Serpico

I'm always greatly disappointed whenever I watch a film considered an all time classic and it doesn't quite live up to my expectations. There are only four occasions that spring to mind where this has been the case; Chinatown, The Shining, The French Connection and now Serpico.
Don't get me wrong,  i'm not saying that these films aren't enjoyable or they aren't well made but that sometimes, people can build your expectations of a film up so high they can never realistically be met.  Take, for example, the car chase scene from The French Connection. This chase had featured at the top of a couple of best car chase lists in certain publications and, if i'm not mistaken, is considered probably the best of all time. When I finally got around to watching the film, I found that, because of my expectations, the car chase scene was just a distraction and in my opinion has probably aged a lot worse than the rest of the film.
Anyway, I digress, Serpico is actually a very good film, depicting what seems to be a very true to fact account of the corruption that was rife in the NYPD during the 60s and early 70s.
Al Pacino gives one of his best performances, opting to play the character as more of an understated Michael Corleone rather than go chewing through the scenery in full Tony Montana mode. His Serpico comes across as someone not afraid to stand up and be heard, to ignore the advice of his corrupt peers in favour of the greater good. But in the end he gets shot in the face so who knows what to believe.
Four stars.