Serpico

(1973)

Sidney Lumet's Serpico is based on such a compelling story, and is told so well, you really can't not like it. Al Pacino dominates, and he is in every scene. This means the movie is based almost literally on what Frank Serpico saw and did as a moral and unshakeable cop in New York just before the film was made.

It's filmed with gritty realism but without sensationalism, though you might say a little artlessly, too, as if Lumet just wants to get the job done and not get in the way. In fact, Lumet wasn't involved in pre-production, called in just a filming was to start, so there might be a disconnect there. The support cast--mostly other cops plus two sometimes convincing girlfriends--is very good, though very few of them are developed at all.

So it's a very good film with a great story--a plain enough summary of a movie that won't let you go. But wait, you do have to let Pacino take a bow for another absorbing, intense performance. It's his movie. And Frank Serpico, who just saw it for the first time last year, after carefully avoiding it for almost forty years. A great article of the real Serpico from January 2010 can be found by typing "Serpico on Serpico" in google, and look for the New York Times article, worth the fast read!