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136-450: This particular style of Italian-produced murder mystery horror - thriller film usually blends the atmosphere and suspense of thriller fiction with elements of horror fiction (such as slasher violence) and eroticism (similar to the French fantastique genre), and often involves a mysterious killer whose identity is not revealed until the final act of the film. The genre developed in

272-447: A " whodunit " murder mystery with multiple plot twists . The story has detective fiction elements. Two other Arabian Nights stories, "The Merchant and the Thief" and "Ali Khwaja", contain two of the earliest fictional detectives , who uncover clues and present evidence to catch or convict a criminal, with the story unfolding in normal chronology and the criminal already being known to

408-593: A Greek orchestra and told Lumet that he could not be present for the spotting session . Lumet offered the help of Bob James , who would sit with the director for the spotting. To inform of the progress of the sessions and possible changes on the arrangements, James flew to the cities where Theodorakis appeared to work the details. The film was released on December 5, 1973, in New York and on December 18 in Los Angeles. The opening week in New York garnered $ 123,000. Serpico

544-488: A Row (1971, based on an Italian novel), Alfred Hitchcock 's Frenzy (1972), Vincent Price's Madhouse (1974), Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), and Brian De Palma 's Dressed to Kill (1980). Berberian Sound Studio (2012) offers an affectionate tribute to the genre. Director Eli Roth has called the giallo "one of my favorite, favorite subgenres of film", and specifically cited Sergio Martino's Torso ( I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale ) (along with

680-430: A Solange? ( What Have You Done to Solange? ), features an Italian director and crew and has been called a giallo in its own right. Gialli continued to be produced throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but gradually their popularity diminished and film budgets and production values began shrinking. Director Pupi Avati satirized the genre in 1977 with a slapstick giallo titled Tutti defunti... tranne i morti . Though

816-415: A breakthrough role for Pacino as an actor, and called his work "fascinating". The newspaper defined the film as an "encouraging morality tale". Meanwhile, San Francisco Examiner observed Pacino's acting to be "a brilliant, solidly thought out performance". The publication added that the supporting cast's contributions "never satisfactorily fleshed out". Regarding Lumet, the reviewer felt that he directed

952-548: A change in American crime fiction. There was a shift into hard-boiled novels and their depictions of realism. Dashiell Hammett and his work, including Red Harvest (1929), offered a more realistic social perspective to crime fiction, referencing events such as the Great Depression . James M. Cain contributed The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934). This novel includes a married woman trying to murder her own husband with

1088-419: A crime. Readers speak of crime fiction as a mode of escapism to cope with other aspects of their lives. Crime fiction provides distraction from readers' personal lives through a strong narrative at a comfortable distance. Forensic crime novels have been referred to as "distraction therapy", proposing that crime fiction can improve mental health and be considered as a form of treatment to prevent depression. In

1224-730: A dangerous narcotics squad in Brooklyn . During a raid on a drug trafficker's apartment, Serpico's partners hold back at a critical moment, and Serpico gets shot in the face. After a long, painful recovery, he testifies before the Knapp Commission , a government inquiry into NYPD corruption. Frank Serpico resigned from the NYPD on June 15, 1972, was awarded the NYPD Medal of Honor for "conspicuous bravery in action", and moved to Switzerland. In addition, F. Murray Abraham appears in an uncredited role as

1360-594: A forerunner of Arthur Conan Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes , appeared in works such as " The Murders in the Rue Morgue " (1841), " The Mystery of Marie Rogêt " (1842), and " The Purloined Letter " (1844). With his Dupin stories, Poe provided the framework for the classic detective story. The detective's unnamed companion is the narrator of the stories and a prototype for the character of Dr. Watson in later Sherlock Holmes stories. Wilkie Collins ' epistolary novel The Woman in White

1496-472: A great boost, a turning point, a new style...'new clothes'. Mario had grown old and Dario made it his own genre... this had repercussions on genre cinema, which, thanks to Dario, was given a new lease on life." The success of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage provoked a decade which saw multiple gialli produced every year. In English-language film circles, the term giallo gradually became synonymous with

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1632-514: A heavy locked chest along the Tigris River, and he sells it to the Abbasid Caliph , Harun al-Rashid , who then has the chest broken open, only to find inside it the dead body of a young woman who was cut into pieces. Harun orders his vizier , Ja'far ibn Yahya , to solve the crime and find the murderer within three days, or be executed if he fails his assignment. The story has been described as

1768-608: A heavy, theatrical and stylized visual element. The giallo genre had its heyday from 1968 through 1978. The most prolific period, however, was the five-year timespan between 1971 and 1975, during which time over 100 different gialli were produced (see List of giallo films ). Directors like Bava, Argento, Fulci, Lenzi, Freda and Margheriti continued to produce gialli throughout the 70s and beyond, and were soon joined by other notable directors including Sergio Martino , Paolo Cavara , Armando Crispino , Ruggero Deodato , and Bava's son Lamberto Bava . The genre also spread to Spain by

1904-409: A key to the genre's unique character; critic Maitland McDonagh describes Profondo rosso ( Deep Red ) as an "overwhelming visceral experience ... equal parts visual ... and aural". Writer Anne Billson explains, "The Giallo Sound is typically an intoxicating mix of groovy lounge music, nerve-jangling discord, and the sort of soothing lyricism that belies the fact that it's actually accompanying, say,

2040-458: A landmark of neo-realist cinema, but it did not provoke any further giallo adaptations for almost 20 years. In addition to the literary giallo tradition, early gialli were also influenced by the German " krimi " films of the early 1960s. Produced by Danish/German studio Rialto Film , these black-and-white crime movies based on Edgar Wallace stories typically featured whodunit mystery plots with

2176-440: A large degree, the genre's influence lives on in the slasher films which became enormously popular during the 1980s and drew heavily on tropes developed by earlier gialli . The giallo cycle has had a lasting effect on horror films and murder mysteries made outside Italy since the late 1960s as this cinematic style and unflinching content is also at the root of the gory slasher and splatter films that became widely popular in

2312-577: A masked killer, anticipating several key components of the giallo movement by several years. Despite their link to giallo author Wallace, they featured little of the excessive stylization and gore which would define Italian gialli . The Swedish director Arne Mattsson has also been pointed to as a possible influence, in particular his 1958 film Mannequin in Red . Though the film shares stylistic and narrative similarities with later giallo films (particularly its use of color and its multiple murder plot), there

