CAST AND CREW

DIRECTOR
Sidney Lumet

WRITING CREDITS
Peter Maas (book)
Waldo Salt

CAST
Al Pacino Frank Serpico
John Randolph Chief Sidney Green
Jack Kehoe Tom Keough (7th Pct. Plainclothes Div.)
Biff McGuire Capt. Insp. McClain
Barbara Eda-Young Laurie (Frank's girlfriend)
Cornelia Sharpe Leslie Lane (Frank's girlfriend)
Tony Roberts Bob Blair
John Medici Pasquale (shoe repair shop employee)
Allan Rich Dist. Atty. Herman Tauber
Norman Ornellas Don Rubello (Serpico's partner)
Edward Grover Insp. Lombardo (as Ed Grover)
Albert Henderson Peluce
Hank Garrett Malone
Damien Leake Joey
Joseph Bova Potts (as Joe Bova)

RELATED LINKS
imdb

In 1970, police officer Frank Serpico electrified the Knapp Commission investigating the New York City Police Department by testifying that there were as many cops taking payoffs as there were crooks. Peter Maas's biography of Serpico formed the basis of the script by Waldo Salt (MIDNIGHT COWBOY) and Norman Wexler (SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER), and Al Pacino is the title character, an honest cop who refuses to go on the take.

Surrounded by corruption, Frank Serpico is distrusted and harrassed by fellow officers, who suspect him both for his honesty and for his countercultural lifestyle. When the double-dealing and persecution become too much, he tries to inform police commissioner White of the corruption within the department, but the response is discouraging. Frustrated, Serpico takes his story to the New York Times editors; the resultant scandal prompts the mayor to initiate a high-profile investigation (the Knapp Commission). Serpico is called to testify, and now both cops and criminals are gunning for him.