Biography - Frank Serpico: Honor Bound

EXCELLENT TRUE STORY, CORRUPTION IN POLICE DEPARTMENTS AND THOSE WHO LIVE WITH HONOR AND MORALS THAT ARE PUNISHED AND THREATENED

He was more of a hero than the movie Serpico showed and more human too. This biography is worth watching if you're interested in true crime and those men and women who fight for justice in our country.

You have to admire Serpico's courage...how many men could stand up to the pressure he did?

we really do need more people of his stature on this planet a remarkable man very interesting bio I also have his book

Having seen the Al Pacino movie, I was curious to watch the story of the real Frank Serpico. This DVD did not disappoint. It is very well done and includes interviews with the real Serpico. Highly recommend.

This is from the real Frank Serpico, straight from the heart. I really enjoyed it. The authenticity was second to none. Bravo!Quick service appreciated. Thanks.

This is a particularly good documentary when viewed with the film "Serpico" with Al Pacino.

In my view, you can never learn too much about Frank Serpico.Younger viewers may not know who he is. Briefly, he joined the NYPD in 1959 as a patrol officer, sawpoor workand corruption and tried to expose it to the NYPD.For various reasons, the NYPD did very little to admit orcombat the problem.As always, most of the cops were honest.But they did not go public with what they saw other cops do.Serpico tried to fightthe problem privately, without fanfare.But the NYPD continued to do very little. Serpico then went to the New York Times. The Times investigated thoroughlyand shocked the world with what they printed.Many cops feared Serpico after that. Honest cops felt that he had smearedthe whole NYPD.Serpico was shot in the face in 1971, during a drug arrest.He claimed that his police partners did not protect him beforeor after the shooting.The bullet remains in his head today.He lost the hearing in one ear. He left New York, roved through Europe for years and nowlives inupstate New York.He continues to lecture and writeabout police corruption.He lives very simply, according to locals, and does not appear to have gotten rich from the book or themovie.As in most research, an outsider will never know. Because of the drama and color in hisstory, he is perhaps the most famous whistle-blower of the20th Century.The questions linger on.Why is he the most famous cop of his generation?Why did he blow the whistle on corruption? Did hehave other reasons for doing what he did?Was he the saintly naive cop that the 1973 Sidney Lumetmovie 'Serpico' showed?Or was he an opportunist who saw a way to cash in on hispainful life story? I was never an NYPD cop. So, that makesme an outsider.I cannot hope to penetrate the culture of 1960's NYPD fromwhere I am now.But I can research these questions that fascinate me.This video is a great help in that quest.This video is well-done, objective and fills in some questionsabout the story. Of course, it is shorter than the1973 feature film.But the video is a welcome companion piece to the film. To my eye, it seems more objective than thefilm. It does not make Serpico a saint. Very few humans are.This video balances the scales.The video shows rare clips of thereal Serpico, speaking about his seven year campaign toreport corruption. As said, the NYPD, the Mayor's Officeand other agencies chose not to confront this unpopularproblem at that time.Some condemned Serpico, calledhim mentally ill, a subversive trying to ruin the NYPD or agrafter covering his own tracks. Everyone had a differentopinion. They still do. When Serpico and Inspector DeLisle and Sgt. David Durkcame to the New York Times in 1970,three other cops came with them.The three unknowns supplied very little data.But, to this day, they refuse toidentify themselves.Even now, with most calling Serpico a hero, these three do not anyone to know who they are.When Serpico came to speak at NYC Council meeting in 2000, the cops guarding it recognized his name and treatedhim rudely because of it. The fear and animosity appear to linger on.This video will lead you to a clearer understanding of the problems that Serpico faced and how he dealt with them.It contains other precise interviews with characters in this saga. You will learn more about the sub-currents of feelingraced through the NYPD and the city at that time. You will watch it and watch it again, enjoying this remarkable story.It will interest anyone trying to understand ethics, be they police or civilian ethics.As I am, you will be happy that someone made this video. And you will be glad that you watched it.-------- Frank Hickey, writer of the Max Royster crime novels in Pigtown Books

Very good .

Good documentary