2448-405: A much-loved movie entitled The Lady Vanishes (1938), and Ira Levin 's (born 1929) science-fiction thriller The Boys from Brazil (1976), which was filmed in 1978 . Older novels can often be retrieved from the ever-growing Project Gutenberg database. Serpico Serpico is a 1973 American biographical crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino in

2584-402: A mysterious, black-gloved psychopathic killer who stalks and butchers a series of beautiful women. While most gialli involve a human killer, some also feature a supernatural element. The typical giallo protagonist is an outsider of some type, often a traveller, tourist, outcast, or even an alienated or disgraced private investigator , and frequently a young woman, often a young woman who

2720-533: A psychologically unstable narrator) but also finds expression in the tools of cinema. Writer Mikel J. Koven posits that gialli reflect an ambivalence over the social upheaval modernity brought to Italian culture in the 1960s. The changes within Italian culture... can be seen throughout the giallo film as something to be discussed and debated – issues pertaining to identity, sexuality, increasing levels of violence, women's control over their own lives and bodies, history,

2856-423: A sense of the frustration you feel when you're not able to do anything". According to Lumet's account, he met Serpico shortly before the production. The director asked him to stay clear of the set, to not make Pacino "self-conscious" regarding his portrayal. Serpico watched the film in its entirety for the first time in 2010. In a later interview, he declared that Lumet barred him from the set after he interrupted

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2992-442: A series in 1999 entitled "Pan Classic Crime", which includes a handful of novels by Eric Ambler , but also American Hillary Waugh 's Last Seen Wearing ... . In 2000, Edinburgh -based Canongate Books started a series called "Canongate Crime Classics" —both whodunnits and roman noir about amnesia and insanity —and other novels. However, books brought out by smaller publishers such as Canongate Books are usually not stocked by

3128-477: A series of crime-mystery pulp novels entitled Il Giallo Mondadori ( Mondadori Yellow ), published by Mondadori from 1929 and taking its name from the trademark yellow cover background. The series consisted almost exclusively of Italian translations of mystery novels by British and American writers. These included Agatha Christie , Ellery Queen , Edgar Wallace , Ed McBain , Rex Stout , Edgar Allan Poe , and Raymond Chandler . Published as cheap paperbacks,

3264-411: A silly question, which was, "Why, Frank? Why did you do it?" He said, "Well, Al, I don't know. I guess I have to say it would be because...if I didn't, who would I be when I listened to a piece of music?" I mean, what a way of putting it! That's the kind of guy he was. I enjoyed being with him. There was mischief in his eyes. — Al Pacino Salt's work did not satisfy Avildsen, who threatened to leave

3400-559: A similar manner to how Italian Western films and poliziotteschi films from the same period have been referred to as spaghetti Westerns and spaghetti crime films, respectively. Most critics agree that the giallo represents a distinct category with characteristic thematic and stylistic features, though various critics have proposed slightly different characteristics (which consequently creates some confusion over which films can be considered gialli ). Although they often involve crime and detective work, gialli should not be confused with

3536-549: A slow motion decapitation", (she cites as an example Ennio Morricone 's score for 1971's Four Flies on Grey Velvet ). Many notable giallo soundtracks feature instrumentalist, Alessandro Alessandroni , his vocal group, I Cantori Moderni and wordless female vocals, usually performed by Edda Dell'Orso , or Nora Orlandi , including Bruno Nicolai 's score for All the Colors of the Dark . Composers of note include Morricone, Nicolai, and

3672-465: A steamy sex scene between Sharon Stone and William Baldwin straight from the 1993 movie , and again, Bret Easton Ellis 's American Psycho (1991). Bloomsbury Publishing PLC , though, have launched what they call "Bloomsbury Film Classics"—a series of original novels on which feature films were based. This series includes, for example, Ethel Lina White 's novel The Wheel Spins (1936), which Alfred Hitchcock —before he went to Hollywood—turned into

3808-412: A still from the movie on the front cover and the film credits on the back cover of the book—yet another marketing strategy aimed at those cinemagoers who may want to do both: first read the book and then watch the film (or vice versa). Recent examples include Patricia Highsmith 's The Talented Mr. Ripley (originally published in 1955), Ira Levin 's Sliver (1991), with the cover photograph depicting

3944-508: A story forward in order to unravel mysteries. Likewise, the feature of detectives was popularized by Edgar Allan Poe and Conan Doyle . Hard-boiled detective stories attracted a decent amount of attention to the genre in America and France as well. Within crime fiction, it can also be common to use dark themes from real life, such as slavery , organized crime , and more. Aside from general themes, referencing instances of crime in real life

4080-528: Is Agatha Christie , whose texts, originally published between 1920 and her death in 1976, are available in UK and US editions in all English-speaking nations. Christie's works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple , have given her the title the Queen of Crime, and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre. Her most famous novels include Murder on

4216-487: Is Florida -based author Carl Hiaasen , who has been publishing books since 1981, all of which are readily available. From time to time, publishing houses decide, for commercial purposes, to revive long-forgotten authors, and reprint one or two of their more commercially successful novels. Apart from Penguin Books , which for this purpose have resorted to their old green cover and dug out some of their vintage authors. Pan started

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4352-506: Is also common in several works of crime fiction. These reflections of reality can be expressed in many ways. For instance, crime fiction in Spain expressed grievances with authority, which was opposite to the instances in Japan that credited the government's functionality. Espionage is another prominent inclusion in many works of crime fiction. It includes the use of political intrigue, morality, and

4488-459: Is also sometimes reminiscent of the so-called " weird menace " pulp magazine horror mystery genre alongside Edgar Allan Poe and Agatha Christie . It is important to note that while most gialli feature elements of this basic narrative structure , not all do. Some films (for example Mario Bava 's 1970 Hatchet for the Honeymoon , which features the killer as the protagonist) may radically alter

4624-475: Is chasing a burglar, other officers fail to recognize him as one of their own and shoot at him. He realizes that deviating from protocols can be dangerous. Serpico reports an attempted bribe to a high-ranking investigator, who chuckles and advises him to keep the money. Serpico soon learns that corruption is rampant in his police department. Forced to accompany officers as they collect payoffs from criminals and small businesses, Serpico refuses to accept his share of

