merelyaninnuendo
SerpicoFocusing the whole feature i.e. of more than 2 hours only on a single character needs content and enough material to feed the audience which they easily provide with gripping screenplay to not let them wander off the screen even for a frame. Sidney Lemut still needs some better work on his execution and editing but that barely factors in here as the adaptation is way too smart and ahead of its time. Al Pacino is literally the heart of it; he beats fast and hard that helps it pumping and keeping the viewers alive for this glorious experience. Serpico breeds power, corruption, rage and politics on screen and successfully delivers it to the audience communicating through stellar performances like never before.
pesic-1
I understand they wanted to make a film about the well known whistle blower. But is this a story that really needed to be told? Is this Serpico guy an interesting character? Is his story interesting in cinematic terms? Apparently it's not. Nothing about this film is interesting, and the only reason I didn't fall asleep while watching it is the fact that whenever Pacino is on screen he manages to infuse the scene with energy. Any other actor would have made this film virtually unwatchable.OK, so it was big story. Cops took bribe on a regular basis. But as I said, a big news story does not necessarily make a good cinematic story. There is nothing remarkable about Serpico's private or professional life. Nor was there any real suspense or mystery regarding his attempts to combat corruption. Scene after scene we see a bunch of events take place, but it's hard to tell why we are watching them, apart from the fact that they supposedly took place in real life. Real life does not necessarily make a good story, tough. The conflict between Serpico and the establishment does not come across as a story that can keep the audience interested. Same thing with Serpico's private life. We never learn enough about Serpico or his love interests (despite the film's considerable length) in order to care. As an audience I want to be immersed in the story, and not be reduced to a bystander that is asked to witness a sequence of events.A total waste of time.
allyatherton
Starring Al Pacino, Written by Peter Maas ( Book ), Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler ( Screenplay).Directed by Sydney Lumet.Reading some of the online reviews I realize I am probably in the minority but this wasn't my cup of tea.If it wasn't for the wonderful portrayal of the main character by Al Pacino I probably would have switched off the TV. He was terrific and carried the movie in my opinion. The plot was average and was full of padding and I was losing interest towards the end. Some of the acting was questionably wooden and the less that can be said about Serpico's live-in girlfriend the better!I think part of the problem is that it is considerably dated and is full of what are now considered Movie clichés so I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had watched it years ago.This is my first Al Pacino film and I thought he was incredible and the location filming was nostalgic.But on the whole I'll give it a 6/10
Jackson Booth-Millard
I had always heard about and seen images of this film, specifically because of the leading actor with a beard, and it was a crime drama film I was always going to see, from BAFTA nominated director Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network). Basically, set in the 1960s and early 1970s, in New York City, young Italian descendant Frank Serpico (Golden Globe winning, and Oscar and BAFTA nominated Al Pacino) started out in the New York Police Department as an inexperienced cop who starts out undercover. Unlike his colleagues, Serpico refuses a share of the money that the cops routinely extort from local criminals, mostly drug dealers and pushers, he reports this to a superior, but they refuse to take any attitude, and over the years Serpico becomes outcast and rejected by his colleagues, he ends up harassed by them and his personal life is affected. It is during a drugs bust on February 3rd 1971 that Serpico is betrayed by colleagues and ends up shot in the face, he recovers from his injury and testifies before the Knapp Commission, a government enquiry into NYPD police corruption, he takes the stand on a grand jury investigation, and in the end he receives a New York City Police Department Medal of Honor, a disability pension and moves to Switzerland following his resignation. Also starring John Randolph as Sidney Green, Jack Kehoe as Tom Keough, Biff McGuire as Captain McClain, Barbara Eda-Young as Laurie, Cornelia Sharpe as Leslie, Tony Roberts as Bob Blair, John Medici as Pasquale, Allan Rich as D.A. Tauber, Norman Ornellas as Rubello, Edward Grover as Lombardo, Albert Henderson as Peluce, Hank Garrett as Malone, Damien Leake as Joey, Joseph Bova as Potts, Gene Gross as Captain Tolkin, M. Emmet Walsh as Gallagher, Judd Hirsch as Cop, Tony Lo Bianco as Cop, Kenneth McMillan as Charlie, Tracey Walter as Street Urchin and F. Murray Abraham as Detective Partner. Pacino gives a good performance as the real life cop who helped expose the corruption of cops taking hush-money and bribes and becomes a marked man, I will be honest and say that I found most of the picture rather talky, it was interesting in some parts, but for me the best sequences were those of action, e.g. the raid where Serpico gets shot, but overall it is a worthwhile police thriller based on a true story. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, it was nominated the BAFTA for the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music for Mikis Theodorakis, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama. Very good!
