- Sidney Lumet’s Serpico is a superb crime procedural and a rich character study—the achievement here may be even greater for Pacino than it is for Lumet
- Pacino is just in the middle of one of the great five year stretches for an actor. Panic in Needle Park in 1971, The Godfather in 1972, this and Scarecrow in 1973, The Godfather Part II and Dog Day Afternoon in 1975… wow

Pacino carries the film- he’s in nearly every frame of the 130 minutes—there are a dozen scenes where he gets to erupt and flesh out this rich character. But this isn’t an over-the-top Devil’s Advocate Pacino either- here’s a ton of gradation here.
- Pacino carries the film- he’s in nearly every frame of the 130 minutes—there are a dozen scenes where he gets to erupt and flesh out this rich character. But this isn’t an over-the-top Devil’s Advocate Pacino either- here’s a ton of gradation here.
- Lumet has three really stunning uses of split diopter in the first 30 minutes (ok, the first two are stunning, the third with the girl in the classroom is just meh)- really nice shots—but then not used again the rest of the film. One is with the cop answering the phone in the first right of the frame, the second, the best shot in the film—is one with the “patrolman of the month” foreground left and Pacino’s Serpico in the background right. Lumet is editorializing here with this shot. Genius—because this is Serpico’s first day as a cop, and just after this scene this “patrolman of the month” is going to teach Serpico the first lesson in getting a kickback.

Lumet has three really stunning uses of split diopter in the first 30 minutes (ok, the first two are stunning, the third with the girl in the classroom is just meh)- really nice shots—but then not used again the rest of the film.

the best shot in the film—is one with the “patrolman of the month” foreground left and Pacino’s Serpico in the background right. Lumet is editorializing here with this shot. Genius—because this is Serpico’s first day as a cop, and just after this scene this “patrolman of the month” is going to teach Serpico the first lesson in getting a kickback.
- The entire opening is strong- Lumet uses parallel editing—mixing Serpico’s graduation from the academy with the bullet to the face hospital scene. After the editing sequence, we pick up with Serpico’s journey from leaving the graduation and starting out as a cop
- A really weak musical score—hurts the film
- Brick by brick—Lumet builds the procedural, detailing these dirty cops (acting like the Mafia almost really- an organized crime syndicate) and Pacino the character. The facial hair evolves as the film goes, his alter ego “Paco”- the tea, the earrings, the love of the ballet, opera, hats
- a standout blow-up volcanic scene is the argument with Tony Roberts—complex, tragic—
- 1970’s New York City is a rich character in the film—location shooting and you feel the impact and authenticity of it. Lumet is a New Yorker- countless locations used throughout
- A talented ensemble cast as well- Emmett Walsh, F. Murray Abraham (a decade before they’d be together again in Scarface).
- A massive hit in 1973
- Recommend/Highly Recommend border
drake i was wondering about your opinion on non visual oriented directors whose work depends on good scripts and great actors (not a coincidence that i am posting this on ‘Al Pacino’s’ Serpico.) who are some directors that you may consider like that and how would you come to their defense. i think of directors like ron howard, noah baumbach, elia kazan, lumet, david o russell, and maybe even mike nichols. kazan especially i think has on the waterfront which is a great film because the story and the great actors specifically brando. there are directors like griffith, welles, coppola and scorsese that get great performances but are also true visual auteurs. a beautiful mind could have been directed by shane black. what is your opinion on this subject
@m – well I have a page for all of these directors where I go into detail because they’re hard to categorize like this— all of them except Ron Howard who doesn’t make the top 250 directors list. If you’re asking me about great visual directors and cinema— totally agree with the Hitchcock quote you and I discussed the other day. However, I think this makes it look like there are the “haves” and “have nots” here a little more black and white than it actually is—I mean East of Eden from Kazan has some strong visuals. David O Russell for sure—Mike Nichols’ The Graduate may be as strong visually as anything made by Griffith outside of Intolerance. And although visually Shane Black could have directed A Beautiful Mind- he has a different voice and tone—it would be a different film (even if neither of them may have been worthy of a top 10 of the year slot)
Which Pacino performance is better? Serpico or Scarface?
@Malith- I thought you were asking others. I have a page here for Pacino http://thecinemaarchives.com/2018/07/11/the-6th-best-actor-of-all-time-al-pacino/
I really wish Pacino would have worked with Sidney Lumet again.He is so good in Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.I haven’t seen it.But would he have been a good fit for the lead role in Prince of the City(1981)?
@Anderson- I really wish he would have, too. I think Treat Williams is very good in Prince of the City but I would pay to see the version with Al Pacino. Pacino only made a total of five films in the entire 1980’s sadly
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