Serpico

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Sidney Lumet is one of my favorite directors, as can be seen by the number of his films I have analyzed. Serpico (1973), based on a true story, is another one of his gritty movies that focuses on a character in a crisis situation. Before we see anything visual, there is a wailing siren, warning us that danger is close by, not just in an immediate sense but also in the world at large. There is a shot of Officer Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) bleeding from wounds as he is rushed to the hospital. So we know from the beginning the danger that Serpico will encounter. When the police precinct gets the word he was shot, the first question asked is whether a cop did it. An officer responds by saying he knows six policemen who would want to shoot him. The opening quickly centers the narrative on how Serpico has rattled the law enforcement system in New York City. His story is about an outsider who becomes a whistle-blower in a profession that can get away with using the threat of deadly force to protect its own corruption.

Chief Sidney Green (John Randolph), who became Serpico’s friend, was notified by the New York Times about Serpico being shot. This fact lets us know the police officer has been in the news. Green goes to the hospital and wants a departmental inquiry focusing on the officers who were with Serpico when he was shot, since the possibility of a conspiracy against Serpico is suspected. Green also wants a twenty-four-hour guard placed on Serpico, since Green knows he is a target. These precautions demonstrate the perilous state of Serpico’s existence.

While being treated at the hospital, Serpico has flashbacks of when he started on the police force. He listens to a speech that says cops must respect the dignity and worth of every individual. The new recruits are told they will need integrity and courage, and that their characters will be on the line. These words become ironic since Serpico’s tale shows how he had to have “courage” to expose the lack of “integrity” that was rampant in a job that supposedly valued noble attributes.

There are more flashbacks of Serpico’s police academy graduation ceremony showing his family celebrating. The soundtrack includes mandolin music reflecting Serpico’s proud Italian background. He receives an assignment of duty and is immediately initiated into how graft is a daily part of a cop’s life in New York City. His partner takes him to a deli, and when Serpico orders some beef which is more expensive than what was suggested, he gets a sandwich of all meat fat. His partner says the food is free so he shouldn’t order what is costly. The free lunch is in exchange for allowing “double-parking on deliveries.” Right away we see how cops relax the laws for their own benefit. Serpico says he’ll pay for what he wants, but the partner says he should just take what he deli owner offers him. The exchange of favors is so entrenched that any deviation from the system is considered a threat to the operation.

On a night patrol another partner tells him to forget about a rape call since the jurisdiction is borderline. Serpico’s upstanding desire to help contrasts with the other policeman’s indifference toward the plight of the victim. Serpico drives to the scene and they find some guys trying to rape a woman. One man threatens to cut the woman with a knife. Once the cops back off, the attackers run. Serpico chases and apprehends one of the men. At the station, the woman tells her traumatic story while the captured man looks upset by the story. The interrogation of the prisoner takes place in private, and the detective in charge kicks the man in the groin and beats him with a phone book. The detective then asks an uncomfortable Serpico if he “wants a piece of this.” Serpico is disgusted by the brutality he has witnessed, and leaves saying he’ll fill out the arrest card. The question being raised here is although the man in custody was present at the crime scene, does that mean those enforcing the laws should stoop to violence as part of the arrest procedure?

Serpico uses a different approach. He talks to the guy he caught after he has been worked over. He tells him that he doesn’t like that he was beaten and takes him for coffee. Serpico knows the man just went along with the other men, but probably didn’t mean to do anything since he wasn’t found assaulting the woman. Serpico tells him that he owes no allegiance to those who left him to get arrested. If he doesn’t provide information about the actual rapists, he will be the one taking the blame. Here, Serpico uses reason instead of force to get the prisoner to talk. The man takes him to a playground and identifies the perpetrators. Serpico can’t get back-up because the officer whose case it is isn’t available. Serpico apprehends the men on his own, and when he gets to the station, the veteran cops won’t give him credit for the collar since a patrolman getting credit for an arrest doesn’t fit their seniority system of how acknowledgement is dispensed. Actual merit doesn’t factor in here. They use technicalities against Serpico, saying he left his post, and he’ll be lucky not to get a reprimand. These cops want things done their way, and anyone, no matter how well he performs his duties, who goes against their corrupt system is punished, not rewarded.

