwriter Sidney Kingsley also wrote and did structural work on the script.
Director John G. Avildsen was originally slated to direct the movie, but was demoted to assistant director due to differences with producer Bregman. Lumet took the helm as director just before filming. The real-life Frank Serpico wished to be present during the filming of the movie based on his life. Initially he was permitted to stay, but was eventually dismissed from the filming, as director Lumet was worried that his presence would make the actors (particularly lead actor Al Pacino) self-conscious.
The story was filmed in the streets of New York City. A total of 105 different locations in four of the five boroughs of the city were used. No filming took place in Staten Island. An apartment at 5-7 Minetta Street in Manhattan's Greenwich Village was used as Serpico's residence, though according to the Peter Maas book he actually lived on Perry Street during the events depicted in the film.
As the storyline needed to show the progression of Frank Serpico's beard and hair length, individual scenes were filmed in reverse order, with actor Al Pacino's hair being trimmed for each scene set earlier in the film's timeline.
Woodie King Jr., originally cast as a hoodlum, was replaced after suffering a broken leg while filming a chase scene for this movie. He returned to the set two months later to play Leslie's friend Larry in the party scene.
The original music theme was composed by Mikis Theodorakis, winning both Grammy and BAFTA Awards. Its Greek name is Dromoi Palioi.
Serpico is considered by many to be a classic film. Pacino's performance in the movie is widely considered as one of his best. His role as Frank Serpico is ranked at #40 on the American Film Institutes "100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains" list. The film is also ranked at #84 on the American Film Institutes "100 Years... 100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies" list.
Serpico was made into a 1976television series starring David Birney. There was also a movie made in the same year, called Serpico: The Deadly Game also starring Birney. The movie Serpico was also a likely influence on the mid-'70s television series Baretta, which also featured a gritty ethnic big city cop who kept an exotic bird for a pet.
