It's the off-season at the lonely Beauregard Hotel in Bournemoth, and only the long-term tenants are still in residence. Life is stirred up, however, when the beautiful Ann Shankland arrives to see her alcoholic ex-husband, John Malcolm, who is secretly engaged to Pat Cooper, the woman who runs the hotel. Meanwhile, snobbish Mrs Railton-Bell discovers that the kindly if rather doddering Major Pollock, played by David Niven, who won an Oscar for his performance, a retired officer who likes to find out more...

Pacino is superb as the oddball cop Frank Serpico, an idealist cop who stood out not just because of his odd dress sense, but because of his refusal to take bribes, something which made him very dangerous to his thieving corrupt workmates. A series of narrative twists make this excellent truth-based drama gripping viewing. A forerunner for the even better 'Prince of the City'. find out more...