Very Good
Added 8/13/2009
Serpico is one of those rarities - a film portraying real life events that is very entertaining as well.
Al Pacino stars as NYC police officer Frank Serpico, an honest officer working in a very corrupt department. This show does a great job of showing the absolute cancer that corruption is in a law enforcement agency. Even though there were a few honest cops, the bad ones extended from top to bottom. Serpico decided to go against the grain and was maligned and even shot for his efforts.
This is well worth watching. It is an inspiring tale of what even one honest person can do in a shady organization.
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Serpico: A Name That Became Famous
Added 4/23/2009
This is a fairly long film but, like Al Pacino, it's rarely boring. The name of Pacino's character, "Serpico," has become synonymous with "honest cop." It demonstrates what a strong impact this movie had on millions of people.
There have so many crooked-cops-themed films in the past 30 years that this film has lost a lot of its shock-and-awe. The long hair, wild clothes, beads, etc. really date this film, too, it being so early '70s in looks. It's almost become a "period piece" as if it were the Roaring Twenties except its the Hairy and sleazy Seventies.
What hasn't changed over the years is Pacino's acting, of course. There have been very few films in which he starred that didn't display his talents to the fullest. This film, along with Dog Day Afternoon and few others, put him "on the map," making him a big star. He's been a "star" ever since.
Gritty? Yes. Profane? Yes; Memorable? Most definitely. When you speak of modern-day film classics, "Serpico" is one of them.
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Don't make em like this one anymore
Added 1/25/2009
I'm of the mind to think that the 70s in American cinema is its golden age. Serpico is an indispensable product of that period, and if you haven't seen this yet, you won't get a chance to find out why Al Pacino is one of our most interesting actors. When the movie makes you want to read the book immediately after viewing, you know you've come across something special.
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It was Al Pacino's first big screen masterpiece of acting. The Godfather was really Marlon Brando's showcase vehicle, and The Godfather, Part Two was a year away, while Dog Day Afternoon, also with Lumet, was another year further out. Pacino's Frank Serpico covers alot of ground in his time on the force, and the two and a quarter hour film moves so briskly that it seems much longer, but in the good sense. As a biopic, it wisely focuses on the meat of the man's public impact, not a cradle to grave psychodrama. We see the thousand little ways that corruption breeds and spreads. Not only is evident it out and out graft and bribery, but in parking ticket quotas, freeby lunches, and the like of countless seemingly harmless acts. Serpico will have none of it, as he is shunted from precinct to precinct, and mocked by his fellow cops as a goody-goody, untrustworthy, and dangerous- all because he's decent and ethical. The non-stop harassment eats away at his insides and his mind, destroys his relationships with women, and lands him on a mission to clean things up, by whatever means he can.
However, bureaucracy slows down his quest, until he connects with another cop, Bob Blair (Tony Roberts), who guides him across minefields of political machinations, until they both decide to go public to the New York Times. Consequently, Serpico is abandoned on a drug bust, by his partners, and shot in the face- the point at which the film begins, then proceeds to its coda. The film ends with Serpico going public at the Knapp Commission hearings, and then we get the credits telling us of the aftermath. Sidney Lumet had a perfect grasp of the streets and the times in this film, and the old clichés about them not making films like this any more is true. Compare this to the Academy Award-level `issues' films of recent vintage- The Hours, Million Dollar Baby, Monster, or this year's Brokeback Mountain- and there's simply no comparison. Realistic, but poetic, films like this are just not made by the damnable Hollywood machine any longer. And few independent films can afford the budget and time needed to craft so meticulous a work- Joe Carnahan's recent Ray Liotta vehicle Narc being a welcome exception. Yet, films like this, Dog Day Afternoon, The French Connection, The Conversation, Taxi Driver, All The President's Men, Apocalypse Now, and the like, still tug at the American psyche. Surely, there will be a time in the not-too distant future that such films will be welcome again?
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Deep performance from Pacino
Added 9/8/2008
This true story based film is set in the corruption addled 1970s New York police force, with Serpico as the only cop who wouldn't take the huge bribes on offer. This is a great film, a slow builder but definitely worth the time to see this story unfold. It's a fine movie.
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One of Pacino's classic performances
Added 10/20/2009
It was a rough year for the Academy since there were two great films that year: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and this winner, "Dog Day Afternoon" featuring a classic iconic performance by Al Pacino. Now, I've fortunately seen Pacino on stage back in the '90's in David Mamet's "American Buffalo" and he performed with so much intensity that I was over-awed. I think very few of his film performances have that intensity that his stage performances have had but this one shortly is the closest we'll get to Pacino, the stage animal. Watching this film again in a brilliant HD DVD transfer, is like watching a stage play. Director Sidney Lumet was at his best capturing the chaos of New York City life and the supporting cast is phenomenal: Charles Durning, Lance Hendrickson, the late James Broderick and John Cazale, nearly matching Pacino in intensity as his co-hort (of course, he also played his brother but this role certainly showed his versatility) in crime. It's a pity that he died so young from bone cancer (The Deer Hunter being his last film)but this film proven why he was so reverred in the acting world. It's a sad fact that Pacino could not top this performance or others in that period (And Justice for All; Scarecrow) with minor efforts like the execreable "88 Minutes" or "Righteous Kill" with DeNiro. Perhaps it is just the dearth of good material that causes great actors like Pacino to periodically return to the stage, his first love. So do check this one out for his off beat performance (180 degrees different from "The Godfather").
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"Daring"
Added 10/19/2009
One of the best films from the 1970's along with "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and "Taxi Driver", "Dog Day Afternoon" was nominated for 5 Oscars inlcuding nods for Best Picture of 1975 and Best Actor for Al Pacino. Pacino plays a bank robber who holds a bank hostage one sweltering August day in Brooklyn in order to steal money so his gay lover can have a sex-change operation. Sidney Lumet does an excellent job of directing and bringing out the best from his cast. The title comes from the fact that August is referred to as a "dog day" month where the weather in New England can be extremely hot, with the story taking place one afternoon. The movie is gritty, daring, fast-paced, and involving, and although Pacino plays a villin you actually start to feel sorry for his motivations and the fact that he would go to these kind of extremes to fulfill his boyfriend's happiness. James Broderick and Charles Durning turn out memorable performances as the police officers who try to reason with the Pacino character outside the bank. The DVD comes with a new widescreen presentation after only being available in full-screen for many years, along with documentaries and featurettes, and the original theatrical trailer.
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Yet another brilliant performance by Al pacino!
Added 9/9/2009
Again Mr. Pacino got unlucky!How on earth he hasn't got the academy award for this brilliant performance! I love all Jack Nickolson work but honestly if you compare his work on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest against Dog day will agree with me that Al could have got the Academy.Pacino acting is far energetic, tough to do(in dog day context), brilliant, classic and what a amazing performance!It requires a lot of dare to do a subject like DOG DAY after becoming an Icon (after Godfather Hit). Many contemporaries had refused to work on this project. He turned down the "over to do One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and worked on this movie. In short: Lumet (Direcor) has done great job, he knows how to deal with tense situations, Superb acting,Pacino in his splendor, Should have got 2 Oscar for this role. The pacing is extremely good. The issue of homosexuality was very well dealt with, not preaching in any way, understanding and considerate, everything was far better than any politically correct angle we may find in today's movies. This movie deals with common man problems. A man who is in middle of robbery still he is considerate.
I have watched and will keep watching this movie to enjoy Al Pacino great acting. He is so fresh! I give 4and half out of 5 starts to this movie.
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