"What could be a more appropriate subject for a 1973 movie than the ordeal of Frank Serpico, the New York City policeman who became a pariah in the Department because he wouldn’t take bribes? Serpico, whose incorruptibility alienates him from his fellow-officers and turns him into a messianic hippie freak, is a perfect modern-movie hero."
Formed in 197In February 1971, Serpico (Al Pacino) is on his way to hospital after being hit in the face by a bullet during a drug raid in Brooklyn. “Guess who got shot?” asks one policeman of another: “Serpico.” “Think a cop did it?” the other asks. “I know six cops said they’d like to,” the first replies. In real life, as in the film, Serpico’s whistleblowing earned him the enmity of many colleagues. He was shot by the “perp” he was trying to arrest.
The real Frank Serpico tells the story similarly to the way it is told in the film, though the film-makers replaced his modest revolver with a more dramatic-looking 9mm automatic. Serpico alleges that his fellow police officers left the scene and a local man called an ambulance for him.0, the Knapp commission discovered widespread and deep-rooted corruption in the New York police department. This followed a story given to the New York Times by two whistleblowers, sergeant David Durk and officer Frank Serpico.
The action flashes back to the beginning of Serpico’s career in the 1960s. He is a fine cop, but an outsider: he goes to Spanish literature classes and learns to dance ballet. His colleagues presume he is gay. When he is handed some cash in an envelope, he tries to report it, but is told to drop the subject. “Let’s face it, who can trust a cop who doesn’t take money?” asks one fellow cop. “I mean, you are a little weird.” He moves from precinct to precinct. Instead of fitting in, he finds more and more corruption.
Serpico tells friendly cop Bob Blair (Tony Roberts) about the corruption problems, and they try to take the story to the mayor’s office – but they’re snubbed again. Blair is a fictional character. He stands in for Serpico’s real-life friend David Durk, though he plays a smaller part in the story than Durk did. In 1971, after the story of NYPD corruption first broke, Sam Peckinpah wanted to make this movie as a two-hander, with Paul Newman as Durk and Robert Redford as Serpico. The version which made it to the screen followed Peter Maas’s biography of Serpico and wrote Durk out. Some of his contemporaries saw this as a historical injustice, and it’s certainly true that Frank Serpico is much more widely remembered than David Durk.
Al Pacino’s performance as the focused, hard-edged and yet hippie-ish Serpico is exceptional. Director Sidney Lumet’s knowledge of New York City locations was unsurpassed: the movie was filmed in four of the city’s five boroughs, leaving out only Staten Island. These days, though, the movie feels languorous and overlong – even though Waldo Salts original 240-page screenplay (one page corresponds to about a minute of screen time) was cut in half by co-screenwriter Norman Wexler.
Production and Background
Director: Sidney Lumet. Lumet was a "master of the city," known for his efficiency and ability to capture the claustrophobic tension of urban environments. He took over the project after John G. Avildsen was fired due to creative differences with producer Martin Bregman.
Screenplay: Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler. The script was adapted from the 1973 best-selling biography by Peter Maas. Waldo Salt, who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy era, brought a specific sensitivity to the theme of an individual crushed by a powerful institution.
Key Cast: * Al Pacino as Frank Serpico: In a transformative performance, Pacino portrays Serpico’s descent from an eager rookie to a paranoid, bearded outcast.
John Randolph as Chief Sidney Green: Based on the real-life Commissioner Murphy/McClain figures who eventually supported Serpico.
Tony Roberts as Bob Blair: Serpico's well-connected friend who helps navigate the political landscape.
Historical Context: The film was released in December 1973, just as the Watergate hearings were dominating national headlines. The public's appetite for stories about institutional corruption was at an all-time high, making the film a cultural lightning rod.
The film features a distinct, Mediterranean-influenced score by Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis. Lumet chose him to provide a "street-level" operatic feel. Interestingly, because Theodorakis was under house arrest in Greece at the time for his political activism, the music had to be smuggled out of the country. The main theme provides a melancholic, almost lonely folk-quality to Serpico's walks through the city.
Legacy and Impact
Police Cinema: It paved the way for more nuanced, cynical police procedurals like The Wire or The Shield, moving away from the "heroic cop" tropes of the 1950s.
The "Serpico" Archetype: The name "Serpico" became a permanent noun in the English language, used to describe any whistleblower or "rat" within a closed organization.
Real-Life Influence: Following the film and the real-life Knapp Commission, the NYPD underwent significant internal affairs restructuring. Frank Serpico himself became a symbol of civil courage, though he lived in self-imposed exile in Europe for many years to escape the death threats that followed the film's release.
Film vs. Reality: Historical Accuracy
While Sidney Lumet strove for an authentic "street" feel, there are several key differences between the cinematic portrayal and the actual events:
The Shooting Incident: In the film, Serpico is shot during a drug bust and his partners hesitate to help. In reality, the circumstances were even more suspicious. Serpico was shot through a door while his partners remained in the hallway; they did not call "10-13" (officer needs assistance). He was actually saved and taken to the hospital by an elderly tenant of the building, not his fellow officers.
Character Composites: The character of Bob Blair (Tony Roberts) is a composite of several real-life allies, most notably David Durk. Durk was a socially prominent, Ivy League-educated detective who partnered with Serpico to bring the corruption to the mayor's office.
The Chronology of Graft: The film condenses over a decade of corruption into a tight narrative. In reality, Serpico’s struggle was a slow, agonizing process involving multiple attempts to contact high-ranking officials in the Lindsay administration, many of whom ignored him for years before The New York Times story broke.
Personal Life: The film portrays a series of failed romances (like Laurie) to emphasize Serpico's isolation. Real-life Frank Serpico was indeed isolated, but he was also married and divorced during this period—a detail the film omitted to heighten the "lone wolf" persona.
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