Serpico (1973)

So the highly unlikely finally happened, and there was a 3-way tie in the poll for today. Unsure exactly what to do, I've just resigned myself to the fact that I won't get to choose what I watch at all this week, and I'll watch all 3 for the next few days. I randomly chose Serpico to start with. It stars Al Pacino, and this is a real life story. It reminded me of American Gangster, but in truth I bet the corrupt cop plot-line was inspired by the story of Serpico. Can a biographical film from the 70s still find a place to entertain and inspire? My thoughts after the jump.


So Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) was just a regular guy who couldn't wait to be a cop. It was his dream and filled him with hope. But when he finally graduates and becomes a real officer of the law, what he finds isn't what he thought it would be. All the cops are on the take, and if you don't take the cash, you can't be trusted. Serpico doesn't care, and he keeps refusing to take the cash, all the while becoming more and more disillusioned by the criminals in cop's clothing who surround him and hate him. Is there anything he can do, or is he all on his own?

This film was really a mixed bag for me. I must say though, compared to other movies I've seen this year from the 70s, this one is excellent. There's still some nudity, but it was generally handled with a maturity that most other 70s films seem to sometimes lack. Serpico was a very serious drama, filled with very serious characters. But of course it is, because it's all based on real events, and none of it is a laughing matter. The fact is that police all across the country were corrupt and were generally more concerned with getting their cut of the gambling and drug money, than ever cleaning up the streets. After all, if all the criminals were gone, where would they get their ill gained riches?

Fresh out of the academy, Serpico just wants to catch criminals

The acting was all very solid, but really the only actor of note was Al Pacino. Frankly, his character keeps getting transferred around so much that not very many other characters were ever around for very long. Nevertheless, no one came across as phoney or bad, but no one really stood out either. They all just did their jobs as far as I could tell. Most of the time I couldn't remember who was who anyways other than Serpico.

The film covers Frank Serpico's entire career on the force, and many changes are made simply by the way he refuses to conform. Plain clothes cops seem to start because he doesn't want to shave his mustache, and he wants to get the jump on criminals in the streets, instead of sticking out like a sore thumb while in uniform. Eventually he also is the start of the creation of the Internal Investigations division of cops that we hear about all the time now in cop dramas when someone screws up.

His actions lead to plain clothes cops, resulting in Serpico either looking like a hippy, or a street bum

Even though it's very easy to praise the movie for everything it does right, I have to be honest that I didn't really enjoy it all that much. I can clearly see that it's good, but the very serious nature of the film couldn't capture my attention very well. Also, the extreme styles that Serpico embraces in the way he dressed to blend in on the streets made it very hard to connect with the character. He just looked so WEIRD all the time. But these things are all subjective, and so you shouldn't really put too much weight on those things.

I don't know if I personally could recommend the film. After all, I just didn't really enjoy it. However I can easily admit it was very good at what it wanted to do. I just wasn't in the mood for a 70s-made biographical film I guess. If, however, you love hard-edged political, historical, police/crime dramas, this could very well be a movie you love. Give it a shot if that sounds interesting to you.