4760-519: Is from 1827 ; another early full-length short story in the genre is The Rector of Veilbye by Danish author Steen Steensen Blicher , published in 1829. A further example of crime detection can be found in Letitia Elizabeth Landon 's story The Knife , published in 1832, although here the truth remains in doubt at the end. Better known are the earlier dark works of Edgar Allan Poe . His brilliant and eccentric detective C. Auguste Dupin ,

4896-411: Is like an improv exercise in murder, with each filmmaker having access to a handful of shared props and themes. Black gloves, sexual ambiguity, and psychoanalytic trauma may be at the heart of each film, but the genre itself is without consistent narrative form." While a shadowy killer and mystery narrative are common to most gialli , the most consistent and notable shared trope in the giallo tradition

5032-499: Is likely to be mentally-ill as well; giallo killers are almost always motivated by insanity caused by some past psychological trauma, often of a sexual nature (and sometimes depicted in flashbacks). The emphasis on madness and subjective perception has roots in the giallo novels (for example, Sergio Martino 's Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key was based on Edgar Allan Poe 's short story " The Black Cat ", which deals with

5168-481: Is lonely or alone in a strange or foreign situation or environment ( gialli rarely or less frequently feature law enforcement officers as chief protagonists, which would be more characteristic of the poliziotteschi genre). The protagonists are generally or often unconnected to the murders before they begin and are drawn to help find the killer through their role as a witness to one of the murders. Author Michael Mackenzie has written that gialli can be divided into

5304-420: Is no direct evidence that subsequent Italian directors had seen it. The first "true" giallo film is usually considered to be Mario Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963). Its title alludes to Alfred Hitchcock 's classic The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934, remade by Hitchcock in 1956), highlighting the early link between gialli and Anglo-American crime stories. Though shot in black and white and lacking

5440-417: Is rushed to the hospital, having been shot in the face. Chief Sidney Green fears that Serpico was shot by another cop. So Serpico's story is shown in a flashback . Serpico graduates from the police academy with big ideas for improving the police force's community relations. He dresses like an actual civilian instead of wearing the department's standard plainclothes dress, which is easily recognizable. While he

5576-412: Is the focus on grisly death sequences. The murders are invariably violent and gory, featuring a variety of explicit and imaginative attacks. These scenes frequently evoke some degree of voyeurism , sometimes going so far as to present the murder from the first-person perspective of the killer, with the black-gloved hand holding a knife viewed from the killer's point of view . The murders often occur when

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5712-660: The Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia , the Mahabharata from ancient India , the Book of Tobit , Urashima Tarō from ancient Japan , the One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ), and more. One example of a story of this genre is the medieval Arabic tale of " The Three Apples ", one of the tales narrated by Scheherazade in the Arabian Nights . In this tale, a fisherman discovers

5848-590: The Father Brown short stories, and Henry Christopher Bailey . The Golden Age also had roots in the US. As used by S. S. Van Dine , fictional character Philo Vance also took advantage of an inflated personality and a high-class background in a plethora of novels. In 1929, Father Ronald Knox wrote the ‘Detective Story Decalogue,’ mentioning some conditions of the era. Early foreshadowing and functioning roles for characters were discussed, as well as other items. Ellery Queen

5984-406: The climax to be another key character, who conceals his or her identity with a disguise (usually some combination of hat, mask, sunglasses, gloves, and trench coat). Thus, the literary whodunit element of the giallo novels is retained, while being filtered through horror genre elements and Italy's long-standing tradition of opera and staged grand guignol drama. The structure of giallo films

6120-544: The courtroom . Suspense and mystery are key elements that are nearly ubiquitous to the genre. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as historical fiction and science fiction , but the boundaries are indistinct. Crime fiction has several subgenres , including detective fiction (such as the whodunit ), courtroom drama , hard-boiled fiction, and legal thrillers . Proto-science and crime fictions have been composed across history, and in this category can be placed texts as varied as

6256-446: The giallo cycle waned in the 1990s and saw few entries in the 2000s, they continue to be produced, notably by Argento (who in 2009 released a film actually titled Giallo , somewhat in homage to his long career in the genre) and co-directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani , whose Amer (which uses music from older gialli , including tracks by Morricone and Nicolai) received a positive critical reception upon its release in 2009. To

6392-640: The "Grand Master" of 20th-century Chinese detective fiction, translated Sherlock Holmes into classical and vernacular Chinese. In the late 1910s, Cheng began writing his own detective fiction series, Sherlock in Shanghai , mimicking Conan Doyle's style, but relating better to a Chinese audience. During the Mao era , crime fiction was suppressed and mainly Soviet-styled and anticapitalist. In the post-Mao era, crime fiction in China focused on corruption and harsh living conditions during

6528-460: The "tremendous intensity" of Lumet's direction. The publication also considered the film "disquieting" for its use of fictional names, as the reviewer felt that it diminished the role of Durk. Meanwhile, it called Theodorakis's soundtrack "redundant and dumb". The New York Daily News delivered a favorable review of the film. It rated it four stars out of five, and called it "a triumph of intelligence, compassion and style". A follow-up critique by

6664-515: The 1970s, producer Dino De Laurentiis decided to move from Italy to the United States. The change in financing laws further regulated the Italian film industry, and the producer settled in New York City. Following their collaboration on The Valachi Papers , De Laurentiis purchased the rights to Maas's book. Maas received US$ 400,000 (equivalent to $ 2.7 million in 2023) and participation in

6800-555: The 19th century was crucial in popularising crime fiction and related genres. Literary 'variety' magazines, such as Strand , McClure's , and Harper's , quickly became central to the overall structure and function of popular fiction in society, providing a mass-produced medium that offered cheap, illustrated publications that were essentially disposable. Like the works of many other important fiction writers of his day—e.g. Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens —Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories first appeared in serial form in

6936-529: The Italian band Goblin . Other important composers known for their work on giallo films include Piero Umiliani (composer for Five Dolls for an August Moon ) , Riz Ortolani ( The Pyjama Girl Case ), Nora Orlandi ( The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh ), Stelvio Cipriani ( The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire ), and Fabio Frizzi ( Sette note in nero a.k.a. The Psychic ). Gialli often feature lurid or Baroque titles, frequently employing animal references or

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7072-558: The Mao era (such as the Cultural Revolution ). The Golden Age, which spanned from the 1920s to 1954, was a period of time featuring the creation of renowned works by several authors. Many of these authors were British. Agatha Christie wrote The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and The Murder at the Vicarage (1930). These novels commonly prioritized the allure of exploring mysteries in

