Review of Serpico (1973) by Missy T — 28 Jan 2009

An inspiring story about one man's struggle for acceptance, standing up for what he believes in: his right to grow facial hair. Al Pacino plays Long John Serpico, a maverick cop whos funky-fresh dress sense and ever expanding face fuzz earns him a bunch of clean-shaven enemies within his department. They probably suspect him of being a pirate or something, which is understandable, really, because he looks the part. Don't worry, though; he's not... I don't think. I had the volume pretty low, and I may have fallen asleep once or twice, but I still think I got a feel for the guy.

Long John, it seemed to me, was just looking for love. Simple, you'd think, but his fellow bare-faced officers want nothing to do with him and his crazy ways; throughout the film they even go so far as to offer Serpico money to go see a barber, but all this does is offend the good captain, who refuses to shave away his beliefs. Indeed, his search for his beard's acceptance proves so damaging to his love life that woman after woman turns away from him; their cheeks rubbed just too raw to stand by him.

Despite this it had a pretty upbeat ending, SPOILER WARNING, with the villains trying and failing to shoot the beard right off his face. Drastic, I know, they probably didn't give it enough thought. Anyway, the beard haters get rumbled, which leaves ol' Long John free to elope with a kindred spirit who has been hiding under his nose all along, similarly rejected for their shaggy-dog hairstyle: his shaggy sheepdog, Polly (probably).

Sorry for the spoilers, but this film really made an impression on me. It has left me questioning my own feelings, about truth, and justice, and facial hair. Thinking about how easy it is to take these things for granted.

I can only hope that should I ever have the urge to grow a beard like Captain Long John Serpico that I'd find the same integrity and commitment it took him to grow that bad boy in the first place.