Serpico. (18.)
Directed by Sidney Lumet. 1973.
Starring Al Pacino, Tony Roberts, John Randolph, Tony Kehoe, Cornelia Sharp and Barbara Eda-Young. 130 mins.
In the realms of nominative determinism, it’s not quite up there with the traditional English café run by Kate and Sidney Pie, but if you are a New York cop and your name is Frank Serpico, then there is a good chance you will end up being a figure in a film. Ideally, you’d expect him to be a Clint Eastwood style supercop rather than a one good cop who won’t take bribes and ends up exposing all the corruption, but with that name you can be whatever you want because the writers and producers will just be so grateful for not having to come up with a title. If he’d been a Frank Smith and the film was called something like Badge of Honour, do you think it would be getting a 40th anniversary release?
Opening with him being shot on duty and rushed to hospital, the film tells his story in flashbacks. He begins as an idealistic young Italian American graduating into the service and the film has a heck of a lot to get through so from there the narrative jumps around as he pursues various career avenues but finds corruption wherever he turns. Initially he just tries to avoid it but eventually he feels the need to report it to someone, and then his troubles begin.
70s New York is one of cinema’s most potent backdrops and the film is full of the kind of grungy street scenes familiar from The French Connection two years previous. (Historically most of the film takes place in the 60s but cinematically, it always feels 70s.) Lumet was a dab hand at filming New York and Serpico, a parade of gruff cop faces with a new one being added almost every minute, has that heft of gritty substance: you feel like you‘re really watching something. It’s all very urgent: Peter Maas’ book on the case only came out the year before while The Knapp Commission into police corruption in New York that was the immediate consequence of Serpico’s actions, didn’t deliver their final report until December 1972.
Yet catching up with it again, having not seen it for at least two decades, was a little disappointing. After some reflecting on why this should be I came up with the answer that it is because of Pacino in the title role. This is an heretical thought and I feel stupid typing it: Serpico is one of the great man’s landmark roles. Having been picked from obscurity to star in The Godfather this was his first big solo star role and I think the need to establish himself overrode all other considerations.
He rages and he roars, he shouts and swears, he suffers and makes doe eyes at the audience. He dresses up, becomes a hippie cop. On the streets he’s undercover; in the police station he’s a sore thumb. At one point he walks in dressed as an Hasidic Jew and you suspect they are going a bit far with the wacky cop angle. It’s an Oscar nominated show stopping turn, but is it really a portrayal of heroic integrity? I was frequently reminded of Peter Richardson’s performance as a self-serving Pacino in The Strike. His approach seems to be have been, Ask not what you can do for the role of Serpico, ask what the role of Serpico can do for you.
Of course you don’t get to be a major movie star for over forty years without occasionally circling the wagons and protecting your image and this vision of Serpico as a fancy dress wounded martyr did wonders for Pacino’s career. The offer of stardom offered by The Godfather would stay open for long and he did what he had to do.
Extras
The disc, released by Eureka in their Masters Of Cinemas series comes with a selection of extras, brief featurettes about the translation from book to screen, the making of the film itself and a selection of stills over which director Lumet discusses the music score. Lumet and producer Martin Bregman dominate the extras and they also get to select their favourite scenes. These features are brief but informative though what is missing is something on the real life Serpico and how accurate the film is.
Directed by Sidney Lumet. 1973.
Starring Al Pacino, Tony Roberts, John Randolph, Tony Kehoe, Cornelia Sharp and Barbara Eda-Young. 130 mins.
In the realms of nominative determinism, it’s not quite up there with the traditional English café run by Kate and Sidney Pie, but if you are a New York cop and your name is Frank Serpico, then there is a good chance you will end up being a figure in a film. Ideally, you’d expect him to be a Clint Eastwood style supercop rather than a one good cop who won’t take bribes and ends up exposing all the corruption, but with that name you can be whatever you want because the writers and producers will just be so grateful for not having to come up with a title. If he’d been a Frank Smith and the film was called something like Badge of Honour, do you think it would be getting a 40th anniversary release?
Opening with him being shot on duty and rushed to hospital, the film tells his story in flashbacks. He begins as an idealistic young Italian American graduating into the service and the film has a heck of a lot to get through so from there the narrative jumps around as he pursues various career avenues but finds corruption wherever he turns. Initially he just tries to avoid it but eventually he feels the need to report it to someone, and then his troubles begin.
70s New York is one of cinema’s most potent backdrops and the film is full of the kind of grungy street scenes familiar from The French Connection two years previous. (Historically most of the film takes place in the 60s but cinematically, it always feels 70s.) Lumet was a dab hand at filming New York and Serpico, a parade of gruff cop faces with a new one being added almost every minute, has that heft of gritty substance: you feel like you‘re really watching something. It’s all very urgent: Peter Maas’ book on the case only came out the year before while The Knapp Commission into police corruption in New York that was the immediate consequence of Serpico’s actions, didn’t deliver their final report until December 1972.
Yet catching up with it again, having not seen it for at least two decades, was a little disappointing. After some reflecting on why this should be I came up with the answer that it is because of Pacino in the title role. This is an heretical thought and I feel stupid typing it: Serpico is one of the great man’s landmark roles. Having been picked from obscurity to star in The Godfather this was his first big solo star role and I think the need to establish himself overrode all other considerations.
He rages and he roars, he shouts and swears, he suffers and makes doe eyes at the audience. He dresses up, becomes a hippie cop. On the streets he’s undercover; in the police station he’s a sore thumb. At one point he walks in dressed as an Hasidic Jew and you suspect they are going a bit far with the wacky cop angle. It’s an Oscar nominated show stopping turn, but is it really a portrayal of heroic integrity? I was frequently reminded of Peter Richardson’s performance as a self-serving Pacino in The Strike. His approach seems to be have been, Ask not what you can do for the role of Serpico, ask what the role of Serpico can do for you.
Of course you don’t get to be a major movie star for over forty years without occasionally circling the wagons and protecting your image and this vision of Serpico as a fancy dress wounded martyr did wonders for Pacino’s career. The offer of stardom offered by The Godfather would stay open for long and he did what he had to do.
Extras
The disc, released by Eureka in their Masters Of Cinemas series comes with a selection of extras, brief featurettes about the translation from book to screen, the making of the film itself and a selection of stills over which director Lumet discusses the music score. Lumet and producer Martin Bregman dominate the extras and they also get to select their favourite scenes. These features are brief but informative though what is missing is something on the real life Serpico and how accurate the film is.
