Summer of Sam

Summer of Sam is a 1999 American crime thriller film that recounts the Son of Sam serial murders. It was directed and produced by Spike Lee and stars John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, and Jennifer Esposito.

Plot

It is the summer of 1977 and New York City lives in fear of the serial killer Son of Sam who has shot several women in parked cars. One night, Vinny and his wife Dionna go to a night club, where they dance and have drinks. Vinny notices Dionna's attractive cousin, so he then pretends to take her cousin home and has anal sex with her in his car.

Later on that night, Vinny and his wife drive home, she gives him a kiss and notices a strange taste. She knows he was having sex with her cousin, but she was afraid to admit it. While driving with the awkward moment, Vinny sees the dead bodies that the Son of Sam killed. He then notices they were his friends.

The next day, Vinny is approached by Ritchie, an old friend. Ritchie has become part of the punk rock scene and his unusual dress and hairstyle concerns Vinny and others in the neighborhood. The only one who seems accepting of Ritchie is Ruby, a local promiscuous girl, who thinks he looks good. Ruby is initially shocked when she learns that Ritchie makes money by dancing and prostituting himself at a gay theater but the two become closer.

As the Son of Sam killings continue, tension rises in the neighborhood. Detective Petrocelli of the New York Police Department asks local mobster Luigi to help find the killer. Luigi and his men begin assembling a list of possible suspects. A group of men in the neighborhood also make a list of possible suspects, including Ritchie who they regard as "a freak". Later on that day, Vinny and Dionna go to a night club, they have there time again. On that night, Vinny and Dionna have sex.

Next day later, Ruby joins a band with Ritchie and they get a gig at CBGB's. They invite Vinny and Dionna but the couple are intimidated by the punks at the club and leave. Vinny and Dionna try to get into Studio 54 but are denied and instead end up at Plato's Retreat where they engage in an orgy. On the ride home, Vinny berates his wife for her participation in the orgy, calling her a "lesbian whore." for having a threesome with a man and a woman while Vinny had sex with four other woman during the orgy. Dionna tells Vinny that she knows about his prior infidelities including his having sex with her cousin. She angrily storms off and goes to stay at her parent's house.

After another gig, Ritchie sees Vinny sitting in his car outside CBGB's and sneaks up on him, pretends to be Son of Sam and startles Vinny. Returning to the neighborhood an increasingly tired and unstable Vinny meets with Dionna and apologizes to her, promising never to cheat again. However, she doesn't believe him and says she wants a divorce. The police publish an eyewitness sketch of the murderer and some of the local men think it looks like Ritchie. Vinny, distraught over his impending divorce, gets high on coke. A group of local men come by his house asking for his help to lure Ritchie into a trap so they can deliver him to the police. Vinny reluctantly goes along with it.

Unknown to Vinny and the men, the police have arrested David Berkowitz for the shootings. Vinny goes to Ritchie's place and finds Ritchie and Ruby there. He lures Ritchie out of the house on the pretext of talking about his marriage but changes his mind and warns him to run. The other men emerge and attack Ritchie as Ruby look on horrified. Ritchie's stepfather, Eddie, comes out of the house and holds the attackers at gunpoint. When they say that Ritchie is the Son of Sam, he tells them that the killer has already been captured. Unable to face Ritchie, Vinny walks away.

Cast

Production

The film was largely shot during the summer of 1998 and set in the Italian-American neighborhoods of Country Club, Morris Park and Throggs Neck sections of the Bronx which David Berkowitz terrorized in 1977, with some scenes filmed in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Specifically, Marie's Beauty Lounge, the salon where Vinny works, was a real active salon that was located on Morris Park Avenue at the time, between Williamsbridge Road and Bronxdale Avenue. Most of Berkowitz's killings actually took place in Queens. The real CBGB was used, the band playing on stage, L.E.S. Stitches, is a contemporary punk band operating out of New York's Lower East Side.

Brody's nose was broken during the final climatic fight scene in which his character Richie is brutally beaten by his friends.^[2] After they are refused entry into Studio 54, the sex scene between Dionna and Vinny included more explicit shots in the original cut. This scene was edited after the MPAA threatened the film with an "NC-17" rating.^[3]

The role of Dionna was originally written with Jennifer Esposito in mind. The role of Ruby was originally offered to Sarah Michelle Gellar. However a cast reshuffle ended with Mira Sorvino as Dionna and Esposito as Ruby.^[4]

Reception

Reviews of Summer of Sam were mixed. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times stated "Lee is a powerful filmmaker who certainly knows how to have an impact on an audience, but those who survive his ministrations are likely to wonder if in this case the battle was worth the bruises." ^[5] Todd McCarthy of Variety thought that "this is the closest Lee has yet come to Scorsese territory!"^[6]

Summer of Sam has an overall approval rating of 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site's consensus stating: "Spike Lee offers intense visuals but his storytelling feels crowded and overambitious."^[7] On Metacritic, the film has a 67/100 rating, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[8]

Accolades

References

1. ↑ "SUMMER OF SAM (18)". Downtown Pictures. British Board of Film Classification. August 27, 1999. Retrieved November 15, 2013. 
2. ↑ Hempe, Mary Anne (April 22, 2011). "A Never-Mess-With-Adrien Brody Double Feature". POP Magazine. Retrieved September 21, 2011. 
3. ↑ Berardinelli, James (1999). "Summer of Sam: A Film Review by James Berardinelli". Retrieved September 21, 2011. 
4. ↑ "Movie Preview: Summer of Sam". Entertainment Weekly. April 19, 1999. Retrieved September 21, 2011. 
5. ↑ http://www.movieweb.com/movie/summer-of-sam/reviews/critic
6. ↑ http://www.movieweb.com/movie/summer-of-sam/reviews/critic
7. ↑ Summer of Sam at Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved November 15, 2013
8. ↑ Summer of Sam at Metacritic Retrieved November 15, 2013

External links

• Summer of Sam at the Internet Movie Database
• Summer of Sam at Box Office Mojo