Written by Jennifer
March 02, 2009
I'm left with a crush on a man five inches shorter and 37 years older than me. That's not creepy when it's on someone as cool as Al Pacino, is it?
After watching Carlito's Way and seeing the tribute to Sidney Lumet on the Oscars, I went on a bit of an Al Pacino movie binge. He's one of those actors whose movies are so famous that you feel like you've seen them even when you haven't. As it turns out, I actually missed a huge, important chunk of his work including Serpico, Scarface, and, ahem, The Godfather. I know this is very very bad, but I'm of the generation who uses "hoo-ah!" as a normal part of speech instead of "Attica, Attica!". In a bold effort to correct this, it's been all Pacino all the time at my house.
Serpico actually serves as an interesting counterpoint to Carlito's Way. Both films are about men trying to do the right thing in life, but on opposite sides of the law. They also begin with the title character being shot, leaving the audience in agony for the duration of the movies: if only I could get to him and stop it from happening! If only I could nurse him back to health!
Frank Serpico (Pacino) becomes a police officer for all the right reasons, but immediately discovers that the "good" guys aren't much better than the scum on the street. To avoid paperwork, cops take credit for arrests made by other officers, and it seems that everyone in the entire NYPD accepts bribes from the mafia. Imagine Serpico's horror when he arrests a man who protests that he just paid the cops that morning.
He transfers to various departments in an effort to avoid the corruption, but it's the same everywhere he goes. When he tries to call attention to the situation, he only makes enemies. Serpico finds himself in a frightening and frustrating Catch-22, where it seems his life may depend on abandoning his morals. Even so, he never gives in.
Based on a true story, Serpico is both depressing and uplifting. Watching as the one truly decent character is nearly destroyed by a jaded and corrupt world is enough to make you want to go live in a cave for the rest of your life. One girlfriend announces that she's marrying another man while in the tub with Frank, and another gives up on the relationship because she's exhausted by his cause. She leaves him when he is most in need of support. God! Doesn't anybody have a soul in this filthy world?! Is it any wonder that Frank's best friends are his sheepdog, a white mouse, and a cockatoo?!
Ultimately Serpico's story is one of triumph, but it comes at great cost. The film is thought provoking, moving, and suspenseful, and Serpico was so damn attractive that now I'm left with a crush on a man five inches shorter and 37 years older than me. That's not creepy when it's on someone as cool as Al Pacino, is it?
