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Serpico



Sidney Lumet's 1973 crime drama Serpico remains one of the most influential cop movies - alongside Al Pacino's nuanced performance in a disturbing portrait of corruption and morality in the city that never sleeps.

A plainclothes street patrolman, Frank Serpico (Pacino) might be the best cop in New York, but his unwillingness to play dirty and give into police corruption of drugs, violence, and kickbacks his colleagues indulge in every day. When he decides to expose those around him, Frank finds himself a target, not just to the city's criminals, but his own peers.

Shot on location and based on real events, Serpico captures the grit of New York in a way no film has rivalled, not just for its toned down realism, but also the bleakness Lumet portrays within his hometown city with brutal cynicism with frank immediacy. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Serpico for the first time on Blu-Ray in the UK.

BLU-RAY ONLY EDITION

• New high-definition 1080p presentation
• Original mono and 5.1 surround soundtracks
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Three video documentaries: SERPICO: From Real to Reel; Inside SERPICO; and SERPICO: Favorite Moments
• Photo gallery with an audio commentary by director Sidney Lumet
• Original theatrical trailer
• 44-PAGE FULL-COLOUR BOOKLET containing a new and exclusive essay about the film by Karina Longworth, author of Al Pacino: Anatomy of an Actor; vintage interview material; and rare archival imagery

Interesting that the Lumet commentary wasn't carried over

Ha, I just had the French BD arrive a couple of days back. Is this a restoration done since then? The caps of the previous releases looked pretty good to me.

domino harvey wrote:Interesting that the Lumet commentary wasn't carried over

Even if it was only 4 minutes. I was hoping for more extras, especially since it's a shame Lumet never recorded a full commentary for this movie.

Serpico is a pretty major title, as far as the Paramount catalogue goes, and as such this is a really exciting acquisition. There's no telling what MoC could snag from Paramount.

Well I'm hoping for Looking for Mr. Goodbar & The Keep.

Will be getting this along with White Dog.

Not a word about Serpico in the thread. I finally got around to watching it for the first time this weekend and I'm up rewatching it. It's precisely the kind of film that needs to be showcased now. Lumet makes the early '70s New York City streets look as wide open with corruption as the Old West. I suppose that's really the film's appeal. It's not exactly High Noon in New York, but practically. Based on an actual story, Al Pacino plays an under cover cop bucking for detective who finds it nearly impossible to maintain his sense of integrity amid rampant corruption in the ranks of the NYPD. No one with a modicum of intelligence today, save the deluded President Elect, believes in Serpico's mantra of "cleaning up the streets", not at least without a consideration of the causes of inner city rot. Lumet puts the onus on everyone. No scapegoats nor boogeymen in this parable; mostly everyday people, in this case - cops- behaving badly as a matter of course. Think it'd make a great double bill with The Patriot.
Oh, and the long jumping- building top-to-building top sequence (copied to death) must have made its humorous debut here.