7208-513: The Orient Express (1934), Death on the Nile (1937), and the world's best-selling mystery And Then There Were None (1939). Other less successful, contemporary authors who are still writing have seen reprints of their earlier works, due to current overwhelming popularity of crime fiction texts among audiences. One example is Val McDermid , whose first book appeared as far back as 1987; another

7344-465: The Other ] in 1969), all of whom would go on to become major creative forces in the burgeoning genre. But it was Dario Argento 's first feature, in 1970, that turned the giallo into a major cultural phenomenon. That film, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage , was greatly influenced by Blood and Black Lace , and introduced a new level of stylish violence and suspense that helped redefine the genre. The film

7480-527: The Spanish horror film Who Can Kill a Child? ) as influential on his 2005 film Hostel , writing, "...these seventies Italian giallos start off with a group of students that are in Rome, lots of scenes in piazzas with telephoto lenses, and you get the feeling they're being watched. There's this real ominous creepy feeling. The girls are always going on some trip somewhere and they're all very smart. They all make decisions

7616-409: The actor rented a house for the summer. Pacino was moved by Serpico's conviction to reform the NYPD, and became more committed to the project. In character, Pacino often walked through areas of the city that were considered dangerous at the time. While waiting in traffic, he attempted to arrest a truck driver, for he was enraged by the exhaust fumes. He was refused service at a Manhattan restaurant for

7752-457: The appearance that he kept for the film. Sidney Lumet organized the 107 speaking parts that took place in 104 different locations. The longest scenes took up two-and-a-half pages of the screenplay, while the average was one page. A budget of $ 3.3 million (equivalent to $ 22.6 million in 2023) was assigned. Two weeks of rehearsals were held. Pacino had learned Salt's screenplay, and he agreed with Lumet that Wexler's revised version improved

7888-572: The assistance of a potential suitor. This theme extends to his other work, Double Indemnity (1934). Such elements of the book were a reference to the Gray and Snyder trial. Raymond Chandler was a significant author who managed to see some works made into films. In 1944, he argued for the genre to be seen critically in his essay from ‘ The Simple Art of Murder .’ Crime fiction provides unique psychological impacts on readers and enables them to become mediated witnesses through identifying with eyewitnesses of

8024-416: The audience would make." Sources: Murder mystery Crime fiction , detective story , murder mystery , mystery novel , and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, often a murder. Most crime drama focuses on criminal investigation and does not feature

8160-399: The audience. The latter involves a climax where titular detective protagonist Ali Khwaja presents evidence from expert witnesses in a court. " The Hunchback's Tale " is another early courtroom drama , presented as a suspenseful comedy. The earliest known modern crime fiction is E. T. A. Hoffmann 's 1819 novella "Mademoiselle de Scudéri". Also, Thomas Skinner Surr 's anonymous Richmond

8296-502: The banner of either genre, such as Fernando Di Leo 's Naked Violence (1969) and Massimo Dallamano 's 1974 film La polizia chiede aiuto ( What Have They Done to Your Daughters? ). Giallo films are generally characterized as gruesome murder-mystery thrillers that combine the suspense elements of detective fiction with scenes of shocking horror , featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork, and often jarring musical arrangements. The archetypal giallo plot involves

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8432-461: The country. The Spanish writers emphasized the corruption and ineptitude of the police, and depicted the authorities and the wealthy in very negative terms. In China, crime fiction is a major literary tradition, with works dating to the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. Modern Chinese crime fiction emerged from the 1890s, and was also influenced by translations of foreign works. Cheng Xiaoqing , considered

8568-564: The courage" to depict police corruption in a motion picture. Maas's agent Sam Cohn was approached by agent Martin Bregman . Bregman expressed his interest to produce the film after reading an article in New York magazine about the book. Bregman proposed one of his signed actors, Al Pacino , to play the lead. Waldo Salt was chosen to write the screenplay adaptation. The first draft did not impress Maas, De Laurentiis nor Bregman. Bregman felt that

8704-469: The crew. Multiple locations in the city including Harlem , the South Bronx , Bedford–Stuyvesant , Brooklyn and Astoria , Queens, were used. Lewisohn Stadium was featured shortly before its demolition. The party scene was shot at Sidney Kingsley 's Fifth Avenue loft. The NYPD cooperated with the director and allowed him to film in four active police stations. Serpico's apartment had to be built by

8840-647: The crew. It featured a fixed ceiling and movable walls. As with Serpico's original apartment, it was located in Greenwich Village . Through lighting, Lumet and cinematographer Arthur Ornitz chose to maintain a "warm look" on the location. Different techniques were used to reflect moods, and the changes of the years through which the character went. Lumet focused on portraying Serpico's struggle to balance his work and personal life, and his increased isolation and alienation, as his efforts produced slow results. The director decided to portray him "darker and darker". As

8976-463: The crimes are usually unsolved, and clues are left for the reader to decipher. Famous writers include Leonardo Sciascia , Umberto Eco , and Carlo Emilio Gadda . In Spain, The Nail and Other Tales of Mystery and Crime was published by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón in 1853. Crime fiction in Spain (also curtailed in Francoist Spain ) took on some special characteristics that reflected the culture of

9112-566: The early 1980s. In particular, two violent shockers from Mario Bava, Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970) and Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971) were especially influential. Early examples of the giallo effect can be seen in the British film Berserk! (1967) and such American mystery-thrillers as No Way to Treat a Lady (1968), the Oscar-winning Klute (1971), Pretty Maids All in

9248-454: The early 70s, resulting in films like La residencia ( The House That Screamed ) (1969) and Los Ojos Azules de la Muñeca Rota ( Blue Eyes Of The Broken Doll ) (1973), which had unmistakable giallo characteristics, but featured Spanish casts and production talent. Though they preceded the first giallo by a few years, German krimi films continued to be made contemporaneously with early gialli , and were also influenced by their success. As

9384-531: The existence of spies. Prior media used the Cold War for inspiration and provided commentary on such events. Examples include numerous works by John le Carré and Gorky Park (1981), which was written by Martin Cruz Smith . Inspiration can be drawn from the legal system around the world, with varying degrees of realism. In these cases, a sense of morality and the more dubious parts of society are explored based on