In the beginning of the film, Serpico is a man with close ties to his neighborhood, as he has fun with the local kids playing in the water from the fire hydrant. He stops at the shoe repair store and his friend Pasquale (John Medici) is there and they talk about Serpico not showing up at a dinner with “Marianne.” But Serpico says her whole family consists of cops, and he suspects, humorously, that so is she. Since he is around cops all day he doesn’t want to socialize with them after work hours. Even though he admits his job has some “problems,” his response is lighthearted, and we see his appealing sense of humor here and elsewhere. But, it eventually is eclipsed by his frustration with dealing with the department’s lack of “integrity” that it espoused, and he becomes more isolated.

He attends a station meeting where there is an announcement about a position dealing with fingerprint readings that can lead to a detective’s gold shield. So, he joins the BCI, the Bureau of Criminal Identification. The change in his job illustrates how Serpico wants to move away from the day-to-day cop activities he found as being severely compromised. At his new assignment Serpico is criticized for being too thorough in his work, as his diligence reflects badly on other cops who enjoy being slackers. One policeman, Barto (Ed Crowley), calls him a “weirdo cop,” since anybody who doesn’t conform to the standardized behavior of others is considered a deviate. In this way, the movie becomes a microcosm for the anti-establishment attitudes that were present in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Time has passed, and Serpico now has a mustache, which is longer in the following scene, along with his hair. The longer hair growth makes him acceptable on the streets as he works undercover. But, it is also an external manifestation of Serpico’s divergence from the accepted appearance of the other policemen, whose actions he finds to be reprehensible.

To further illustrate how Serpico is not your typical cop, he enjoys singing Italian opera in his car. In a short scene he encounters a man and a woman selling some puppies. They realize since he is asking questions about how they acquired the dogs that he may turn them in for selling them. So, they say the dogs are theirs and he can have one at no charge. Instead of receiving something for free, as his fellow officers do, he pays five dollars for the dog. His new apartment is in Greenwich Village, near New York University, a place populated by artists and students. His moving to this counter-culture area of the city shows his desire to distance himself from what others want him to be. 

He takes classes at the college, something that is also out of the ordinary for a New York policeman. On the reading list of one course is Don Quixote, the self-made knight who wants to live by a chivalrous code, a telling choice for Serpico, who also wants to adhere to noble rules of behavior. He is attracted to a classmate, Leslie (Cornelia Sharpe), and gives her a ride to her job on his motorcycle, which he calls his horse, continuing the “Man of La Mancha” theme. She sees he is wearing a gun, which he jokes about, since he doesn’t want to scare her away in this time of hippies, by saying he is a lion tamer with the circus. He then does tell her he is a cop, which she finds difficult to believe, given his interests and behavior. In an elliptical fashion we see the two going to one of her dance recitals and she shows him ballet positions on the street which he jokingly copies. Later, they go into his apartment, so we know with just a few shots the two have started a relationship.

That scene contrasts with the next one at the BCI where Serpico’s cultural curiosity is scorned by fellow employees who deride him for the various esoteric books he reads. One book is about Isadora Duncan, who he says to a fellow worker was a ballet dancer. The colleague perverts “ballet dancer” to “belly dancer,” transforming a reference to art into something with a sexual connotation. Serpico admits that he has been to a ballet, and shows that from the first dancing position, one can do the other actions. He jokes by leaping through the file cabinet stacks, and adding a bit of a gay flare to his speech. Lt. Steiger (James Tolkan) observes his dancing, and is alarmed by what he probably considers, unconventional, effeminate behavior, which would be scandalous given the time period. Serpico goes to the men’s room and Detective Potts (Joseph Bova) is there, being a Peeping Tom, telling Serpico to turn out the lights so as not to spoil his binocular using activity. Steiger comes enters the men’s room and confronts Serpico, accusing him of performing oral sex on Potts. Steiger says he recently found a pair of shorts with semen on them in one of the bathroom stalls. So, what is this guy’s weird obsession with what goes on in the men’s room? Does he see himself as being the bodily fluid cop instead of a policeman performing regular law enforcement duties?

Serpico introduces himself to Captain McClain (Biff McGuire). McClain, who seems congenial, says Steiger won’t file a complaint against Serpico so as not to embarrass the unit. But, the captain says having Steiger as an enemy will not be good for Serpico’s career. As the story progresses, Serpico accumulates many enemies for being a different kind of cop. Serpico tells McClain he has been at the BCI, and contrary to what he was told, he sees no advancement potential there. He tells McClain that he would like to be reassigned, but back as a uniformed cop. McClain says he’ll see what he can do. He hands Serpico literature about his Catholic retreats, which shows him to inappropriately mix church and state while proselytizing as a superior officer. When asked if he is a Catholic, Serpico evades the question so as not to show disrespect by saying he was “baptized,” which only points to what his parents did when he was a baby, and not what spiritual path he has chosen as an adult. McClain’s unethical actions that come to light later show him to be a moral hypocrite.

