Serpico now

[bex77]

To those of us of a certain age, the name Serpico - the book, the movie, the man - held an amazing power 40 years ago. Here was someone who tried to do the right thing and got whacked so hard he had to leave the country and let Al Pacino speak for him on screen. Trying to reform the NYC Police Department is no picnic.

There was a nostalgic "where are they now?" article in the NYTimes today about him, alive and bitter, working on his own book in upstate NY at the ripe old age of 73.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/nyregion/24serpico.html

The journalist got him to watch the movie with him on his laptop...a movie he'd never watched all the way through...and comment about it on video. Powerful stuff.

Comments

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is really, really cool.

[muffyjo]

Wow, I was *just* talking about him at Arisia. Peter Maas, who wrote the book about his life, was my neighbor and his son was a playmate of mine growing up. He passed away a number of years ago and his son works in Hollywood, possibly still for Paramount, I've lost track.

Peter Maas was always drawn to the poignant honesty in people (see many of his other novels). Serpico is certainly that. What an interesting and fascinating person. I really hope he DOES write that book, name names and find some peace with his broken heart.

[bex77]

What a small world! There's a long article about Maas on the imdb, The NYT article says is was royalties from the Maas book and movie that allowed Serpico to live his life without financial worries, so bless Maas for taking care of him.