Serpico (1973)
Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 39
Fresh: 35 | Rotten: 4
Serpico is an engrossing, immediate depiction of 1973 New York and includes a turn by a young Pacino that's both ferocious and career changing.
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 2
Serpico is an engrossing, immediate depiction of 1973 New York and includes a turn by a young Pacino that's both ferocious and career changing.
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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 51,271
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Movie Info
Adapted by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from Peter Maas's book, Sidney Lumet's drama portrays the real-life struggle of an honest New York City cop against a corrupt system. Neophyte officer Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) is determined not to let his job get in the way of his individuality. Despite his colleagues' leery reactions, he keeps one foot firmly planted in the counterculture, sporting a beard and love beads and living in bohemian Greenwich Village, while he performs his police duties with
Dec 5, 1973 Limited
Dec 3, 2002
Paramount Pictures
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Cast
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Al Pacino
Frank Serpico -
Tony Roberts
Bob Blair -
Jack Kehoe
Tom Keough -
Cornelia Sharpe
Leslie -
Barbara Eda-Young
Laurie -
James Tolkan
Steiger -
Lewis J. Stadlen
Berman -
M. Emmet Walsh
Gallagher -
Kenneth McMillan
Short Order Man -
John Randolph
Chief Sidney Green -
Biff McGuire
Capt. McClain -
F Murray Abraham
Detective Partner (uncr... -
Bernard Barrow
Palmer -
Don Billett
Detective Threatening S... -
Mildred Clinton
Mrs. Serpico -
Ed Crowley
Barto -
George Ede
Daley -
-
Richard Foronjy
Corsaro -
Hank Garrett
Malone -
Nathan George
Detective Smith -
Gene Gross
Capt. Tolkin -
Edward Grover
Lombardo -
Albert Henderson
Peluce -
-
Damien Leake
Joey -
John Lehne
Gilbert -
John Medici
Pasquale Serpico -
Alan North
Brown -
Norman Ornellas
Rubello -
Mary Louise Weller
Girl -
Charles White
Commissioner Delaney -
Allan Rich
D.A. Tauber -
Scott Franklin
Black Prisoner -
Ted Beniades
Sarno -
Joe Bova
Potts -
Sal Carollo
Mr. Serpico -
-
John Stewart
Waterman
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Serpico Trailer & Photos
All Critics (39) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (4) | DVD (23)
Wonderful potential, and wasted. Serpico has some brutal surface flash and an acetylene performance by Al Pacino in the title role, but its energy is used to dodge all the questions it should have raised and answered.
Top CriticSidney Lumet's direction adeptly combines gritty action and thought-provoking comment.
A virtuoso performance by Al Pacino and some expert location work by Sidney Lumet add up to a tour de force genre piece that transcends the supercop conventions to create a moving, engrossing portrait of Frank Serpico.
Another problem, these days, is Pacino's characterisation; he seems at times more like a misplaced hippy than a plainclothes cop.
Lumet's biopic of Frank Serpico, the virtuous cop who exposed a network of graft in the NYPD, feels depressingly relevant.
A remarkable record of one man's rebellion against the sort of sleaziness and second-rateness that has affected so much American life, from the ingredients of its hamburgers to the ethics of its civil servants and politicians.
"Serpico" is a candid and gritty police expose film that juxtaposes systematic police graft with the personal toll it takes on the man who attempts to blow the lid on the crooked activities that surround him.
... one of the films that brought this new realism to the screen portrait of American cops with its realistic portraits... and systemic failure and flawed, human characters behind the badges.
Lumet and screenwriters Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler can't do anything but skim rapidly over the surface of their tale.
Imbued with mythic and even religious dimensions, Al Pacino's resourceful, Oscar-nominated performance takes Lumet's quinessential 1970s New York film beyond the realm of a cop-corruption drama.
Al Pacino delivers a powerful performance in this compelling biopic of a cop and a city's police force.
Memorable, thought-provoking and courageous.
Exibindo segurança e intensa presença cênica, Pacino demonstra inteligência ao criar um imenso contraste entre a futura angústia de Serpico e a maneira irreverente e jovial com que este surge nas cenas logo após formar-se como agente da Lei.
an acting tour de force for Al Pacino
When all is said and done, Pacino is the riveting presence that makes the movie work and it is difficult to imagine any other actor in the part.
One of the best films of our time, and our grandkids' time. "Serpico" is pure Pacino, powerful as hell.
Fantastic.
This is a DVD that is very quiet in announcing its better-than-average wares.
Very much an Al Pacino vehicle, not that this is a bad thing.
A quintessential New York director made this quintessential New York movie in 1973, with Pacino at his best as an honest cop who turns on his crooked colleagues.
Audience Reviews for Serpico
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Frank Serpico: They say, 'If you love the garden of a man, you got to love the man.'
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- Frank Serpico: What is this for.... For being an honest cop or being stupid enough to get shot in the face.
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- Rubello: What's with the fucking mouse?
- Frank Serpico: He's my partner. He sniffs out drugs. You know, I just send him through his little hole, he's gone for a while, and then he comes back with the heroin.
- Rubello: Oh, yeah, I heard of that.
- Frank Serpico: You heard of that? Yeah.
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