Frank Serpico is a young, inexperienced cop who starts out on patrol. Later, he starts to work as an undercover cop who busts all sorts of criminals, but mostly drug dealers and pushers. Since Serpico is a young man living in the 70′s, he lives as one. His image, based on how others look on him, shows him as just a ‘hippie’ and the criminals he busts have no idea he is really an undercover officer. Everything is working out well, except the money situation. Serpico refuses to accept money, as the other officers do. He feels this isn’t right, and wants to expose the situation. Who he thought were his friends now turn into his enemies when Serpico takes the stand on a grand jury investigation. He continues to work undercover, and his life is placed into jeopardy at the hands of his colleagues.

Serpico (1973)
  • Rating: (36,788 votes)
  • Tagline:Many of his fellow officers considered him the most dangerous man alive - An honest cop. »
  • Runtime:130 minutes
  • Director: Sidney Lumet
  • Countries:USA, Italy
  • Actors:
    Frank Serpico
    Al Pacino
    Chief Sidney Green
    John Randolph
    Tom Keough
    Jack Kehoe
    Captain McClain
    Biff McGuire
    Laurie
    Barbara Eda-Young
    Leslie Lane
    Cornelia Sharpe
    Bob Blair
    Tony Roberts
    Pasquale
    John Medici
    D.A. Tauber
    Allan Rich
    Don Rubello
    Norman Ornellas
  • Genres:Action, Biography, Crime, Drama, Romance
  • Producers:
    Martin Bregman
    producer  
    Dino De Laurentiis
    executive producer  
    Roger M. Rothstein
    associate producer  
  • Plots: Serpico is a cop in the early 1970s. Unlike all his colleagues, he refuses a share of the money that the cops routinely extort from local criminals. Nobody wants to work with Serpico, and he's in constant danger of being placed in life threatening positions by his "partners". Nothing seems to get done even when he goes to the highest of authorities. Despite the dangers he finds himself in, he still refuses to 'go with the flow', in the hope that one day, the truth will be known. Written by Rob Hartill
Serpico
  • User's comment:Pacino Shines in Classic Grim & Gritty Crime Biopic by Dorian Tenore-Bartilucci (dtb)

    I'd been wanting to see SERPICO for some time; this real-life crime drama based on Peter Maas' nonfiction bestseller about an honest cop fighting corruption in the NYPD was one of the few grim-and-gritty New York crime dramas that my older brother didn't take me to see when I was a kid! :-) (I should explain that my brother, 9 years my senior, used to take me to the kind of movies he wanted to see -- films like TAXI DRIVER, REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER, etc. Fortunately, I developed a taste for them as well, though our mother didn't think they were really appropriate for a girl as young as I was then. :-) No wonder this film helped young Al Pacino's then-rising star (he was fresh off THE GODFATHER when he began filming SERPICO) to soar to the stratosphere, complete with an Oscar nomination. Pacino's earnest intensity fuses Frank Serpico's disparate qualities into a spellbinding performance. The guy is a bundle of contradictions, the kind of man who could charm you, move you, and drive you crazy at the same time: a nice Catholic boy who can't commit to any of the devoted women in his life; an honest, downright rigid moralist who's also a free spirit known as "Paco" to his friends and lovers; and an undercover cop with detective aspirations whose hippie-like appearance rankled his superiors and fellow officers even as it helped him blend in on assignments. Pacino's riveting performance carries the film, with fine support by John Randolph, Tony Roberts, M. Emmet Walsh, Barbara eda-Young and Cornelia Sharpe, not to mention memorable uncredited turns by F. Murray Abraham, Judd Hirsch, Kenneth McMillan, and Tony LoBianco, among others. Sidney Lumet's taut direction of the script by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler does Maas' source material proud, as well as taking advantage of evocative NYC locations (just try getting this kind of atmosphere in Canada, I dare you! :-). The sparing use of simple yet haunting music by Mikis Theodorakis sets the tone well. The end result: one of the best films of the 1970s and beyond. Rent the DVD to see some fascinating extras about the making of the film and the filmmakers' experiences with Frank Serpico himself, including interviews with Lumet and producer Martin Bregman (no Pacino, alas).


  • Quotes: Frank Serpico: The reality is that we do not wash our own laundry - it just gets dirtier. Capt. Insp. McClain: Frank, we wash our own laundry here! Barto: How long have you been with the BCI now, Serpico?
  • Also known as: Serpico (Austria), Serpico (Brazil), Serpico (Canada - French title), Serpico (Croatia - imdb display title), Serpico (Denmark), Serpico (France), Serpico (Greece), Serpico (Hungary - imdb display title), Serpico (Japan), Serpico (Spain - imdb display title), Serpico (West Germany - dubbed version), Sérpico (Argentina), Sérpico (Peru), Serpico - Den siste ærlige purk (Norway - imdb display title), Serpico - gatans tiger (Finland - Swedish title), Serpico - kadun tiikeri (Finland - alternative spelling), Serpiko (Turkey - Turkish title),

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