Ìý User Rating 
Al Pacino takes on police corruption in the gritty "Serpico", a film that's entirely dominated and driven by Pacino's empowered performance. Now presented on DVD, there are a few quality features to explore on the making of this movie.
TECHNICAL FEATURES
Picture The opening titles start a little grainy, but the picture soon settles down into a clean transfer with solid colours.
Sound With very little music score, the 5.1 mix doesn't have much to do except some light atmospheric effects. Dialogue is clear and strong though, which is handy when Pacino starts to shout (so what's new?).
SPECIAL FEATURES
"Serpico": From Real to Reel This ten-minute featurette covers the development of the film from book to screen. As first-time producer Martin Bregman reveals, despite the popularity of the book, no studio was willing to finance the movie. It was felt by then that cop thrillers were coming to their end as a box office draw.
Bregman approached Dino De Laurentiis, whose enthusiasm for the project was soon aroused thanks to Al Pacino being Italian. Sidney Lument was hired to direct and he chats a little about condensing the then 240-page script into a film that needed to be half the length.
Inside "Serpico" Excellent interviews are tightly edited to make this worthwhile, despite being only 12 minutes long.
Director Lumet chats with what looks like a twinkle in his eye about shocking Al Pacino with his style of direction. Pacino had just finished a long and perhaps indulgent shoot with "The Godfather", where multiple takes were the norm. Lumet's pace was radically faster, shooting only one take for each scene shot on the first day, which rattled Pacino. The result though was that it energised Pacino's performance and he fed off that for inspiration.
Favourite Moments Bregman and Lumet nominate their favourite scenes from the film.
Photo Gallery This animated photo gallery features a commentary from Lumet where he tells the extraordinary story of how a two hours plus film ended up with a 14-minute music score.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Region: 2
Chapters: 18
Ratio: 1.75:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Audio Tracks: Multiple languages
Subtitles: None - see captions
Captions: English
Menus: Animated, with music.
Special Features Subtitles: All of the special features come with subtitles.
