#peter maas

[oldshowbiz]

Public library in Cuba featuring the work of Ray Bradbury, Dashiell Hammett, Jaws by Peter Benchley and Serpico by Peter Maas - but not Jorge Luis Borges.

[agelessyears]

al pacino — serpico (1973)

[elfspectations]

Movie Review: Serpico (1973)

So this movie is based on a real NYPD cop from who was on the force from 1959 to 1971, Frank Serpico. Like 50 years ago he realized the police department was getting payouts from organized crime and he thought it was shady and didn't like it. He kept moving to different precincts because he thought it was just a problem with a few guys until he realized the whole NYPD was rotten from the top down. He tried to report the corruption from the inside to no avail. Serpico eventually realized that he was going to have to take drastic measures that would turn the rest of the police force against him to try to get justice.

This is one of those movies that was made so recently after the source material (only two years) that it ends on a note like ~and everything changed after that and all the corruption was cleared away~... but obviously we know that's bogus because 50 years later these problems still exist. The police are still corrupt, we still talk about police brutality in America.

Not to say this movie portrays Frank Serpico always as a hero, it does not. He is a human with flaws. He makes mistakes. It's a portrayal of a complex human in a difficult situation. Overall an interesting slice of life story. Makes me want to read more about the guy.

The movie is based on a book about his life called Serpico by Peter Maas.

[gregorygalloway]

Serpico was released in New York City on 5 December 1973 before wider release in January 1974.

Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler adapted Peter Maas's nonfiction book Serpico: The Cop Who Defied the System, which had been written with the cooperation with Frank Serpico, a New York City policeman who fought corruption within the department and ultimately became a whistleblower. Film rights for the book had been purchased before the book was published in March 1973.

Al Pacino initially rejected the part, but after meeting Serpico he accepted and continued to meet with Serpico in order to prepare for the role. John Avildson was hired to direct, but his increasing frustrations with the script, shooting locations, and other production issues led to his dismissal and Sidney Lumet was brought on to deliver a finished film in under 5 months (on a small budget and more than 100 different shooting locations spanning more than a decade of time - 1960-1971). Instead of working with completed footage (as is usual), editor Dede Allen cut the film as it was shot - Lumet would send her footage as it was shot and give Allen only a couple of days to edit the footage.

Serpico was a commercial success, while many of the real-life participants were critical, especially Serpico himself, for many fictionalized elements of the story. Al Pacino was nominated for Best Actor (which went to Jack Lemmon for Save the Tiger) and Salt and Wexler were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award (William Peter Blatty received the award for The Exorcist).

[adscinema]

Serpico - Sidney Lumet (1973)

Japanese Poster

[vsthepomegranate]

King of the Gypsies (1978)

by Frank Pierson

[veryslowreader]

The Valachi Papers by Peter Maas

The Sopranos: "The Test Dream"

[theoscarsproject]

Serpico (1973). An honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.

What a well structured, tightly told film! It’s the political thriller at it’s best – ramping up the stakes and exploring corruption in a really compelling way. Al Pacino is at his best in the title role, but the entire supporting cast delivers too. It’s a strong film that feels in a lot of ways more timely than ever. ACAB. 8/10.