Serpico

It's Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon whom John Travolta memorably quotes in Saturday Night Fever, but it's a poster of Pacino as Frank Serpico that graces his wall. Between 1971-75, after which his career was sidetracked by Bobby Deerfield, Pacino was indeed the poster boy for an emerging generation of actors with a string of galvanizing performances: in The Panic in Needle Park, both Godfather films, Scarecrow, Dog Day Afternoon, and Serpico. Here, Pacino burns white hot as Frank Serpico, an honest, true-life New York undercover cop whose campaign against corruption on the force nearly cost him his life. While an ensemble of New York character actors (including Woody Allen regular Tony Roberts) add to the film's authenticity, the city itself is just as much of a star. Boasting a decent, if unexceptional DVD transfer, the disc does do justice to Sidney Lumet's gritty bio-pic with a few illuminating featurettes in which Lumet and producer Martin Bregman share their memories of working on the film, the challenges of bringing Serpico's sensational story to the screen, and favorite scenes. Highly recommended. (K. Lee Benson)