By Todd Garbarini
In
honor of Al Pacino’s 83rd birthday this past April, Cinema Retro
looks at the new double-disc Kino Lorber 4K Ultra High Definition and standard Blu-ray
release of Sidney Lumet’s 1973 police drama Serpico, a film that is based
upon the real-life exploits of retired New York Police Detective Frank Serpico.
Serpico is an early entry in Mr. Pacino’s film roles and also one of his
most riveting. He got his start in feature films by playing a potential suitor
to Patty Duke at a party in Fred Coe’s Me, Natalie (1969) and then
played the lead opposite Kitty Winn in Jerry Schatzberg’s The Panic in
Needle Park (1971), a cautionary tale of heroin addicts in New York City.
Following his transformation from a discharged military soldier into
cold-blooded family head Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s The
Godfather (1972), he reteamed with Mr. Schatzberg for the heartbreaking Scarecrow
(1973) -opposite Gene Hackman- as Lionel Delbuchi, a man who attempts to right
past wrongs with his ex-wife. In Serpico, Mr. Pacino’s fifth film, he
teams with veteran director Sidney Lumet to portray the real-life police
detective who not only uncovers corruption in the ranks but takes the
department to task for accountability and change.
Serpico begins at the end and is told in
flashback leading right up to the start of the film when our hero is shot in
the face by a small caliber pistol. Mr. Pacino gives a powerful and deeply
nuanced performance of a man who knows right from wrong but feels trapped
withing the workings of the police department and needs to proceed cautiously.
As Serpico is rushed to the hospital and is met by Police Chief Sidney Green
(John Randolph), the full weight of all he has been through shows on his face,
his circumstance taking him back, in flashback, to his graduation from the
police academy. In his early days, Serpico is an idealistic and happy young man
who eschews donning the police department’s standard-issue plainclothes accoutrements
in favor of dressing like a civilian to improve the relationship between police
and the community. A burglary attempt nearly proves fatal when responding
officers open fire on him in his unrecognizable getup. He meets and courts Leslie
(Cornelia Sharpe), a ballerina, and her acquaintances back away when they learn
of his profession. Their romance suffers, as does his superior’s (James Tolkan)
perception of him.
Serpico
comes face to face with police corruption and initially treads lightly as officers
he works with take money from criminals to look the other way. From their
behavior, it is just another day at the office. When he attempts to report this
to his superiors, he is laughed off. Future busts with other officers results
in him being offered his “take” which he refuses to the shock and dismay of his
peers, especially Tom Keough (Jack Kehoe) who wants the gravy train to continue
and does his best to ingratiate himself and warns Serpico to comply and not to
go against the others. He begins to wonder who is worse: the rapists and
robbers or his fellow officers?
Serpico
entrusts the aid of an associate, Blair (Tony Roberts), who knows the right
people. They go straight to the mayor’s office, but the initial meeting leads
to more disappointment as the case is tabled, making life miserable for both
Serpico and his new girlfriend who loves him and desperately wants children
with him, but she eventually terminates their relationship. He then takes on a
mobster, an unrecognizable Richard Foronjy who would appear opposite Mr. Pacino
in Brian DePalma’s Carlito’s Way twenty years later in another
elliptical narrative wherein the lead is shot and the story is told through
flashback. The arrest and confrontation is Mr. Pacino at his most explosive in
the film, his fury directed at both the mobster but more at his fellow officers
who joke around with this man who was previously jailed for killing another
police officer. Things take a dangerous turn when he goes outside of the
department to report the corruption and brings his findings to the New York
Times. Serpico finds himself transferred to a terrible neighborhood busting
drug addicts, leading him to the near fatal shot to the face, after which he
testifies before the Knapp Commission regarding the corruption.
