Name: Serpico (Film): Review.
Item: Serpico
Author: @martinmcfly

Sometimes I like to try films made decades ago, and try to see how it affects the passage of time affects them. One of my personal strategies to do that is to review the filmography of an important actor, in this case, Al Pacino, and then choose the movie that looks better. This time I preferred to see Serpico, and now I will talk about it.

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Year: 1973 Category: Neo-Noir, Biographical, Crime. Director: Sidney Lumet. Cast: Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe, Biff McGuire, Barbara Eda-Young, Cornelia Sharpe, Tony Roberts, Allan Rich, Albert Henderson, Joseph Bova, Woodie King Jr., James Tolkan, Bernard Barrow, Nathan George, M. Emmet Walsh.

Plot

An honest cop will have to face the corruption that surrounds the whole system, harming his personal and work life.

Opinion

Frank Serpico, a new officer in the NYPD, is in a difficult position, he only wants to do his job, but the entire police force is highly corrupt, however, he refuses to participate in any act of corruption, mainly to receive bribes, and try to find alternative ways to do their job and face crime, but all their effort is in vain, corruption devours any attempt to do justice. Because of what is impeded from doing any truly police activity, Serpico will try to solve the problem of corruption, which will lead him to assume many frustrations that will be transferred to his personal life.

The first thing we have to take into account, is that it is a film made at the beginning of the 70s, so it has a characteristically slow pace of that time. The shots are not very dynamic, but the camera remains in a fixed position. The direction of Sidney Lumet, is not bad at all, it's a good job he does. The script is good, it's an adaptation based on the biography of Peter Maas.

The performances, on the other hand, are regular, except, of course, Al Pacino, who does a convincing job, tries to convey the frustration and sometimes the indifference of his character to several situations, getting the viewer to identify with the situation. The rest of the actors do not do a bad job, but they stay under the radar.

If I have to criticize something about the film, it is simply the slow unfolding of events, which got me bored sometimes.

Trailer

Score

7/10

Good movie, though quite slow, I recommend it if you are interested in the filmography of Al Pacino, or if you personally like the police dramas.

I like that you also discuss films that are from the earlier years, like the 70s. They're often forgotten because they're not advertised anywhere very much and are often not available on Netflix & Co or just fall through.

I really like these slow movies and scene settings because I'm a friend of slowness. I like it very much to experience a more leisurely exposure of the scenes. Alone it's also sometimes just a matter of getting used to today's fast-paced filmmaking.

Films in this respect are suitable contemporary witnesses by their way of making, not so much the content or actors but by the unintended adoption of fashion, architecture, trends etc. This is so interesting when you go back 40 years and look at such film material. You can read a lot from that.

What I usually find most annoying about the 70s is film music. At least in the German version, the accompanying music is too loud, intrusive and often has nothing to do with the mood the actors were trying to transport. Somehow they didn't have the necessary sensitivity for the synchronisation and the musical background of many films. But then again there is a little charm in looking at these awkward beginner years of technology.

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