9520-479: The film in 51 days, on budget. The film is edited by Dede Allen . Allen received the scenes from Lumet directly after they were shot. She had a limit of 48 hours to finish her work for its delivery to the sound department. Lumet did not want to add a score to the picture, but he decided that he would do it before De Laurentiis commissioned one. He learned that Mikis Theodorakis was released from prison in Greece. He

9656-402: The film progressed, the cast costumes became darker in color, until the courtroom scene in which all the actors wore dark tones. Lumet told Charles Champlin , "I was trying to negate color, to make a picture in color that was not colorful." Meanwhile, he wanted Serpico's fellow officers to be "men with charm, who were all the more evil for being human and understandable". Lumet finished shooting

9792-438: The film with "skill and vigor". The Cincinnati Enquirer attributed the commercial success of the film to Pacino's acting, and to the film's depiction of "hard, cold, grit and grime reality". For The Evening Sun reviewer, Lou Cedrone expressed his doubts about Durk's "gratis talk of defamation of the police image". Cedrone considered that Durk "comes off very nicely" on the film, and defended Lumet's choice to "emphasize

9928-506: The film's critique of police corruption, despite its "embellishments and omissions" on the story. Pacino's performance was called "riveting", and the piece praised the "sharply individualized characterizations" by Tony Roberts , Jack Kehoe , John Randolph , Biff McGuire , Barbara Eda-Young and Cornelia Sharpe. Meanwhile, also for Philadelphia Inquirer , investigative journalist Greg Walter lamented its portrayal of police officers as "snarling, insipid ass(es)". Walter felt that Maas's book

10064-488: The film, while the rights for his work were secured before the March 1973 publication of the book. Initially, De Laurentiis found resistance to the project from Paramount Pictures . The studio considered that "enough cop movies" had been made. In turn, De Laurentiis was supported by Charles Bluhdorn , president of Gulf+Western , who wanted the film to be made. De Laurentiis later declared that "no American producer would have had

10200-404: The filming locations. In response to resistance to his plans, Avildsen threatened Bregman of quitting multiple times. An aggravated Bregman called for a meeting with the production team to cause the director to quit in front of witnesses. Avildsen had insisted on a meeting with Bregman and De Laurentiis to shoot a scene in the real home of Serpico's parents for authenticity. The producers felt that

10336-471: The genre focused instead on murder investigations, and especially on cases where a woman had been murdered in sexual circumstances. These films were more psychological than action-driven, and borrowed various themes and motifs from gialli . Examples include Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) and No, the Case Is Happily Resolved (1973). Some films could even be considered under

10472-641: The genre of misogyny . Gialli are noted for psychological themes of madness, alienation, sexuality, and paranoia . The protagonist is usually a witness to a gruesome crime but frequently finds their testimony subject to skepticism from authority figures, leading to a questioning of their own perception and authority. This ambiguity of memory and perception can escalate to delusion , hallucination , or delirious paranoia. Since gialli protagonists are typically female, this can lead to what writer Gary Needham calls, "...the giallo 's inherent pathologising of femininity and fascination with "sick" women". The killer

10608-455: The genre was baptized with the term libri gialli or yellow books. The genre was outlawed by the Fascists during WWII , but exploded in popularity after the war, especially influenced by the American hard-boiled school of crime fiction. A group of mainstream Italian writers emerged, who used the detective format to create an antidetective or postmodern novel in which the detectives are imperfect,

10744-511: The genre. Many stories often begin when the crime has already occurred. Such fiction also tends to draw from the cultural aspects in which the work originated, whether from recent events or from a general consensus and viewpoints. The use of serial killers and unreliable narrators exists in a decent variety of crime fiction as well. The plot-puzzle formula, which was frequent in the Golden Age, makes use of potential hints and solutions to drive

10880-427: The handful of genuine star actors in American films". Salt and Wexler's screenplay was hailed as "almost documentary reality", and its treatment of the main character "a complex and evolving portrait". The reviewer also remarked that the romances and break-ups were presented with "unhackneyed honesty". The contributions of the supporting cast were well noted. Champlin felt that Allen's work was considered to be "high on

11016-425: The history of crime fiction, some authors have been reluctant to publish their novels under their real names. More recently, some publish pseudonymously because of the belief that since the large booksellers are aware of their historical sales figures, and command a certain degree of influence over publishers, the only way to "break out" of their current advance numbers is to publish as someone with no track record. In

11152-526: The huge popularity of this genre. A precursor was Paul Féval , whose series Les Habits Noirs (1862–67) features Scotland Yard detectives and criminal conspiracies. The best-selling crime novel of the 19th century was Fergus Hume 's The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), set in Melbourne, Australia. The evolution of the print mass media in the United Kingdom and the United States in the latter half of

11288-572: The iconic images of shadowy black-gloved killers and gruesome violence, gialli also frequently employ strongly stylized and even occasionally surreal uses of color. Directors Dario Argento and Mario Bava are particularly known for their impressionistic imagery and use of lurid colors, though other giallo directors (notably Lucio Fulci ) employed more sedate, realistic styles as well. Due to their typical 1970s milieu, some commentators have also noted their potential for visual camp , especially in terms of fashion and decor . Music has been cited as

11424-437: The larger bookshops and overseas booksellers. The British Library has also (since 2012) started republishing "lost" crime classics, with the collection referred to on their website as the "British Library Crime Classics series". Sometimes, older crime novels are revived by screenwriters and directors rather than publishing houses. In many such cases, publishers then follow suit and release a so-called "film tie-in" edition showing

11560-658: The late 1930s and 1940s, British County Court Judge Arthur Alexander Gordon Clark (1900–1958) published a number of detective novels under the alias Cyril Hare , in which he made use of his profoundly extensive knowledge of the English legal system. When he was still young and unknown, award-winning British novelist Julian Barnes (born 1946) published some crime novels under the alias Dan Kavanagh. Other authors take delight in cherishing their alter egos ; Ruth Rendell (1930–2015) wrote one sort of crime novels as Ruth Rendell and another type as Barbara Vine ; John Dickson Carr also used

11696-578: The later American slasher genre. In the film context, for Italian audiences giallo refers to any kind of murder mystery or horror thriller, regardless of its national origin. Meanwhile, English-speaking audiences have used the term giallo to refer specifically to a genre of Italian-produced thriller-horror films known to Italian audiences as giallo all'italiana . In the English-speaking world, Italian giallo films are also sometimes referred to as spaghetti thrillers or spaghetti slashers , in