There is a quick shot of Serpico walking with Leslie and his now full grown dog, which again shows the passage of time. He and Leslie go to a counter-culture party of would-be artists who have to make a living doing mainstream jobs. Serpico notes to Leslie that “all your friends are on their way to bein’ someone else,” which indicates that there is a portion of the population that wants to transition into something more radical, but may never reach that goal. Serpico doesn’t fit in well in his job or in his off-duty world. Some seem to be put off by Leslie introducing him as a policeman, since cops were considered the enemy of anti-establishment types during the Vietnam War era. He tells Leslie not to introduce him as a cop, saying he would rather make the announcement himself. He knows his job title introduced prematurely fosters prejudicial assumptions which preclude getting to know him as a complete person. And he is a very humorous fellow to know. One man says that Leslie is attracted to intellectual types, and since she is with him, Serpico says she is very perceptive. He also tells another woman that he comes from a long line of sheep dog owners, and the family crest is an image of a “sheepdog pissing into a gondola.”

Serpico shows up at a new assignment that McClain probably placed him at looking very different than the other cops, wearing a floppy hat and loose-fitting clothes. The desk cop immediately tells him to lose the mustache and cut his hair so he will fit in. He’s told to see Captain Tolkin (Gene Gross). Serpico justifies his look by saying it allows him to be a more authentic undercover cop. Tolkin agrees and says he can keep his appearance. But, in a scene where Serpico goes after a crook, he is fired upon by police since he looks like what the cops would label as a degenerate. He yells at the incompetent policeman, telling him that he opened fire without looking or giving a warning. The cop, not sorry for his poor, prejudicial judgment, complains they will have to fill out a great deal of paperwork for the mix-up, and asks for the collar to offset the problem. Serpico is upset but lets them have the arrest. This example fits in with the general lack of honesty and poor skills of the New York police force during the time depicted.

In Vice, they pass out marijuana cigarettes to sample for the purpose of recognizing the aroma and disorienting effect of the drug. This practice seems like an odd form of instruction since the officers are told to break the law that they are supposed to enforce. It is funny to see Serpico and his friend, Bob Blair (Tony Roberts) stoned and assaulting a candy and potato chip machine. Blair was able to bypass four years as a plainclothes cop and gets his gold shield by being on the Mayor’s investigative team. Blair says he makes it his business to know people that can benefit him. Although not illegal, Serpico sees this maneuvering to bypass what others must undergo as being unfair, and probably, in his mind, another form of unethical behavior. Blair says while Serpico knows the streets, Blair knows how the politics of the department works, the latter not conforming to accepted standards of good behavior.

Leslie tells Serpico that if he doesn’t marry her, she’s going to Amarillo, Texas and marry another guy. He wonders why she is abandoning her commitment to her career as a New York City dancer. She says a girl has to get married “sometime.” He correctly points out that “sometime” is way off into the future for her. He seems to be more of a feminist than she is, since he doesn’t see the importance of caving into the standard social requirement of marriage. This scene strengthens the depiction of Serpico as a rebel against conformity.

Serpico keeps jumping around, hoping to find a place in the police department where he can fit in. On the first day at a new precinct, a cop hands Serpico his share of graft money. He takes it to Blair, who says he can start an investigation. Serpico is smart enough to know that he needs protection for exposing corruption. Blair says they can bring it to Inspector Kellogg (John McQuade), who is the second highest ranking person in Investigations. He owes Blair a favor for helping Kellogg get his job. Kellogg is eating a meal fit for a king as he talks about the kickbacks in the old days. The opulence of the meal suggests he may have taken bribes then, and still is. Kellogg wonders why Serpico took the envelope containing money from a stranger. Serpico seems confused, suggesting that he is reporting an illegal incident, but he is being questioned as to his behavior. Kellogg seems to imply that Serpico should only have been looking out for himself, an attitude that is the opposite of what is supposed to be a policeman’s duty. Kellogg says if he reports the infraction, Serpico will be brought up in front of a grand jury. Serpico doesn’t want that and Kellogg says he understands since if word got out, Serpico would be found floating in the East River. Instead of wanting to help, Kellogg seems to be trying to scare Serpico so he won’t proceed further. Kellogg says the other alternative is just to forget about the bribes. In effect, the high-ranking police official, who should set a standard for proper behavior, only offers an unethical alternative. Without any help from his superior, Serpico gives his share of the money to his sergeant who says he’ll donate the cash.

