Serpico

What's the deal:  Before seeing this movie, I knew two things about "Serpico."  First, I remember the story my mom once told me about when she was growing up.  Her and a bunch of her friends went to go see it, but the theater box-office guy wouldn't sell her a ticket because he thought she was underage. 

Second, in the episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" entitled "Bums: Making a Mess All Over the City" Dennis and Frank buy an old cop car and drive around the city pretending to be officers and causing all kinds of trouble, Charlie "exposes their corruption."  While doing so, he wears a beard, poncho, hat and sunglasses and refers to himself as "Serpico." 

Charlie as Serpico

So I figured I should see the real thing.  It came on TCM several months ago and taped it for whenever I had some time. 

The movie tells the story of Frank Serpico, an idealistic New York City police officer who exposes a web of corruption and bribery in the department.  Supposedly it is based on a "true story."

The Real Frank Serpico, complete with beard/

So...

Things I liked:

1.  It's a classic.  I always enjoy watching famous movies and trying to figure out why they're famous.  So that was fun doing here.  It's good...  I also like that it hasn't been remade. 

2.  The building tension.  The movie does a really good job of getting slowly and steadily more and more tense.  Serpico refuses to be "on the take."  The other cops don't trust him.  He tries to tell his superiors what is going on, but everyone he goes to for help turns out to be in on the corruption as well.  He tries to go to the newspapers, but that doesn't work out either.  And every time he tries something else, his colleagues trust him less and less until it culminates in a gratifying showdown.  Cool stuff.

3.  It's good to see Pacino in something good, even if it is from 1973.  It's been sad to see the man who played Michael Corleone in movies like 88 minutes, Righteous Kill, Ocean's Thirteen, Two For the Money, Simone, and The Recruit.  Good grief, those were all terrible movies.  Serpico is the kind of movie that made him a star. 

4.  The guy who plays his chief is the same guy that plays Clark Griswold's father in Christmas Vacation.  Funny. 

Things I didn't.

1.  The love story.  There's some boring sub-plot where this whole stressful situation takes a toll on her personal life and love life blah blah blah.  I just didn't care much for it. 

2.  The movie's about 20 minutes too long.  Cut out the above-mentioned love sub plot, and we're good to go.