• Director(s)

    Sidney Lumet

  • Production Year

    1973

  • Release date

    18/08/2023

  • Genre(s)

    Crime, Drama

  • Approx. running minutes

    130m

  • Cast

    Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe

Film

Serpico

strong language, violence, injury detail, sexual violence references

An honest police officer informs on crooked colleagues in this hard-hitting, dark and gritty 1973 US crime drama about institutionalised corruption, and which includes strong violence and harrowing sexual violence references.…

An honest police officer informs on crooked colleagues in this hard-hitting, dark and gritty 1973 US crime drama about institutionalised corruption, and which includes strong violence and harrowing sexual violence references.

Content Advice(May contain spoilers)

violence

threat and horror

language

sex

discrimination

drugs

sexual violence and sexual threat

injury detail

  • Director(s)

    Sidney Lumet

  • Production Year

    1973

  • Release date

    18/08/2023

  • Genre(s)

    Crime, Drama

  • Approx. running minutes

    130m

  • Cast

    Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe

strong language, violence, injury detail, sexual violence references
Classified Date:
15/06/2023
Version:
2D
Use:
Cinema
Distributor:
Park Circus Limited
violence
In one scene, a man is shot in the face, accompanied by a brief close-up blood spurt. A police officer repeatedly flushes a man's head down a toilet. During a police interrogation, a male suspect is beaten on the head with a telephone directory. There are also fight scenes and beatings.
threat and horror
Scenes of moderate threat include chases and gun threat.
language
The film contains strong language ('f**k', 'motherf**ker', 'c**ksucker'), as well as milder terms (for example, 'prick', 'cock', 'shit', 'bullshit', 'piss', 'asshole', 'ass', 'crap', 'screw', ''God', 'damn', 'hell', 'Jesus', 'Christ').
sex
There are brief verbal references to female sex workers.
discrimination
The film contains racist and homophobic language ('n****r', 'spic', 'fag') which is not endorsed by the work as a whole. In one scene, a senior male police officer expresses disgust when he speculates that two male officers were performing a sexual act. Homophobia is not condoned by the work as a whole.
drugs
In one scene, police officers are given marijuana cigarettes to smoke so that they can identify the drug. There are also verbal drug references, including slang terms.
sexual violence and sexual threat
Two police officers answer a call reporting a rape in progress. They arrive at a crime scene where they find three men restraining and holding a knife to a terrified bloodstained woman whose breasts are exposed. Following their intervention and the subsequent related arrest of one of the three perpetrators, the distressed woman describes the assault to police officers in a scene featuring strong verbal references to sexual violence.
injury detail
There is close-up emphasis on a bullet wound in a man's face, with blood running over his cheek. There is also close-up emphasis on a man's bloodstained hand in a scene in which he is trapped in a doorway and the door scrapes his skin.
nudity
There is female breast nudity in a scene in which a woman sits in a bath with a man. In another scene, a man's buttocks are briefly exposed when a police officer tears his trousers whilst making an arrest.
rude humour
A man briefly urinates off-screen.
theme
Scenes of emotional upset include those in which a man argues with his girlfriend, and there are also scenes in which she cries.
alcohol and smoking
There are scenes in which adults smoke cigarettes and consume alcohol, as well as a couple of scenes in which adults become drunk.
Classified Date:
14/01/1974
Version:
2D
Use:
Cinema
Distributor:
Cinema International Corp. UK
Contains very strong violence, strong language and sex
Classified Date:
25/04/2003
Version:
2D
Use:
Physical media + VOD/Streaming
Distributor:
Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
Classified Date:
02/12/2002
Version:
2D
Use:
Physical media
Distributor:
Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
Classified Date:
11/12/1987
Version:
2D
Use:
Physical media
Distributor:
CIC Video

  • Classified date

    15/06/2023

  • Language

    English