11832-499: The list" for an Academy Award nomination, and deemed Theodorakis's music "effective". Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, noting its treatment of corruption as its "principal strength and weakness", and adding that Serpico "loses the perspective" that "corruption ... begins and ends with individuals making active and passive decisions". The Philadelphia Inquirer celebrated

11968-455: The lurid violence and sexuality which would define later gialli , the film has been credited with establishing the essential structure of the genre: in it, a young American tourist in Rome witnesses a murder, finds her testimony dismissed by the authorities, and must attempt to uncover the killer's identity herself. Bava drew on the krimi tradition as well as the Hitchcockian style referenced in

12104-407: The male-focused m. gialli , which usually sees a male outsider witness a murder and become the target of the killer when he attempts to solve the crime; and f. gialli , which features a female protagonist who is embroiled in a more sexual and psychological story, typically focusing on her sexuality, psyche, and fragile mental state. The mystery is the identity of the killer, who is often revealed in

12240-542: The mid-to-late 1960s, peaked in popularity during the 1970s, and subsequently declined in commercial mainstream filmmaking over the next few decades, though examples continue to be produced. It was a predecessor to, and had significant influence on, the later slasher film genre. In the Italian language, giallo is a genre of novel including any literary genre involving crime and mystery, with all its sub-genres such as crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, or thriller-horror. The term giallo ("yellow") derives from

12376-735: The money. He makes several attempts to alert superiors to the corruption but is rebuffed every time. Other officers learn that he is reporting them, and he begins to fear for his life. Serpico and his well-connected friend Blair go to the mayor's assistant, who promises a real investigation and support but is stymied by political pressure. Ostracized, frustrated and fearful, Serpico sinks into depression, which ruins his relationship with his girlfriend. He begins brutalizing well-connected suspects who had been bribing other officers and thought themselves protected. Finally, Serpico informs Captain McClain that he has reported his experiences to oversight agencies outside

12512-509: The monthly Strand in the United Kingdom. The series quickly attracted a wide and passionate following on both sides of the Atlantic, and when Doyle killed off Holmes in " The Final Problem ", the public outcry was so great, and the publishing offers for more stories so attractive, that he was reluctantly forced to resurrect him. In Italy, early translations of English and American stories and local works were published in cheap yellow covers, thus

12648-744: The movie was not a financial success at the time, the tropes it introduced (particularly its black-gloved killer, provocative sexuality, and bold use of color) would become iconic of the genre. Several similarly themed crime/thriller movies followed in the next few years, including early efforts from directors Antonio Margheriti ( Nude... si muore [ Naked You Die ] in 1968), Romolo Girolami ( Il dolce corpo di Deborah [ The Sweet Body of Deborah ] in 1968), Umberto Lenzi ( Orgasmo in 1969, Paranoia [ A Quiet Place to Kill ] and Così dolce... così perversa [ So Sweet... So Perverse ] in 1969), Riccardo Freda ( A doppia faccia [ Double Face ] in 1969), and Lucio Fulci ( Una sull'altra [ One on Top of

12784-528: The narrative). Alexia Kannas wrote of 1968's La morte ha fatto l'uovo ( Death Laid an Egg ) that "While the film has garnered a reputation for its supreme narrative difficulty (just as many art films have), its aesthetic brilliance is irrefutable", while Leon Hunt wrote that frequent gialli director Dario Argento 's work "vacillate[s] between strategies of art cinema and exploitation". Gialli are frequently associated with strong technical cinematography and stylish visuals. Critic Maitland McDonagh describes

12920-402: The original giallo mystery novels (see Giallo (1933 film) ). Directors soon began taking advantage of modern cinematic techniques to create a unique genre that retained the mystery and crime fiction elements of giallo novels but veered more closely into the psychological thriller or psychological horror genres. Many of the typical characteristics of these films were incorporated into

13056-522: The other popular Italian crime genre of the 1970s, the poliziotteschi , which includes more action -oriented films about violent law enforcement officers (largely influenced by gritty American films such as Bullitt , Dirty Harry , Death Wish , The Godfather , Serpico , and The French Connection ). Directors and actors often moved between both genres and there is some overlap between them. While most poliziotteschi dealt with organized crime and police responses to it, some early examples of

13192-566: The plot over in-depth character development. Dorothy L. Sayers contributed the Wimsey novels. Her work focused on the spectacle of crime deduction. She also displayed an exaggerated form of aristocratic society, straying from a more realistic story. Other novelists tapped into this setting, such as Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh ; Allingham, Christie, Marsh and Sayers are known as the Queens of Crime . Other British authors are G. K. Chesterton with

13328-495: The police force. Furious, McClain tells the other officers. Blair uses his connections to arrange a personal interview with the district attorney , who tells Serpico that if he testifies to a grand jury, a major investigation will follow. The DA limits his questions and prevents Serpico from revealing the ubiquity of corruption in the police force. Serpico and Blair take their story to The New York Times . After his allegations are printed, his superiors retaliate by assigning him to

13464-498: The popularity of krimis declined in Germany, Rialto Film began increasingly pairing with Italian production companies and filmmakers (such as composer Ennio Morricone and director, cinematographer Joe D'Amato , who worked on later krimi films following their successes in Italy). The overlap between the two movements is extensive enough that one of Rialto's final krimi films, Cosa avete fatto

13600-463: The project unless he could bring Norman Wexler to write the screenplay. They had previously worked together in Avildsen's Joe . Both traveled to Switzerland to visit Serpico at home and work the details. Time to work on the production was constricted due to Pacino's commitment to The Godfather Part II . Further disagreement arose between Avildsen and Bregman regarding the script and the selection of

13736-446: The pseudonym Carter Dickson . Author Evan Hunter (which itself was a pseudonym) wrote his crime fiction under the name of Ed McBain. As crime fiction has expanded, there have been many common tropes that emerge from this category of fiction. Such occurrences can appear in a variety of subgenres and media. While the format may vary across different forms of crime fiction, there are many elements that are generally consistent throughout

13872-402: The publication deemed Pacino's acting a "masterful performance", as the reviewer remarked that "he walks like a cop. He talks like a cop. He even seems to think as a cop." The review also praised Lumet and his "talent for achieving social realism". The Record considered it "one of the finest films of the year". Although it felt that the portrayal of Serpico was "too righteous and obsessive",

