Tony Manero (John Travolta) in Saturday Night Fever and Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) in Boogie Nights have one major thing in common: They both have posters of Al Pacino as Serpico on their bedroom walls. As the real-life NYPD detective whose integrity cost him virtually everything (and almost cost him his life), Pacino became one of the icons of gritty, realistic 1970s filmmaking. Released in 1973, between the first two Godfather movies, this is the true story of Frank Serpico, a long-haired, idealistic, iconoclastic cop who reluctantly goes undercover to investigate dirty colleagues who are on the take. This is one of the definitive Pacino performances, along with his role as Michael Corleone in the Godfather saga, and Sonny the bungling bank robber in Dog Day Afternoon (which reunited him with his Serpico director, Sidney Lumet)--and Pacino was nominated for a best actor Oscar for all of them (although he wouldn't actually win until 1992's Scent of a Woman). --Jim Emerson
2.
Covers the period from 1960-1972; Produced and released in 1973.
Shot on location on New York City's crime-filled streets, Sidney Lumet's gritty 1973 masterpiece SERPICO, based on Peter Maas's book, is a rousing portrait of courage in the face of insidious corruption, initiating a motif that Lumet would continue to mine in PRINCE OF THE CITY. Al Pacino is forcefully real as Frank Serpico, an independent young recruit entering the police force in the late 1960s, fulfilling a childhood dream. The good old boys of the NYPD lose no time in initiating Serpico in the ways of cutting corners, forging documents, and taking payoffs from local gambling operations and narcotic rings. His refusal to take illegal protection money and his counterculture lifestyle make Serpico a target for harassment by his unified and powerful peers. Lumet hones in on the evocative details of Serpico's personal struggles and inner turmoil as his obsessive fight for truth begins to have disastrous effects on his personal life and threatens his safety.
3.
Serpico is based on the true story of a New York policeman who discovers that honesty is not expected to be part of his job. He endures scorn and mistreatment from his fellow cops while attempting to perform his job with integrity. The character of Serpico, combining the best elements of the Establishment and counter-culture, is a tour-de-force for Al Pacino. The film is a breathtaking suspense story and a fascinating character study as well as a memorable statement about government's inherent flaws.
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