Prime Video Movie of the Day: Al Pacino takes on a city of corrupt cops in the dark, gritty and exciting Serpico
Serpico is a classic film, a police drama starring Al Pacino as the titular detective battling corruption in the police department of 1970s New York. Based on a real person and directed by Sidney Lumet, it is a grim and gripping thriller. The biographical crime drama is something Oblique magazine describes as “an example of a certain kind of character-based social realism that Hollywood excelled at in the 1970s, as well as an essential time capsule of New York City during the same period”.
Serpico is a true crime classic
Like similarly gritty films of the era, there aren’t many LOLs in it Serpico. It is raw and uncompromising in its portrayal of a rotten police force and a city that at the time felt like it was in deep decline. This is the New York of Mean streetsand the police are the meanest of them all.
“Serpico feels like a deeply cynical and suspicious image, but this is tempered by its faith in the unwavering decency of its central crusader,” says Movie frenzyand while Newsweek felt the film itself was mediocre and was enhanced by an excellent performance from Pacino. “Al Pacino is destined to become the next great American movie star,” it accurately predicted. rich was among many who praised the actor, noting that “Al Pacino delivers a powerful performance in this riveting biopic of a cop and a city’s police force”.
“Sidney Lumet’s direction skillfully combines raw action and thought-provoking commentary,” he said Variety, while the Chicago Reader said, “A virtuoso performance from Al Pacino and some expert location work from Sidney Lumet combine to deliver a high-calibre genre piece that transcends supercop conventions to create a moving, captivating portrait of Frank Serpico.” And unfortunately the New York Times’ review feels just as relevant decades later. It described it as “a remarkable account of one man’s rebellion against the kind of sloppiness and second-rateness that has affected so much American life, from the ingredients of its hamburgers to the ethics of its officials and politicians.”