Frank Serpico left the country in 1972, living for a time in Europe. He returned in the early 1980s and now lives in the mountains of New York state, studying, lecturing, sculpting, and writing (including pieces for The Huffington Post and his own blog at frankserpico.blogspot.com). He still speaks out against corruption and injustice.

"You know, he's a guy who really wanted nothing but to be a cop," Lumet has said of Frank Serpico before he returned from living abroad. "I hope he has some kind of life left. I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I don't think Europe is the answer for him. He seems to be such a native American. If there were only some way he could channel his talents."

When Al Pacino asked him why he had blown the whistle on police corruption, Serpico replied, "Well, Al, I don't know. I guess I would have to say it would be because... if I didn't, who would I be when I listened to a piece of music?"

Al Pacino and Sidney Lumet made only one other movie together, Dog Day Afternoon (1975).

At the age of 83, Lumet released his latest of more than 40 feature films, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007). Known for guiding a wide range of acclaimed actors to very notable performances, Lumet started out as an actor himself, appearing at 11 as one of the original Dead End Kids on Broadway in Sidney Kingsley's 1935 play from which they took their name. (Kingsley lent Lumet his apartment to film the party scene in Serpico.) Lumet has directed 17 actors in Academy Award-nominated roles; four of them won: Ingrid Bergman (for Best Supporting Actress for Murder on the Orient Express), Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, and Beatrice Straight––the last three for Network (1976).

In addition to Serpico, Martin Bregman has produced four other films starring Al Pacino: Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Scarface (1983), Sea of Love (1989), and Carlito's Way (1993).

Bregman has been married to former model Cornelia Sharpe, who plays Leslie in Serpico, since the early 1970s.

Screenwriter Waldo Salt is most often identified with films that reflect the attitudes and mores of the 1960s and 1970s, such as his Academy Award-winning work on Midnight Cowboy (1969) and Coming Home (1978). He was, in fact, born in 1914 and began his career as a studio contract writer in the 1930s. His refusal to testify before HUAC led to his blacklisting in the 1950s, although he continued to work under pseudonyms for many television shows and occasional films. The Sundance Film Festival bestows a writing award named in his honor. His daughter is the actress Jennifer Salt (Brewster McCloud [1970], Sisters [1973]). He died in 1987.

Screenwriter Norman Wexler worked in advertising and as a playwright before having his first script produced at the age of 44. The movie was Joe (1970), an offbeat drama of intergenerational conflicts that marked the screen debut of Susan Sarandon and earned Wexler an Academy Award nomination. His career was brief––seven films in 16 years––and his most famous work was Saturday Night Fever (1977). Wexler's severe bipolar disorder led to his arrest in 1972 for saying he would shoot President Richard Nixon. It has been revealed in the years since his death (1999) that he was at least partially the model for comedian Andy Kaufman's alter ego "Tony Clifton" and was the mysterious "Mr. X" referred to in Bob Zmuda's biography of Kaufman.

Five of author Peter Maas' other books have also been made into movies, including The Valachi Papers (1972) and King of the Gypsies (1978).

Cinematographer Arthur J. Ornitz (1916-1985) was the son of blacklisted "Hollywood Ten" writer Samuel Ornitz. He began his career on Power and the Land (1940), a documentary about the drive to electrify the rural US, directed by Joris Ivens, one of several pioneering independent filmmakers (among them were Shirley Clarke and Russ Meyer) with whom Ornitz worked over the years. After a stint in Europe in the early 1950s, he returned to American film with The Goddess (1958). He worked steadily for the rest of his life on such films as The Boys in the Band (1970), Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976), and An Unmarried Woman (1978).

Greek-born (1925) Mikis Theodorakis began his career in 1953 and continues to compose film soundtracks to this day. Most of his work has been in Europe, primarily his native country, but he has achieved international recognition with his scores for Zorba the Greek (1964) and Z (1969). The Greek title for the music theme he composed for Serpico is "Dromoi Palioi," meaning "Old Streets."

Al Pacino is one of three male actors to be Oscar®-nominated for Best Actor and Supporting Actor in the same year. The first was Barry Fitzgerald, the only actor to have been nominated in both categories for the same role in the same picture: Going My Way (1944). Pacino won Best Actor for Scent of a Woman (1992) and was nominated for Glengarry Glen Ross (1992). Jamie Foxx won for Ray (2004) and was nominated for Collateral (2004). Eight actresses share the same double nomination distinction: Fay Bainter, Cate Blanchett, Holly Hunter, Jessica Lange, Julianne Moore, Emma Thompson, Sigourney Weaver, and Teresa Wright.

Barbara Eda-Young made her film debut as Laurie in Serpico. She and Pacino had been friends since they were both members of Lincoln Center Rep.

Future Academy Award-winning Best Actor F. Murray Abraham appears in a small role as a police detective. Also in a small part is Judd Hirsch, making his film debut.

The original director of Serpico, John Avildsen, left the project after disagreements with producer Martin Bregman. He went on to direct the drama Save the Tiger (1973) starring Jack Lemmon, who bested Pacino for the Best Actor Academy Award the year Serpico was nominated.

Some of the principals involved in the real-life case remarked that Serpico erroneously made it appear that Serpico was the sole person responsible for blowing the whistle on police corruption in New York and objected to the elimination of police Sgt. David Durk's part in it.

Sidney Lumet said he wasn't surprised at the film's positive critical reception but was unexpectedly delighted that it became a box office hit, considering it had such a downbeat ending. "It shows the audience is always more grown up than most studios think they are."

Memorable Quotes from SERPICO

COP 1: Guess who got shot? Serpico.
COP 2: You think a cop did it?
COP 1: I know six cops said they'd like to.

LESLIE: What do you need a gun for?
SERPICO: You ever hear of Barnum and Bailey? I'm their lion tamer.

DESK SERGEANT (remarking on Serpico's beard): You look like an asshole with dentures.

KELLOGG: You have two alternatives. You can force me to take you to the commissioner of investigations. He'll drag you in front of a Grand Jury.
SERPICO: I don't want that.
KELLOGG: Oh, I can understand that. Word'll get out. Before it's all over they'll find you face down in the East River.
BOB: What's the other alternative?
KELLOGG: Forget it.

KEOUGH: Who can trust a cop who don't take money?

SERPICO: Nothing's gonna happen from the inside. The top guys have been cops too long.

BERMAN: The priorities are a long hot summer ahead. Riots are expected. And the mayor cannot afford to alienate the police.

END TITLE: Frank Serpico resigned from the police department on June 15, 1972. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for "conspicuous bravery in action." Serpico is now living somewhere in Switzerland.

Compiled by Rob Nixon