14008-502: The re-worked script that convinced him to consider the part. A meeting with Serpico, Maas and Pacino was arranged for the actor to meet the subject of the film. After meeting him, Pacino was fully convinced to accept the part. John G. Avildsen was chosen to direct the film. One time we were out at my rented beach house in Montauk. We were sitting there looking at the water. And I thought, Well, I might as well be like everybody else and ask

14144-433: The result was "very political", and that the story did not reflect what the producers desired to portray in the film. Bregman and Maas directed Salt to the parts of the book that they envisioned to be reflected on the screenplay. The second draft was considered to be a substantial improvement by the production team. Bregman took the treatment to Pacino, who initially did not find the film interesting. Salt visited Pacino with

14280-421: The review favored Pacino, but felt that his performance was "sometimes a little too intense". It praised the photography of New York City as authentic, and credited Ornitz and Allen's work for it. The Village Voice wrote a mixed review. It criticized the focus of the film on Serpico, and the minor role that the screenplay writers gave to the character that represented Durk. The reviewer considered that Serpico

14416-499: The reviewer opined that his "composing voice ought to be silenced". Meanwhile, the piece praised Allen's work. The Miami Herald hailed the use of "street talk" instead of the "language of actors and actresses" by Salt, Wexler and Maas. It praised Lumet and Ornitz's photography that "generate the smells, sounds and styles of the city". It considered Pacino's acting "predictably excellent", and it favored Theodorakis's music. The Detroit Free Press suggested that Serpico would be

14552-411: The rights from Maas. Agent Martin Bregman joined the film as co-producer. Bregman suggested Pacino for the main part, and John G. Avildsen was hired to direct the film. Pacino met with Serpico to prepare for the role early in the summer of 1973. After Avildsen was dismissed, Lumet was hired as his replacement. On a short notice, he selected the shooting locations and organized the scenes; the production

14688-414: The role of Durk, and Robert Redford as Serpico. Serpico distanced himself from the project, as he felt that he would be merely portrayed as a sidekick . Script writer John Gregory Dunne turned down the project, for he felt that "there was no story". Director Sam Peckinpah , as well as Newman and Redford, left the project. After the success of several of his films in the 1960s, and the first years of

14824-493: The rules that the work provides. Melville Davisson Post ’s Rudolph Mason: The Strange Schemes (1896) and Harper Lee ’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) are notable examples. Additionally, stories like Double Indemnity (1934) are based on cases from reality. Only a select few authors have achieved the status of "classics" for their published works. A classic is any text that can be received and accepted universally, because they transcend context. A popular, well-known example

14960-411: The shooting of a scene that in real life "never happened". Serpico also criticized the dismissal of Avildsen by the production team. Serpico and Avildsen remained friends, and shared a property on Long Island for three years in the 1980s. New York City Police Commissioner Michael Codd stated that the film "tends to imply that Serpico was the only honest cop in the whole department". Detective Durk

15096-615: The situation "with more finesse". Sidney Lumet was hired to complete the job for his reputation as an effective director under a tight schedule. Pacino was shortly distracted from the project by an offer to play the lead in Lenny , but ultimately he turned it down. To prepare for Serpico , he rode with police officers for a night, but he decided that it was not enough. A method actor , he felt that he needed to spend time with Serpico. Pacino and Serpico met several times in Montauk , New York, where

15232-463: The state – all abstract ideas, which are all portrayed situationally as human stories in the giallo film. Gialli have been noted for their strong cinematic technique, with critics praising their editing , production design , music , and visual style even in the marked absence of other facets usually associated with critical admiration (as gialli frequently lack characterization , believable dialogue, realistic performances and logical coherence in

15368-460: The structure could not accommodate the production team and equipment efficiently. The escalating tension on the meeting resulted in De Laurentiis firing Avildsen, and the director quit in return. Avildsen's account for the reason of his dismissal was that he refused to cast Bregman's then-girlfriend (and later wife) Cornelia Sharpe as Leslie. Avildsen would later declare that he should have treated

15504-457: The structure, but that the dialogue was impoverished. Lumet allowed the actors to improvise certain dialogues, and he also allowed their creative input for the scenes. The cast selected dialogues from both scripts as the filming progressed. Although he already had a good knowledge of New York locations, Lumet considered the work "physically brutal, and emotionally tough". The principal photography on Serpico began in early July 1973. The film

15640-486: The success of the giallo novels soon began attracting the attention of other Italian publishing houses. They published their own versions and mimicked the yellow covers. The popularity of these series eventually established the word giallo as a synonym in Italian for a mystery novel. In colloquial and media usage in Italy, it also applied to a mysterious or unsolved affair. The Italian film genre began as literal adaptations of

15776-453: The team lead of Serpico's four-man unit, setting up Serpico to be shot in the face at a drug bust. Judd Hirsch appears as one of the cops in the hospital, also uncredited. After Frank Serpico recovered from being shot, he helped Peter Maas write Serpico . Detective David Durk, who also appeared in front of the Knapp Commission , planned to sell the rights of their story for a film adaptation. Early negotiations included Paul Newman in

15912-509: The title role. The screenplay was adapted by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from the book written by Peter Maas , with the assistance of its subject Frank Serpico . The story details Serpico's struggle with corruption within the New York City Police Department during his eleven years of service, and his work as a whistleblower that led to the investigation by the Knapp Commission . Producer Dino De Laurentiis purchased

16048-431: The title, and the film's structure served as a basic template for many of the gialli that would follow. Bava followed The Girl Who Knew Too Much the next year with the stylish and influential Blood and Black Lace (1964). It introduced a number of elements that became emblematic of the genre: a masked stalker with a shiny weapon in his black-gloved hand who brutally murders a series of glamorous fashion models. Though

16184-507: The traditional structure or abandon it altogether and still be considered gialli due to stylistic or thematic tropes, rather than narrative ones. A consistent element of the genre is an unusual lack of focus on coherent or logical narrative storytelling. While most have a nominal mystery structure, they may feature bizarre or seemingly nonsensical plot elements and a general disregard for realism in acting , dialogue , and character motivation. As Jon Abrams wrote, "Individually, each [ giallo ]

16320-444: The truth". Lumet defended his artistic license on the portrayal of the story, as he felt he desired to make a film that "people believed in". Bregman dismissed the critics, as he felt that the real names were not relevant for viewers in cities outside New York. Maas dismissed Durk's claims regarding honest policemen and asked, "Where were they?" The New York Times felt that the film was "galvanizing" for Pacino's performance and

