SERPICO

Today I saw the DVD of Sidney Lumet's SERPICO, for about the third time. (I didn't get it from zip.ca but rented it from nearby 2Q Video.) It's a fine true-life story about Frank Serpico, a New York cop who exposed corruption among plainclothesmen.  I think there was actually a cop who broke the code of silence before Serpico, but they wrote the book about him because his story was more dramatic, what with getting shot in the face and such.

SERPICO, released in 1973, is one of those realistic New York movies of the time that prided themselves on unfancy, "gritty" realism.  The 1970s, especially the early years, was a good time for original, realistic American movies, partly because the studios were relatively uncertain about what they should be offering the public.  Al Pacino is in great, often funny form as the principled but sometimes difficult title character.  There's a lot of sharp dialogue. ("Frank, let's face it, who can trust a cop that won't take money?") I'm sure it was a big influence on the TV series HILL STREET BLUES, especially the show's undercover cop Mick Belker.

What got me interested in seeing it again was the Bradley Manning trial.  Both of them had to deal with a code of silence protecting criminal activity and superiors who preferred to cover it all up.  And both did the people a great service by showing what needed to be shown.