Serpico (1973) - Frank Serpico

Serpico is a crime film based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico. The film directed by Sidney Lumet. The screenplay was written by Waldo Salt, Norman Wexler, and Sidney Kingsley, as an adaptation from a biographical book by author Peter Maas. The film stars Al Pacino as Officer Frank Serpico, John Randolph as Chief Sidney Green, Cornelia Sharpe as Leslie Lane, and Tony Roberts as Bob Blair.

Frank Serpico was an eccentric but idealistic New York City police officer in a time when police corruption was rampant. Despite eccentric, Serpico cannot be bought and certainly cannot be had by anyone. He often frustrated by internal politics, and eventually went undercover to expose the corruption of his fellow officers. He starts giving his testimony to the Knapp Commission in 1970. For his bravery to expose the corruption in the New York Police Department, Serpico receives a detective's gold shield and disability pension and leaving the NYPD and the USA in 1972 for Switzerland.

As the storyline showing the progression of Serpico's beard and hair length, the film was shot in reverse order. Al Pacino began with long hair and a beard, then for each scene, his hair and beard were trimmed bit by bit until he became clean-cut. The film shot on 104 different locations in every borough of New York City except Staten Island.

For his role as Serpico, Pacino was Oscar nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but lost to Jack Lemmon for his performance in Save the Tiger. However, he won his first Golden Globe award for Best Actor in 1974 for his performance in the film.


Cast:

Al Pacino ... Officer Frank Serpico
John Randolph ... Chief Sidney Green
Biff McGuire ... Capt. Insp. McClain
Cornelia Sharpe ... Leslie Lane
Jack Kehoe ... Tom Keough
Tony Roberts ... Bob Blair
Allan Rich ... Dist. Atty. Herman Tauber