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Serpico: Movie Review

Brayden Scheeler

University of West Florida

CJE4110

Mrs. Nesli Suhi Moore

October 24, 2022

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Serpico: Movie Review

In 1973, Serpico was released to the world and shows the difficulties and struggles of

everyday life as a police officer. The movie depicts ethical dilemmas, behavioral issues, and

details of everyday life that a police officer must either overcome or succumb to. From the very

beginning of the movie, the first thing that the viewer hears is a police siren blaring, followed by

a bloody and shot up cop. This is just a quick glance at what is to come and foreshadows the end

of the movie in a bleak way.

Right off the bat, at the very beginning of the movie, Serpico is faced with an ethical

dilemma. While getting something to eat, him and his partner are offered a free meal in exchange

of for the officers overlooking double parking offenses for his deliveries. While his partner tells

him to just accept the food, Serpico does not want to accept it and wants to pay. Immediately, the

viewers see that his partner is a grass eater, or someone who accepts grafts when it comes their

way. Then in the very next thing, a possible rape call comes over the radio. Serpico wants to take

the call, but his partner says to leave it alone. Quickly, the audience finds that the two police

officers are very different, and it seems like the department is becoming more corrupt in every

scene. Serpico seems to be trying his hardest to be an honest cop that wants to help his

community, but the department is also trying their hardest to make him a straight shooter. They

want him to turn a blind eye to the other officers and keep him in line, but he refuses to be

coerced that low. Once Serpico realizes how far up the corruption goes, he knows that he is in

danger.

Most of the movie is about the entire police department taking money for themselves and

trying to convince Serpico to take the money. The problem for the department is that they can

not trust Serpico since he is not taking the money. This, obviously, puts a lot of pressure on
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Serpico because he wants to be a cop more than anything but wants to be honest about it.

Throughout the movie, the audience can see the pressures of the job that get put on Serpico

because of his character development. At the beginning, he is happy and cheerful. Then he

becomes angry, bitter, and resentful. As for the officers that are taking the money and are full on

corrupt, some of them barely feel remorseful. Serpico becomes very anxious and paranoid, he

even gets a new gun to protect himself from his own department. His lover leaves him, and he

runs out of options as he finds more corruption everywhere he turns. The movie ends where it

began, with Serpico being shot and laying in the hospital bed.

While this movie is set almost 50 years ago, it still shows the audience today of what the

life of a police officer is like. The fact that the entire police department is involved in corruption

shows that it tests the officers’ integrity every day. Everyone has had to deal with peer pressure

but nothing to the extent of what Serpico goes through. Imagining how tough that pressure must

be when other officers are threatening to kill you if you tell the truth is immense. To turn down

money and reject the departments code of silence takes a great amount of integrity in Serpico’s

case. He loses his lover, gets shot in the face and turns down a gold shield over the corruption in

the department.

The movie deals with a cop trying to be as honest as he can while trying to stay alive and

expose a corrupt police force. Serpico goes through many difficulties through this film, including

ethical dilemmas and behavioral issues while also dealing with everyday life. All he wants to do

is be a cop and protect his community, but his own departments corruption prevents him from

doing that. Serpico gives the world a look into what a police officer’s life was like almost 50

years ago, and anyone can see, it was not an easy one.
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References

Lumet, Sidney, director. Serpico. Paramount Pictures Release, 1973.