The unsavory business he experienced so far does not stop Serpico from being socially engaging. He encounters an attractive neighbor, Laurie (Barbara Eda-Young) and they flirt humorously. She says she works at a hospital and can’t visit with him when they first meet. He says call in sick, since that would fit with where she works. She says she is dedicated to her job and most men don’t get that. He gives just the right response by saying “What do they know?” She compliments him on his garden. He notes that there is a saying (which he just makes up) that goes, “If you love a man’s garden, you gotta love the man.” The phrase seems to be almost biblical, since he seems to be saying whatever you sow, so shall you reap. The Golden Rule implication here is that if a person treats others well then that benevolence will be reciprocated. 

Serpico goes back to McClain, saying he has to get out of his current precinct because the other cops will be suspicious of him for returning the payoff. He had put in an application for Narcotics, but that department assumes everyone who is in the plainclothes service is on the take, so they denied his transfer. The greed is like a poison that spreads even to the innocent, since Serpico is considered guilty by association. McClain comments that Serpico has a tendency toward “self-pity,” which is a belittling of Serpico’s situation, since he isn’t exaggerating how he is constantly asked to compromise his principles.

Serpico is now romantically involved with the neighbor, Laurie, and he gets a call from McClain while they are together. Serpico’s lack of trust is growing and he finds it necessary to protect himself by taping his phone conversations. McClain says he talked to Inspector Palmer (Bernard Barrow) in the Bronx and McClain says that Serpico can transfer there since Palmer said his precinct was “clean.” Palmer said that Serpico will fit in well since he speaks Spanish and has the look of an undercover cop. Serpico now has a full beard. One could say that as he gets hairier physically, so does his situation.

Serpico meets an old friend named Tom Keough (Jack Kehoe) at his new assignment. Keough takes him to a bar to shake down a gangster, and he gets $200 from the man. He wants to share it with Serpico, who realizes he can’t escape the corruption. Keough says the precinct received a call informing them that Serpico doesn’t accept money. Relocating to another office can’t protect Serpico since the dirty cop network is everywhere. Keough says if he isn’t on the take, the other cops can’t trust him, suggesting that Serpico can inform on them without worrying about being prosecuted. It is ironic that these cops value the trust among thieves which violates the trust placed on them by the public. (Even a small thing like Serpico drinking tea instead of coffee when these two are together shows how Serpico comes across as different from his fellow cops). In answer to a question, Serpico says that it would depend on what a cop did as to whether he might report that person. Keough says that was the wrong answer, suggesting there can be no exceptions when it comes to turning other policemen in. Keough downplays any infractions, saying it’s not like they’re making money off of drugs, as if it’s okay for cops to break only certain laws. His argument is that they aren’t hurting anybody, but the movie argues the problem is that they are acting unlawfully by allowing criminals to break the law depending on how much they are compensated. Keough adds a racial bigotry element by saying they don’t let African Americans or Latinos get away with anything, because they are “dumb and sloppy,” and might implicate the cops by their actions. So, it seems to be acceptable to collude with criminals based on how organized they are in order to avoid detection of wrongdoing. Not getting caught is what rules here, and not only do these dishonest cops make money each month, they receive a “severance” amount when they leave the division.

Serpico tells Laurie he admired cops when he was young because when something happened in the neighborhood the police came and then the crowds would part, which conjures up the image of a God-directed Moses parting the sea. Serpico felt that the police knew what was going on, sort of like they were mysterious heroes. Because he admired the profession for so long, and now he exists in this upside-down world where wrongdoing is the accepted norm, he feels “guilty” for not taking bribes. She is not surprised about the corruption, saying everybody knows about cops, which points to how his naive nature blinded him to reality. She asks him if he heard of the story of The Wise King. There was a well in a kingdom, and a witch poisoned it. The inhabitants drank from it, and went crazy. The King didn’t drink from the well and all of the others said the King was crazy, until he drank from the well and acted like everyone else. Then all his subjects said that the king regained his reason. The implied moral is that just because one conforms to what so many others are doing doesn’t make that behavior right. So, Serpico’s independent stance may be in the minority, but that doesn’t make it less righteous.

Keough introduces Serpico to his new partner, Don Rubello (Norman Ornellas). Serpico is really adding to his outsider image by wearing a hat that looks like a lampshade, and a poncho, while playing with a pet mouse. To these down-to-earth cops, he probably looks like a Martian. Serpico kids Rubello that the mouse sniffs out heroin. Rubello says he heard of that, trying to look informed, but showing his ignorance. Rubello tells him upfront later that he collects the bribes for the division along with two other “bagmen.” Rubello is driving and howls and laughs as he goes after an African American male for not paying his protection money. Rubello enjoys torturing the man, sticking his face in a toilet as the man chokes. This scene shows how when rules don’t apply to the cops, there is an open invitation for cruel men to indulge their sadistic nature.

