Serpico - Lone Hero (Serpico (DVD))

Member Name: aefra

Product:	Serpico (DVD)
Date:	27/02/04 (509 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ever watchable True Life Drama

Disadvantages: None

Frank Serpico was a real life New York cop whose name is now as well known as that of Elliott Ness . However, the movie entitled with his name and starring Al Pacino as Serpico has a more closely personal and riveting effect than the ever-watchable Untouchables. Unlike Ness who had the FBI behind his brave attempts to stamp out corruption, Serpico was taking on his own force and those working nearest to him.

When on his first day as a rookie cop Frank is offered his half of a bribe by his partner he refuses and will not be moved. Nor will he take part in brutality considered the norm. His continuing refusal to be corrupted by the clearly institutional system, as well as his insistence that when in plain clothes he moves in the hippy attire of the streets, alienates him from his colleagues whose disapproval eventually graduates to deadly hatred despite - or perhaps because of - his fine arrest record.

Initially wanting only to work in a "clean" environment Frank is transferred from district to district only to find that the system is endemic and only varies in the amount of money which changes hands between cops and criminals. Worse, when he attempts to correct a state of affairs in which he states that ".......... if as much effort were put into actual police work as was in organising collections, crime would disappear from the the streets of the city", he has nowhere to turn. Just as the lower ranks cannot be trusted, the higher echelons of the force will not accept that a problem exists on their territory. So begins years of disillusionment, despair, humiliation, ostracism and eventually life-threatening danger as Frank stoically refuses to either accept the corruption around him or cease from searching for a way to end it.

Early in his police career Frank meets and befriends a fast track colleague, B
;ob Blair (Tony Roberts) who has entré to the political ranks and, importantly, believes as does Serpico. Although more cautious, Bob can give Frank introduction to interested parties and hope is re- kindled again and again. As Serpico's lone crusade becomes ever more obsessional his personal relationship with girl friend Laurie (Barbara Eda Young) begins to crumble yet still he cannot be dissuaded from his purpose whatever the cost.

What is it that makes this a memorable film still regarded as a favourite by those in the business? For me there was empathy with Serpico as played by Pacino. I felt with him as well as for him and endured the tension to the extent of occasionally being moved to tears within his despair. This was not a struggle which lapsed as energy was spent then re-ignited, rather a never-ending endurance and unbending conviction. Yet this movie is not depressng. Far from it. It is inspirational and the viewer somehow doesn't lose faith in the lowly street cop. Pacino shows us not a hero, which he was, rather an ordinary guy whose integrity and compassion were immoveable. A man who would not walk away, but continue to find within himself the courage and determination to see things through to the end. Indeed Frank Serpico was to remain stoically within the force despite death threats until he stood before the Knapp Commission in 1971 and as a result suffered the final act of vengeance from his fellow officers which is shown in the opening scene.

Released in 1973 and taken from the book by Peter Maas, this is a movie which never fails to have me totally involved from start to finish however many times I watch. Directed by Sidney Lumet, Pacino's strong and often moving performance was a splendid follow up to the Godfather and was to earn him an Oscar nomination for bes
t actor as well as firmly establishing him as one of Hollywood's finest. Al Pacino plays not not the brash, confident rebel and protester, but the quiet, unassuming, at times bewildered and always lonely outsider. Yet the strength shines out from within and herein perhaps lies the power of his acting.

Sidney Lumet has a gift for atmosphere as we experience the vigour and violence of '60s New York streets and a culture where criminals bought freedom from arrest whatever their crimes against its citizens. Yet one day there appeared a young Italian American who was to become the "lamplighter". This was the word which Frank Serpico was later to substitute for the term "whistleblower". *





*Foot note. Frank Serpico still continues to speak out against police corruption His website can be found on http://www.frankserpico.com/ although under development at the moment

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