16456-678: The use of numbers. Examples of the former trend include Sette scialli di seta gialla ( Crimes of the Black Cat ), Non si sevizia un paperino ( Don't Torture a Duckling ), La morte negli occhi del gatto ( Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye ), and La tarantola dal ventre nero ( Black Belly of the Tarantula ); while instances of the latter include Sette note in nero ( Seven Notes in Black ) and The Fifth Cord . The first giallo novel to be adapted for film

16592-596: The victim is most vulnerable (showering, taking a bath, or scantily clad); as such, giallo films often include liberal amounts of nudity and sex, almost all of it featuring beautiful young women. Actresses associated with the genre include Edwige Fenech , Barbara Bach , Daria Nicolodi , Mimsy Farmer , Barbara Bouchet , Suzy Kendall , Ida Galli , and Anita Strindberg . Due to the titillating emphasis on explicit sex and violence, gialli are sometimes categorized as exploitation cinema . The association of female sexuality and brutal violence has led some commentators to accuse

16728-460: The visuals of Profondo rosso ( Deep Red ) as "vivid colors and bizarre camera angles, dizzying pans and flamboyant tracking shots, disorienting framing and composition, fetishistic close-ups of quivering eyes and weird objects (knives, dolls, marbles, braided scraps of wool)...". Critic Roberto Curti describes the visual style of gialli in relation to the counterculture era as, "a pop delirium filled with psychedelic paraphernalia". In addition to

16864-483: The winter to look "cold and heavy", and the summer "idyllic and hazy". The team had difficulty to find locations suitable for the scenes set in the 1960s, since graffiti did not become common until 1970. Lumet shot up to 35 different setups daily. The team had to move three times a day on average. Each location had to be cleared of cars that did not belong to the particular period, and extras could not feature long hair nor non-period wardrobe. Hairdressers were present with

17000-408: Was James M. Cain 's The Postman Always Rings Twice , adapted in 1943 by Luchino Visconti as Ossessione . Though the film was technically the first of Mondadori's giallo series to be adapted, its neo-realist style was markedly different from the stylized, violent character which subsequent adaptations would acquire. Condemned by the fascist government, Ossessione was eventually hailed as

17136-465: Was "coldly objective", but that the director's work delivered characters that were "one-dimensional caricatures". The Boston Globe welcomed Lumet's "melodramatic efficiency". The publication considered the story "heavily repetitious", but favored its "quick pace". It regarded Ornitz's camerawork as "the right documentary look", while it lamented Theodorakis's score as "disruptive" and "out of character". Esquire further criticized Theodorakis, as

17272-497: Was "worth seeing" for Pacino's performance. Variety deemed Pacino's acting "outstanding", and Lumet's a combination of "gritty action and thought-provoking comment". For Newhouse News Services , it was an "exciting movie", but the review remarked that it was "weakened" by its focus on Serpico. The news agency attributed the minimization of the other characters to avoid "possible lawsuits". The Los Angeles Times acclaimed Serpico . Charles Champlin called Pacino "one of

17408-415: Was a box office smash and was widely imitated. Its success provoked a frenzy of Italian films with stylish, violent, and sexually provocative murder plots (Argento alone made three more in the next five years) essentially cementing the genre in the public consciousness. In 1996, director Michele Soavi wrote, "There's no doubt that it was Mario Bava who started the 'spaghetti thrillers' [but] Argento gave them

17544-458: Was able to locate him in Paris, as the composer quickly left his country of origin. Theodorakis accepted Lumet's offer, and flew to New York City the next day. He met with the director, who played the movie for him the day of his arrival. Theodorakis agreed that it should not have a soundtrack, but he offered a composition of his to add to the film. Theodorakis had arranged a tour of the United States with

17680-503: Was cut and he was clean-shaven for the beginning of the film. Lumet decided each day if Pacino was to be further shaven, and the crew prepared fake beards in case they were required. Winter conditions were simulated, as the team had to defoliate trees and cut shrubs. Special makeup was used to absorb the sweat, and to keep the actors' skin dry. The cast wore winter coats, and their skin was made to look bluish, while their breath had to be visible. The director followed Serpico's desire for

17816-410: Was featured in several novels written by Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee , serving as both a character and pen name. In such novels, clues may be analyzed by the protagonist in tandem with the viewer, generating the possibility of understanding the narrative before it is revealed in the book. Past the Golden Age, events such as the Great Depression and the transition between World Wars ushered in

17952-657: Was filmed in July and August. On its release, Serpico became a critical and commercial success. At the same time, the film drew criticism from police officers. It received nominations at the Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards . Pacino earned the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama , while Salt and Wexler received the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay . NYPD Officer Frank Serpico

18088-543: Was not pleased with Serpico . Durk, who was depicted in the character of Bob Blair, felt that the movie would deter other policemen to denounce corruption. In an interview with The New York Times , he considered the movie to be unfair to honest police officers. Durk stated that the end of the film conveyed that "the cost of honesty is martyrdom", and Serpico's departure for Switzerland showed him "wounded and frustrated". Meanwhile, Bronx district attorney Burton B. Roberts declared that it "bears absolutely no relationship to

18224-400: Was planned to be released before Christmas, with four-and-a-half months for the crew to complete the movie. Filming took place in July and August. The story of the film encompassed 11 years, from 1960 through 1971. To accommodate the scenes around Pacino's facial hair, the film was shot in reverse. Pacino started with long beard and hair. He was shaved to a mustache, and eventually, his hair

18360-419: Was published in 1860, while The Moonstone (1868) is often thought to be his masterpiece. French author Émile Gaboriau 's Monsieur Lecoq (1868) laid the groundwork for the methodical, scientifically minded detective. The evolution of locked-room mysteries was one of the landmarks in the history of crime fiction. The Sherlock Holmes mysteries of Doyle's are said to have been singularly responsible for

18496-479: Was released nationwide on February 6, 1974. The film was a critical and commercial success. It grossed $ 29.8 million in the United States and Canada, generating $ 14.6 million in theatrical rentals . It earned theatrical rentals worldwide of $ 23.4 million. Serpico attended the premiere of the film, but he did not finish watching it. Serpico felt "distant" from the results. In an interview with Pauline Kael for The New Yorker , he concluded that it "didn't give

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