Rubello has an apartment that he keeps in connection with his illicit activity, telling Serpico that he will get some women for them to have a party. This episode again illustrates why Serpico can’t evade the moral sewer that surrounds his job as a cop. Serpico tells Rubello that he’s not broke, nor does he have a family, so he doesn’t need the money. He argues why should he stick his neck out accepting bribes and risk getting caught. Rubello says he sticks his neck out among the cops for not taking the money. As the story continues, we find Serpico stuck in a no-win situation. Rubello says he’ll hold the money on the side for him in case Serpico changes his mind.

Serpico meets again with McClain who says he contacted Commissioner Delaney (Charles White) about the corruption. Delaney said he wants Serpico to stay where he is, to be his “eyes and ears,” and was glad a man of integrity was on the force. But, by making him stay put without trying to clean house, Delaney puts Serpico in a precarious position, which is what Delaney might want, hoping the problem will go away if Serpico is eliminated on the job. Serpico is becoming more fearful and realizes the danger he is being put in by, of all people, the head of the police department, a man who should be beyond reproach.

Keough and his pals seem to spend much more time into collecting bribes than they do actually doing their jobs, stressing again how what is occurring is the opposite of what is supposed to be happening. Rubello has been transferred, so Keough introduces Serpico to a new partner, Al Sarno (Ted Beniades). While on the streets, the neighbors yell out that Sarno is the new bagman. The citizens in the neighborhood know it’s all a big phony show that the police are there to help them since they are really exploiting the criminal situation. Sarno looks stressed out because he doesn’t like being part of the corruption. Sarno shows Serpico a photo of his child, and says he tried to get out of the seedy side of the job, but the other cops put so much pressure on him, he had to give in. Sarno tries to give Serpico his payment, but Serpico refuses to accept the cash. Sarno calls him a “nut.” Like in Laurie’s story, here Serpico is the sane person who is considered crazy if he doesn’t act like the others.

Serpico hasn’t heard anything from Delaney, who is most likely just waiting for him to get eliminated. He tells McClain he wants to talk with Delaney, but McClain now bails on him, too, saying he has done all he can, which shows how difficult it is to fight this all-encompassing corruption. Serpico is with Laurie and Blair when McClain’s phone call takes place. Blair says they can go outside the police department because of the enormity of the problem. He has his political connection, a man that helped him before, named Jerry Berman (Lewis J. Stadlen), who is an assistant to the mayor. Blair says Berman “really cares,” but Serpico is cynical now, as he has heard this line before.

They meet with Berman. He is astonished that the payoffs amount to about $250,000 a year, and that Delaney and McClain have done nothing to stop the problem. Serpico urges that there should be a real investigation. Berman says he admires Serpico for coming forward and is excited about exposing the unlawful behavior among the police. He says he is going to the mayor, which Serpico later announces to Laurie with glee. That exhilaration is deflated by the next scene where Berman glumly says he “couldn’t be any more embarrassed.” He was told that there are riots expected in the upcoming summer and the mayor can’t afford to alienate the police department with charges of wrongdoing. Serpico, his hopes dashed again, walks out of the meeting. When those who are supposed to uphold the law are themselves criminals, the well-being of society as a whole is threatened because there is nobody to arrest those that do the arresting. 

Blair follows Serpico to his place after he storms out of the meeting with Berman. Serpico is disgusted with Blair’s string of connected big shots who do nothing. Blair criticizes Serpico for being naive about how the system works. Blair now suggests that they contact the New York Times. His position seems to be that if you can’t fix things within the organization, go outside it, and the press is the only alternative to fighting the enemies of the people. But, Serpico is angry because Blair just wants to expose him to more people, and that puts Serpico in danger with the crooked cops. They end their confrontation with anger as Serpico tells Blair he doesn’t trust him, which shows what a sad state that Serpico has sunken to, when the situation has warped him to the point that he feels even his closest friend can’t be relied upon. Serpico’s anger spills out onto Laurie, who lives with him now, as he yells about the place looking messy. She cries, seeing how her once kind lover is turning into a person filled with anger.

