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Serpico Details

1973 DVD Certificate 18.gif Watch Online Certificate 18.gif (TBC)
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 6567 members

Shot on location on New York's energetic and crime-filled streets, Sidney Lumet's SERPICO, based on Peter Maas's book, is a rousing portrait of courage in the face of insidious corruption, initiating a motif that Lumet would continue to mine in PRINCE OF THE CITY. Al Pacino is forcefully real as Frank Serpico, an independent .. Read more

Starring Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe, Biff McGuire
Director Sidney Lumet
Genres Drama

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Serpico

Shot on location on New York's energetic and crime-filled streets, Sidney Lumet's SERPICO, based on Peter Maas's book, is a rousing portrait of courage in the face of insidious corruption, initiating a motif that Lumet would continue to mine in PRINCE OF THE CITY. Al Pacino is forcefully real as Frank Serpico, an independent young recruit entering the police force in the late 1960s, fulfilling a childhood dream. The good old boys of the NYPD lose no time in initiating the unorthodox Serpico in the ways of cutting corners, forging documents, and, most important, taking payoffs from local gambling operations and narcotic rings. His refusal to take his share of illegal protection money combined with his counterculture lifestyle make Serpico a target for harassment by his unified and powerful peers. Lumet hones in on the evocative details of Serpico's personal struggles and inner turmoil as his obsessive fight for truth begins to have disastrous effects on his personal life and threaten his safety. Serpico goes to the commissioner for help but to no avail, eventually taking his story to the New York Times, shattering the police department and putting himself in danger of violent retribution, leading to an inevitably violent and harrowing climax.

Starring Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe, Biff McGuire, Tony Roberts, Cornelia Sharpe, John Medici, Barbara Eda-Young, James Tolkan, Lewis J. Stadlen, M. Emmet Walsh, Kenneth McMillan
Director Sidney Lumet
Studio PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 5 mins
Watch now: 1 hr 30 mins
Certificate DVD: DVD Certificate 18.gif, Watch Online: Watch Online Certificate 18.gif (TBC)
Genres Drama
Language English
Released DVD: 23 Dec 2002
Watch now: 08 Apr 2009
Production year: 1973
Watch now £0.99
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (3) of Serpico

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  • 4 stars out of 5

    In this police thriller, Al Pacino gives an outstanding, Oscar-nominated performance as real-life cop Frank Serpico, who helped expose corruption in the New York Police Department in the early 1970s. Director Sidney Lumet shows in fascinating detail how hush-money and bribes were a way of life for Serpico's colleagues and how the idealistic young officer refused to toe the line. After years of watching partners take backhanders from criminals, Serpico eventually agreed to testify against a fellow officer and became a marked man. Even though Lumet revisited similar territory — memorably in the fine drama Prince of the City — he never found a better purveyor of idealism than Pacino.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • Like a practice run for Lumet's Prince of the City, this deals with police corruption in New York: Pacino's idealism... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Serpico

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  • 4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    Mixed

    A good based-on-real-events story of corruption in the New York police force focussing on a strong performance by Pacino. Although the story may seem a bit standard in this day and age, it was hot on the heels of The French Connection and try as it might it doesn't really surf the heights of Friedkin's classic. Great in parts, it's let down by a script that sails between great cinema to TV cop show. The direction is good but if you've never seen The French Connection or Dog Day Afternoon I'd recommend them as better alternatives for the genre or the director.

      • McClennan from St Helens
      • Posted 14 Aug 2006 16:54

  • Most recent members' review of Serpico

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  • 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    Good but not great

    I really was looking forward to seeing this after watching it years ago and although Pacino is one of my fav actors overall thought this could have been better. Still it has some excellent acting and would recommend.

      • A customer from Glasgow
      • Posted 23 Nov 2004 21:42

  • News and features

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    Wire, The - Season 5

    Pride and Glory

    • 03 Nov 2008

    There’s more pride than glory in this throwback cop drama, a movie so firmly in the tradition of heavyweight thrillers like Serpico, Prince of the City and Q and A that you would think the script must have Sidney Lumet’s fingerprints all over it. In fact it’s written by Gavin O’Connor, who made Tumbleweeds and the hockey movie Miracle, and Joe Carnahan, who made Narc and Smokin’ Aces. O’Connor came up with the story with his twin brother Greg. They’re... Read more

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6,567 Member ratings
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718
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1,734
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1,439
  • 60
1,085
  • 50
464
  • 40
213
  • 30
106
  • 20
78
  • 10
35

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      • Shot on location on New York's energetic and crime-filled streets, Sidney Lumet's SERPICO, based on Peter Maas's book, is a rousing portrait of courage in the face of insidious corruption, initiating ...