Synopsis

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.