Serpico now has a parrot. He seems to get on better with animals than people, as he connected with his dog and pet mouse, too. Laurie tells him to come to bed, but he would rather feed his bird. Serpico is replacing people with animals as his friends, since he feels he can trust his pets more than humans. He does kiss the sleeping Laurie before going out, showing he cares about her, but his affection seems to only be expressible in secret, when she is not awake. Later she tells him that he alternates between exploding with rage, going over the same job problem again and again, or else he is “catatonic,” unresponsive in lulls when he shuts down between rants. She searches for some other choices, and wants him to get some relief by getting out, maybe going to a movie. But he just takes out his anger on her more, saying she isn’t realizing how dangerous it is for him if the cops found out he was trying to expose him. She is torn apart because she says she loves him, wants to marry him and have his kids, and hates to see him so miserable. She asks why doesn’t he quit the police force, and he counters with why doesn’t she get out of their relationship. She says she has thought about it, and he tells her she should leave. He has become a total outsider, a loner, driven to isolation even from those that care about him, so deep has this corruption undermined his once emotionally loving, accessible personality.

He meets with a group of other plainclothes cops, including Keough. They ask about Rubello, who apparently was pocketing Serpico’s shares instead of holding it for him. The other cops say that Serpico can accept the payoffs and give his shares to charity. That suggestion doesn’t ease Serpico and he still refuses to accept payments. He most likely believes he would wrongly still be receiving illegal bribes even if he later gave the money away, and the corrupt practices would still be going on even if he isn’t reaping any economic gain. Keough decides that they will split Serpico’s shares, and with a savage tone tells Serpico he is a “schmuck” for remaining a threat to their scheme.

Serpico learns from a snitch about a connected Italian mobster, Corsaro (Richard Foronjy), who is a loan shark. The Italians are the ones that Keough said work well with the cops on the take, so Serpico’s action of bringing him into the station after he catches the man collecting money just gets him into more trouble with his fellow policemen. Fellow cop Smith (Nathan George) takes Corsaro upstairs and the other plainclothes officers socialize with the man. Serpico goes about the business of locking the guy up, and when Corsaro laughs at him, Serpico goes into a rage, violently releasing his contained anger. He rips off Corsaro’s clothes while searching him and slams him around the room. Keough says Corsaro is okay, and Serpico screams at him to stay out of it. When Corsaro’s record is brought to Serpico he says that this “okay” man did fifteen years in prison for “killing a cop.” Keough’s prior statement that the cops on the take were not hurting anyone was a false claim. In this scene we have the height of hypocrisy where the police, for money, allow someone who killed one of their own to buy his protection from prosecution for crimes committed.

Serpico meets with McClain again and Serpico tells him he wants to get out of his current assignment, even if means going back to wearing a uniform. Serpico paces back and forth, like a caged wild animal, seeking freedom from the prison that seems to be closing in on him. McClain seems upset that Serpico hasn’t heard from the Commissioner. But for Serpico, it’s the same old story, where people seemed concerned and then nothing gets done. After he tells McClain that he went outside the department for help, McClain is incensed, saying we “wash our own laundry.” But, Serpico angrily responds by saying, “The reality is we do not wash our own laundry - it just gets dirtier.” The longer an infection stays in place, there is more of a chance that it will fester, and spread. Their meeting ends in anger which is how all of Serpico’s confrontations now culminate as he keeps banging into dead ends.

Inspector Palmer, sitting with the cops on the take, tells Serpico that higher-ups Daley (George Ede) and Gilbert (John Lehne) want to see him. The policemen look at Serpico like he’s on trial. In Palmer’s office, the bosses act like they haven’t heard anything about his corruption complaints. They ask what outside agencies has he gone to. So, Serpico knows that McClain, the supposedly upstanding religious man, told them what Serpico said. Serpico’s look shows how he sees now that his fellow officers know he has tried to expose them, and he realizes his life is in immediate danger. When he says it isn’t relevant about to whom he has spoken, they ask if he will cooperate with them in an internal investigation. Serpico says haltingly, trying to be careful about how he answers, that he doesn’t see how the department can properly investigate itself. Then he is asked if he would participate in an impartial investigation. He says yes, but expresses that he just wants to go someplace where he can do his job. He wants to limit his involvement, and his vulnerability.

