Normally I try to avoid "cop" movies, which is a particular american branch of movies. Only rarely they portray the reality of how a police "department" works and rather hammers another brick in the prejudice of the self-sacrificing police force, who is only there to put their lives on the line to "protect and serve" the people.
"Serpico" is different in at least one crucial aspect. There is only one good cop, but everyone else in the corps are corrupt. Now I am not particularly knowledgeable about the history of the american police system, but apparently corruption was running rampant in the seventies and only a few from the inside went against the herd, and tried to expose the problem. One such real life cop did it and his surname was Serpico. From a book about his life in the service, the movie "Serpico" was made ... only a few years after its realease.
We start off with Serpico bleeding from the face in the back seat of a police car sound the sirens through the night. From this short intro the story of his police life is framed from when he enters the force as a green and hopeful cadet. But it does not take long for him to realize that his ideals about the police force and police men in general are pretty naive.
Again and again he is treated with situations where he is either exposed to direct attempts at bribery, or indirect participation in unjust use of power or using criminals as cashcows rather than putting them behind bars.
At first he tries to balance his day by trying to stick to his own the true values and turn the other eye. But after a while as an undercover cop it is reaching a point when he can no longer just go by, but have to either get with game, or act against it.
Soon the leaders higher up in the system gets whiff of his straight behavior and the ball starts rolling to both control him and ostricise him. His closest friends (if he really have any) starts to fold and he finds himself basically alone and vulnerable in a system that pretty much just uses him and the taxpayers he basically works for, for their own ends.
The plot is pretty straight forward and I will not reveal too much about it. It does start sort of with the inevitable ending and what must follow. The scriptwriters and the director deliberately does this i believe to make sure we do NOT see this as a whodunnit kind of cop story.
This is a portrait of a person who has an incredibly high level of integrity no matter how much shit is thrown at him. People who are freedomlovers and have a sceptical view of the idea of a state and "authority" in general, will certainly sympathize with the story of this brave man fighting a modern day, half invisible, Goliath.
A great aspect of the movie is how Serpico´s cameo clothing keeps getting more and more ridiculous, in order for him to stay "under cover". I am pretty sure this is slightly overstated for the sake of an artistic metaphorical point. The scene where he arrives back at the station in a rabbi suit and beard is so "inspector Clouseau" that it is almost equally funny.
But it works as a pointer to the fact that what he is really doing in reality gets more and more ridiculous and pointless and we cannot have so many different action sequences pointing this out so the director wisely just changes his appearance again and again over time. It was sort of shot backwards. plot wise, as Pacino (who plays the lead) had to get more and more "hairy" but it could only look believable if they just cut more and more of his hair and beard off filming in reverse order (to some extend)
There are many aspects to praise about this, slightly underrated movie, even if it is considered a classic. For instance I would choose this one over French Connection or Chinatown any day. I like the grittiness and the looseness of the direction of Lumet (also known for 12 Angry Men and Dog Day Afternoon), which might certainly be inspired by French Connection out just a year or so before. But French is more hardnosed while the emotional and vulnerable fight of Serpico gets me much more than Gene Hackmann´s role.
I can feel the same kind of frustration and anger that Pacino portrays so well here that it is by far my favorite cop movie. In fact it is the only cop movie where I can really identify with the protagonist ... because he isn´t really a cop when it all comes down. he is just a victim of his own high standards and morality and has been shaped and formed into believing the propaganda only to realize it way too late.
Another aspect that is not mentioned very often is the city. lumet has a rare sense of space and colours that you may miss if you do not think about it. The roughness of these early seventies New York streets have their certain charm and they are probably pretty much gone now. I certainly remember them from a lot of VHS movies I watched in the late seventies (before I really knew what a good movie is)
But in the end what makes this movie is Al Pacino´s performance. He really nailed his name to the hall of fame with Serpico and it is pretty iconic to say the least. If there ever was a part for a great method actor like Pacino, Serpico tops the list. It was made for him period. There are many memorable scenes here, they litereally stand in line. And though Pacino has been accused of overacting, I completely disaggree. Infact he is holding back and doing it in a very believable manner only to explode at exactly the right place and time to portray the frustration that is growing in him.
The only critique I may have is, that Theodorakis´ music at times sounds more like The Godfather than something from a gritty and dirty cop story. A couple of times I found it out of place considering what went on in the movie at the same time. And a few cuts here and there are a bit lazy and some of the supporting actors are not doing their job as well as could be wished, particularly the second girlfriend. But since the whole movie was made within a frame of around five months it is actually incredible that something of this stature actually resulted. It is a minor masterpiece of the seventies cinema.
9/10
