"Serpico" (1973) - Movie Classics

A Gun shop owner asks Serpico, “That gun takes a 14 shot clip. You expecting an army?”, and Serpico replies, “No. Just a division.” In reality, he was truly expecting an army. An army of corrupt police officers who were ready to eliminate him for being a “cop”. I did not mention “an honest cop” for the reason that being a cop that gets attached automatically. “Serpico” directed by Sidney Lumet, stars Al Pacino as Frank Serpico who as a single man was against the corrupt system of police in the city of New York.

A police car carrying a shot Serpico and the policemen informs the necessary people over intercom that they are heading to the hospital. A police officer in a precinct receives a phone and says to other fellow men that Serpico got shot. The other officer asks whether the cops shot him and the reply is that he knows seven to eight of them who wanted to. This is the message which resonates in rest of the movie. Frank Serpico gets out of academy in sole intention of serving the city. He gets in the middle of politics of who is getting the “collar” and the jurisdiction. He gets out of the initial posting to finger print division where he is getting accused of performing sexual activities with another colleague wherein reality they were just gazing out the window. He gets frustrated and gets transfer to another division. First day, he gets a cover with money inside. From there on, he fights till the end to pass it on to the superiors and make it clean. Everyone makes big promises at the start and shows up with invisible words in a few days.

In the meanwhile, he gets anxious and tension mounts in him. He is wandering among the individuals whom he is informing about. One day or other, they are going to realize it, and then, he knows that things are going to turn ugly. He is frustrated inside out and gets beyond control. He is not able to have a solid personal life due to these incidents of dishonesty. He finds solace among animals who does not know the meaning of all these. The film is the time compression bringing the slice of a cop’s life who got aimed by hundreds of guns from his fellow men, got rooted out of his personal life and living with the frustration of helpless ness. This is Serpico.

It was a time when “Godfather” got out with guns blaring and Al Pacino wanted to come out as an individual character from the shadows of those. He wanted a character. Frank Serpico would have felt proud about Pacino’s performance. Every movie Pacino comes along, he makes sure to nail down one particular scene. Be it the final speech in “Scent of a Woman” or the confronting his colleague and breaking the windshield of a car in “….And Justice For All”. All of those were just the followers of the sequence of locking up the character of Corsaro and the viewers realize that it all started in “Serpcio”. This is Pacino, young and vibrant. He comes with the strange costumes and it is sheer presence of magnetism. I cannot imagine anyone ever even trying to play Serpico again in this life. That character belongs to Pacino and it would rest with him forever.

Sidney Lumet in his intereview says that they were running on a deadline of December and they started shooting around July. Hence, they needed to do most of the post production simultaneously which was the only way to meet the deadline. While it would have been one hell of five months, it brought out the best in all of them. It is a period of five years and bringing it in a matter of two hours becomes critical. It is critical due to the amount of substance it lights on. There needs to be so many events which need to be encompassed in this battle of honesty. Bringing in the mean streets of New York with punching dialogues is what this film offers.

This film is the presence of honesty in this world. This movie shows the ordeal went through by a cop who was never letting his character get in the dirt. When his girl friend breaks up with him in a café, she says that he will be fine “unattached” so that he can fight his cause. Al Pacino as Serpico gives a reaction saying, “My Cause” and that means a lot. The whole movie gets concentrated in those two words. It is not a cause of him but this is how the system should work. It is not a cause of going brave and getting shields. It is about doing a job with righteousness and conscience. These two does not get defined by one’s cause but it gets defined in the actions of the people in a job involving responsibility of guarding the people in its city. I am not sure how much “takes” that particular sequence of two words took, but it is where the focal point of movie lies and it is brilliant.

“Serpico” got its recognition of being real and true to its facts. Sidney Lumet definitely does justice to the character which I guess the real “Serpico” would have acknowledged too. The film maybe looked upon on two angles. Firstly is, being honest is all suffering and the second is, being honest is how to live. Both are right, but what can be defined as “suffering”. The following conversation brought to attention by my friend Nagesh from the book, “To Kill a Mocking Bird” would help in explaining it. Here it goes,

Scout: Well, most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong.... Atticus: They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.

Live with yourself is what “Serpico” is. At the end of the film, maybe “Serpico” got shot and left with a future outside of his country where he lived in for most of his life, but he is a man who lives with himself without any problems. He has no one to fear. That is the freedom one cannot imagine, unless they decide to live, with themselves.