Commissioner Delaney gets a confirmation from Daley and his colleagues at a meeting that a full-scale investigation is warranted based on Serpico’s allegations. But Delaney doesn’t want Headquarters to handle it, trying to basically thwart any real objective scrutiny, and wants his subordinates to take the brunt of the responsibility for nipping the problem in the bud before it becomes a public embarrassment. Delaney admits that McClain did mention something about Serpico’s claims, but that is all he says, as he probably feels no sense of guilt or responsibility about not taking the claim seriously earlier. There is a meeting with Serpico who provides them with a number of locations where payouts are made, and he tells them that Officer Smith said originally he was stashing Serpico’s shares. They talk about transferring Smith, but Serpico says he is the one that needs to be transferred for protection. The bosses seem more put out by the bureaucratic machinations of conducting their inquiry as opposed to Serpico’s safety.

Serpico’s fellow cops frisk him to make sure he isn’t wearing a wire. He tells the bosses that he won’t wear one because he would then have to testify to corroborate the recording, which he doesn’t want to do in order to keep his profile as low as he can. He is introduced to District Attorney Tauber (Allan Rich), who, like others, praises Serpico for his integrity but secretly just wants Serpico’s complaints to go away to avoid any aggravation. Tauber wants Serpico to testify in front of a grand jury. Serpico tells him that he won’t do it as he feels he already is a target for retribution. He sees Tuber’s talk as a token gesture to just blame a couple of cops to make the department look like it’s cleaning up its act. He sees the longstanding corrupt system as an ongoing threat.

He comes home one day and Laurie has cleaned out her stuff. She asks to meet at a restaurant to avoid a scene, but he shouts anyway, and Laurie’s face looks like she is getting physically struck, showing how verbal abusiveness can be quite painful. Serpico then quiets down, but she says that there is no resolution in sight to his problem, and she knows that if he quits the force, he will blame her because he has said in the past that she didn’t want him to be a cop. He tells her that she shouldn’t leave the man she loves and with whom she will have children. But she points out that he didn’t say that before, and she sees through the ploy, noting he won’t say those words once she comes back. She sees him as being immersed in the role of a solitary martyr, wallowing in his misery. She remembers when he was loving and the change in him is too much for her to handle. She runs out and even though he pleads, she firmly says, “It’s finished!” He has now alienated even the one person who loves him. But, many times a person on a crusade for justice suffers personal losses, it being very difficult to accommodate the needs of both public and private demands.

In a meeting, Chief Green pressures Serpico about testifying. Serpico says he no longer has a friend in the department. Green makes it clear that he can’t have it both ways if he’s going to stand up for what’s right. He says, “I’ve been putting cops away for thirty years,” a statement that shows that fighting corruption is inherent in the system. His job has made his name, “an obscenity to every shithouse wall in every precinct in the city.” He says he has this nightmare where, being a Jew at a St. Patrick’s Day parade populated by Irish cops, he has “a coronary, and 9000 cops march happily over” his body. Green tells Serpico that the bottom line is that the only way to get the indictments is if he testifies.

Keough, having heard that Serpico may go before a grand jury, and pretending to act like a friend, tells Serpico that he could get hurt on the job if he testifies. He says that other cops may not back him up in an armed conflict, or might send him in first enough times at a crime scene that he gets killed. Serpico just thanks Keough for the information, but Keough curses him, because he was most likely hoping the threat would cause Serpico to back away from testifying.

At the grand jury, one of the jurors wants to know why Serpico didn’t come forward earlier, and Serpico wants to answer the question. But DA Tauber says the question is not pertinent to the proceedings and Serpico should not be considered derelict in his duties. In reality, Tauber doesn’t want it to be revealed that Serpico did inform the proper authorities, and nothing was done about the situation earlier. After he is dismissed as a witness, Serpico tells Tauber that he is limiting the direction of the prosecution, as he feared, to just a few cops in one section of the city, and is not showing how widespread the corruption is, and that the bosses sanction it, or else it couldn’t flourish. Tauber tells Serpico he has integrity, and he will get a gold shield for his courage. That goal is what Serpico originally wanted, but now that gold has been tarnished by the criminal actions he has witnessed. He has been putting himself in danger for a purpose that transcends his own advancement. Serpico says he is a “marked man” and the sacrifice so far isn’t paying off. Tauber says he’s arranged a transfer for him, but Serpico responds in a darkly comic manner by saying, “Where to? China?” since he isn’t safe anywhere in the NYC Police Department. Feeling as if an attack is imminent, Serpico buys a large capacity firearm to defend himself, ironically, not from criminals but from those who are supposed to stop crooks.

Tauber later goes to Delaney to get Serpico that gold shield to lend credibility and support to Serpico’s accusations. But Delaney says, “not while I’m Commissioner.” Delaney brings up the old false accusation that Serpico performed homosexual acts in the precinct bathroom, which of course, given the times, is repugnant to the Commissioner. Delaney wants to discredit Serpico as punishment for trying to expose his leadership for being negligent by allowing the taking of bribes to go unchecked.