Serpico opened in New York City on Wednesday,
December 5, 1973, almost three years shy of the actual murder attempt in
Williamsburg. It was Mr. Pacino’s first time working with producer Martin
Bregman and he would collaborate over the next twenty years on Sidney Lumet’s Dog
Dag Afternoon (1975), Brian DePalma’s Scarface (1983), Harold
Becker’s Sea of Love (1989), and Brian DePalma’s aforementioned Carlito’s
Way (1993). Serpico’s mother is played by actress Mildred Clinton. I have
only seen her in one other film, Alfred Sole’s Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)
wherein she played Mrs. Tredoni. She is deeply affecting in her small but
significant role. The remaining cast is a smorgasbord of players you will
recognize from the terrific roster of New York character actors that includes
Tracey Walter, Tom Signorelli, Kenneth McMillian, Tony LoBianco, Judd Hirsch, Sam
Coppola, Sully Boyar, F. Murray Abraham, M. Emmet Walsh, and Sal Corollo. Cornelia
Sharpe, who was producer Bregman’s girlfriend at the time (later his wife), is
given less screen time than she deserves. She went on to play the role of Nancy
Stillman in Peter Collinson’s 1974 film Open Season, a bizarre film that
has never seen the light of day on home video in the United States (but is
finally available to download on Vudu) reportedly because producer Bregman
wanted it keep out of circulation, but that’s another story.
Serpico is an example of the great New York
1970s filmmaking style that I miss so much, and the film is an authentic
product of its time. There is no way to fake 1970’s New York convincingly today.
There are too many details to capture, although HBO’s The Deuce did an
admirable job of it.
The
new Kino Lorber release of the film contains the following extras:
Disc
One: 4k Ultra High Definition (UHD)
The
first disc is a triple-layered pressing of the film in 4K UHD with the film
image scanned from the original camera negative and color-corrected.
Exclusive
to this release is an audio commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger,
Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. This is an extremely informative and
entertaining piece, including a discussion of great New York filmmakers (think Woody
Allen, Spike Lee, and Sidney Lumet). John G. Avildsen, who would go on to
direct Rocky for United Artists and win the Best Director Oscar, was the
original director, and he did not see eye-to-eye with producer Martin Bregman
and Dino De Laurentiis, leading to his dismissal. The film was edited by the
late great Dede Allen, who would also work with Mr. Lumet on Dog Day
Afternoon (1975, one of her greatest accomplishments) and The Wiz
(1979). Filmed on a low budget, scheduling was challenging as Paramount also
needed Mr. Pacino to return for The Godfather Part II.
Disc
Two: Standard Blu-ray
In
addition to the new transfer and running audio commentary, there are the
following extras:
Sidney
Lumet: Cineaste New York
– this piece runs 30:24 and is ported over from the special edition Studio
Canal standard Blu-ray release from 2010. Mr. Lumet, in a 2005 interview, talks
about his time growing up in New York City during the Depression; the changing
nature of what the city has to offer; how safe the city was at the time of the
interview; how he uses very little violence in his films; shooting on location
in the city, and how his characters relate to their environment.
Looking
for Al Pacino –
this piece runs 30:38 and is also ported over from the special edition Studio
Canal Blu-ray. It includes onscreen interviews with directors Jerry Schatzberg,
Michael Radford, and Jack Garfein, who all speak very highly of Mr. Pacino and
his method of acting.
Serpico
Reel to Reel – this
piece runs 09:58 and is ported over from the Paramount DVD from 2002 and
includes onscreen interviews with Martin Bregman and Sidney Lumet and how the
film came together once they were all onboard.
Inside
Serpico – this piece runs
12:55 and is also ported over from the Paramount DVD and focuses on the
astonishing way that the film was made. It began shooting in July 1973, was
shot in reverse continuity, edited during principal photography, and premiered
five months later. Absolutely unreal for a film of this caliber.
Serpico:
Favorite Moments – this
piece runs 2:37 and is also ported over from the Paramount DVD. Mr. Bregman
talks about his favorite scene, which comes near the film’s end when Serpico
refuses his gold shield. Mr. Lumet’s favorite scene is at the Hell’s Gate
Bridge when Serpico unleashes on his superior about going to outside investigative
agencies.
Photo
Gallery with Commentary by Director Sidney Lumet (4:24) is also from the Paramount DVD.
It focuses on Mr. Lumet’s desire to have no music in the film, something that
Mr. De Laurentiis completely disagreed with. Mikis Theodorakis was then
contracted to write a theme for the film that appears sporadically throughout
the film but is never overpowering.
The
following trailers are also included: Serpico, Michael Winner’s Death
Wish (1974), John Schlesinger’s Marathon Man (1976), Michael
Cimino’s Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Richard T. Heffron’s Newman’s
Law (1974), Peter Hyams’s Busting (1974), Stuart Rosenberg’s The
Laughing Policeman (1973), Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men (1957),
Sidney Lumet’s The Group (1966), and Sidney Lumet’s A Stranger Among
Us (1992).
Click here to order from Amazon