Serpico (1973)

Serpico
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from a book by Peter Maas
1973/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Tom Keough: Frank, let’s face it. Who can trust a cop who don’t take money?

Somethings never change.  The thin blue line is one of them.  Al Pacino is a force of nature as Frank Serpico, an honest cop who risked his life to expose rampant corruption within the NYPD.

The story occurs in New York City from 1960-1972.  Policemen didn’t earn large salaries on the NYPD in the mid-20th century, but the job came with many “benefits”, most of which were illegal.  Frank Serpico enters the force as an eager young rookie and is almost immediately indoctrinated into the culture.  It starts with a free lunch.  Then he witnesses payoffs.  He honestly believes the brass will care.  They do not appreciate his information.  Serpico was already in disfavor with his colleagues for not accepting money and they get more suspicious and dangerous as the years drag on.

Serpico is transferred to the narcotics squad where he finds the possible booty corrupt cops can skim from drug deals can range in the 10’s of thousands of dollars.  The stakes are never higher.  Serpico finally gets his superiors to believe him, but only at a terrible cost.

It’s so good to see these great actors in their prime.  Somehow most of them had problems reining in a performance as they aged.  Anyway, Pacino here ranges from tenderness to explosive rage and it’s all perfectly believable.  Storywise, I suppose nothing is new. Whistleblowers will never be popular.  Worth seeing.

Al Pacino was nominated for a  Best Actor Oscar and Salt and Wexler were nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.