When Serpico walks through the office where he has been reassigned, the officers stare at him menacingly, and one puts a knife up to him saying they know how to handle a guy like him. Serpico, being openly threatened in a police station, a place of supposed safety, tosses the man onto the floor and pulls out his gun as he backs toward the new chief’s office. Inspector Lombardo (Edward Grover) tells Serpico he likes that he can have a guy there whom he can trust. This time the words are sincere. He even offers to be his partner if nobody else will team up with Serpico.

Serpico and Lombardo do ride together and bust a numbers racket location where they discover payoffs were made to prevent such a raid. Lombardo tells his superiors that in the Manhattan district office, the payoffs were picked up by retired cops to not involve active plainclothes policemen. The dishonesty is so deep it expands to incorporate those from the past, continually swelling the numbers of corrupt cops. Lombardo says that there are honest officers of the law, but they have to have encouragement and support to come forward. But Lombardo’s boss gives the same line about protecting the department from outside agencies trying to discredit the work of the police. Serpico says, again, that’s what it comes down to, that they want to know who he contacted, so as to thwart any attacks on the department.

Serpico gets in touch with Blair and tells him that it’s time to go to the Times. He wants to get his story on the record in case anything happens to him. Lombardo, with trepidation, backs up Serpico and Blair. There is a front-page story, and the mayor says he will appoint a commission to root out corruption. In response, Delaney accuses the Times of a smear campaign, associating the newspaper with the tactics of Senator Joe McCarthy, whom, ironically, journalists took down for his false accusations. Serpico is removed from Lombardo’s office and sent to Narcotics with no gold shield while remaining a plainclothes cop. Lombardo shares his fears that the assignment allows Serpico to be put in danger.

As soon as he gets to his new assignment a cop warns Serpico that there is serious money being paid out there, and he better not mess with them. At a stakeout, the cops send Serpico inside a building first, and he is, of course, suspicious. He witnesses the buying of drugs. The cops with him stop the buyers outside the building, and then follow Serpico to the apartment where the transaction took place. The other cops don’t help him when the drug dealer causes Serpico to get stuck when trying to burst through the door. We are back to the beginning of the film, and Serpico is shot in the face.

The bullet was small caliber, and it didn’t strike the brain or spinal cord. The doctor informs Serpico’s parents about their son’s condition. Green visits him and Blair and Lombardo are also there. But the cop on guard outside the hospital room tells his colleague to not talk to Serpico because he’s no good, which points out Serpico can’t avoid the hostility of his fellow officers. Serpico shows Green a sympathy card sent to him with words crossed out and replaced with wishes for him to suffer a slow death. The card is a perversion, just like the cops who are supposed to serve honestly. The police at his hospital room door are supposed to protect him, but Serpico knows the truth behind the facade. He tells Green to remove them, their intentions being the opposite of benevolent. Green says that the mayor’s appointed commission wants Serpico to testify. The cops who were with him when he was shot were cleared, adding extra pain to Serpico’s misery. Green gives him his gold shield. Serpico asks if it’s for being an honest cop or being stupid enough to get shot in the face. Serpico knows that he is given the promotion only to make it look good for public relations purposes, and tells Green to tell his superiors to “shove it.”

The doctor tells Serpico that he must stay on a leave of absence, and that his hearing in one ear probably won’t return due to bullet fragments lodged in his ear. The bullet remnants are close to his carotid artery so he will have to be checked regularly. His left side will experience stiffness. He will have some dizziness occasionally. These are his rewards for being a decent policeman.

Serpico testifies before the commission and states that he hopes in the future corruption will be caught early so no honest cop will have to experience ridicule and fear. He urges that a permanent investigative body be in force to be vigilant against wrongdoing in the police department.

Green is with him and sadly looks on as Serpico packs up his things to move. The notes at the end say that Serpico retired on June 15, 1972. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for “conspicuous bravery in action.” The notes end by saying Serpico moved to Switzerland. It is interesting that he felt the need to leave the country to go to a place noted for its safety in times of war. IMDb states Serpico did eventually return to the United States and in 2015 lived on a small farm in upstate New York. He worked as a guest lecturer at police academies across the country. Maybe he still needed to find tranquility in a place removed from the city streets where he was attacked for trying to do his job honestly. Lecturing at police academies brings to mind Sean Connery’s lines from The Untouchables about going to the tree where the apples aren’t yet rotten.

The next film is The Last Detail.