Storyline
The real-life struggle of an honest New York City cop against a corrupt system.
Directors
Cast
Al Pacino, Judd Hirsch, P.J. Benjamin, M. Emmet Walsh, F. Murray Abraham, Ted Beniades, John Brandon, Stephen Pearlman, Jay Rasumny, Tracey Walter, Tom Signorelli, Alan North, Damien Leake, Allan Rich, Nick Hardin, Tony Lo Bianco, James Tolkan, Richard Kuss, Jack Kehoe, James Bulleit, Frank Gio, Nathan George, Kenneth McMillan, Tony Roberts, Jaime Sánchez, Richard Foronjy, Albert Henderson, Mary Louise Weller, Sam Coppola, Val Bisoglio, John Randolph Jones, Biff McGuire, Cornelia Sharpe, Hank Garrett, John Medici, Barbara Eda-Young, Joseph Bova, Gene Gross, John Stewart, Woodie King Jr., Edward Grover, Norman Ornellas, Ed Crowley, Bernard Barrow, Sal Carollo, Mildred Clinton, Gus Fleming, Lewis J. Stadlen, John McQuade, John Lehne, George Ede, Charles White, Don Billett, Roy Cheverie, Marjorie Eliot, René Enríquez, Conard Fowkes, Trent Gough, Paul E. Guskin, George Loros, Tim Pelt, William Pelt, Franklin Scott, Ben Slack
Trailer
Reviews
100
A quintessential New York director made this quintessential New York movie in 1973, with Pacino at his best.
90
Chicago Reader
A virtuoso performance by Al Pacino and some expert location work by Sidney Lumet add up to a tour de force genre piece. (Review of Original Release)
90
The New York Times
It is galvanizing because of Al Pacino's splendid performance in the title role and because of the tremendous intensity that Mr. Lumet brings to this sort of subject. (Review of Original Release)
80
The A.V. Club
Director Sidney Lumet (working from a screenplay by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler) chooses not to press the superheroic aspect of his protagonist. Serpico is more street-level, tracing a decade of NYPD change--and refusal to change--through an episodic, often elliptical structure.
80
When all is said and done, Pacino is the riveting presence that makes the movie work and it is difficult to imagine any other actor in the part. (Review of Original Release)
