Serpico
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| Serpico | |
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 Original Film Poster |
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| Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
| Produced by | Dino De Laurentiis Roger M. Rothstein Martin Bergman |
| Written by | Peter Maas (book) Waldo Salt Norman Wexler Sidney Kingsley |
| Starring | Al Pacino John Randolph Tony Roberts Bernard Barrow M. Emmet Walsh |
| Music by | Mikis Theodorakis Giacomo Puccini |
| Cinematography | Arthur J. Ornitz |
| Editing by | Dede Allen Richard Marks Ronald Roose Angelo Corrao |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 5, 1973 (USA) |
| Running time | 130 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | 1,000,000 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Serpico is a 1973 American crime film directed by Sidney Lumet. It is based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico. Serpico eventually went undercover to expose the corruption of his fellow officers, after being pushed to the brink at first by their distrust and later by the threats and intimidation they leveled against him. It stars Al Pacino, John Randolph and Tony Roberts.
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[edit] Summary
The film opens with Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) slumped in the backseat of a police car, covered in blood as it races to a hospital with lights and sirens blaring. He has just been shot. The rest of the movie is essentially a flashback. It follows Serpico as he becomes 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.
At first Serpico tries appealing to his bosses about the corruption, but gets nowhere. He enlists a highly-connected fellow officer, Bob Blair (Tony Roberts) in his fight against corruption, but not even he can crack the city administration's general indifference. His campaign and the resulting complications and harassment within the department take a toll on his mental health and his relationship with fiancee Laurie (Barbara Eda-Young), who ultimately ends up leaving him. After meeting a sympathetic police inspector who agrees to assist him with both disrupting the gambling rackets and later calling attention to the problem by going to the New York Times, he is transferred to his originally preferred division in narcotics. However, he finds himself in an even more corrupt and hostile atmosphere than before, where he has mostly enemies and almost no allies due to the reputation he has garnered. As a result, he is shot in the face during a raid on a heroin lab due to his fellow officers' reluctance to come to his aid. After being left for dead and eventually discovered by two uniformed officers, the story takes over from the beginning and shows a recuperating Serpico being tended to by his family and few remaining friends as well as being anonymously harassed with hate mail.
At the end of the film, Serpico testifies to the Knapp Commission on police corruption. The film ends with him waiting to board a ship; despite being promoted to detective (a lifelong ambition of his) and being decorated by the department for "conspicuous bravery in action" (along with the two officers who abandoned him during the drug raid) he resigns from the NYPD and emigrates to Switzerland.
[edit] Production
Prior to any work on the movie, producer Martin Bergman 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 Bergman. 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. Its Greek name is Dromoi Palaioi.
The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Al Pacino) and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. Pacino won his first Golden Globe award for Best Actor in 1974 for his performance in the film.
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 1976 television series starring David Birney. There was also a movie made in the same year, called Serpico The Deadly Game also starring Birney.
