A virtuoso performance by Al Pacino and some expert location work by Sidney Lumet add up to a tour de force genre piece (1973) that transcends the supercop conventions to create a moving, engrossing portrait of Frank Serpico—a literate, sensitive, honest cop who tried to come to terms with society and the policeman’s place in it, and was crucified by a police department too corrupt to want any part of the real world.