Summer of Sam (1999)

SUMMER OF SAM (1999)

A Film Review

Copyright Dragan Antulov 2004

There are many ways to reconstruct history on film. Some filmmakers

try to give detailed and accurate depictions of the past events. Some

filmmakers use history only as background for fictional stories. Some

filmmakers try to make compromise between those two approaches.

Spike Lee tried to make one such compromise in his 1999 drama

SUMMER OF SAM.

The film starts with the prologue by Jimmy Breslin, "New York Daily

News" columnist who was personally involved in one of the darkest

chapters of recent New York history. Breslin tells that New York in

the Summer of 1977 used to be much uglier place to live than in late

1990s - high unemployment and raging inflation were accompanied

by record high temperatures, power blackouts and rising crime rate.

Modest, but very spectacular, contribution to the latter was provided

by David Berkowitz (played by Michael Badalucci), serial killer who

wandered through streets armed with .44 Magnum and killed few

people before entering history books as "Son of Sam". While his

murderous campaign goes on, other citizens of New York are

preoccupied with other concerns. One of them is Vinnie (played by

John Leguizamo), Italian-American hairdresser from Bronx. He has it

all - money, expensive car and reputation of a disco king. Vinnie's

beautiful and loving wife Dionne (played by Mira Sorvino) doesn't

show much enthusiasm for some unorthodox sexual practices so

Vinnie has to seek those pleasures with other women. When he

accidentally stumbles into "Son of Sam's" crime scene he begins to

contemplate abandoning his philandering ways. In the meantime,

Vinnie's best friend Richie (played by Adrien Brody) shocks

neighbourhood by adopting punk hairstyle and fake British accent;

his plan to buy luxurious electric guitar and start his own punk band

is financed through dancing in gay bar, male prostitution and

occasional shooting of porn movies with his girlfriend Ruby (played

by Jennifer Esposito). While all this goes on, NYPD is so desperate in

its desire to catch the killer that it recruits Luigi (played by Ben

Gazzara), local mafia boss. Luigi's thugs, organised into vigilante

groups, begin to view any odd character as potential killer and Richie

becomes most likely suspect.

The film's script, written by Victor Colicchio, Michael Imperioli and

Spike Lee, had potential to explore many interesting topics and

stories. It could have dealt with the David Berkowitz's killings, either

by trying to show psychopathology behind it or by showing the way

media created public hysteria because of them. It could have shown

the way how bigotry and paranoia could lead to violence. It could

have also been a nice opportunity to portray culture and social

attitudes of 1970s urban America - so different from modern times.

SUMMER OF SAM tries all that, but fails. Having all those stories in

a single feature film was the task beyond creative capabilities of even

such talented filmmaker like Spike Lee. David Berkowitz, instead of

being mysterious bogeyman affecting protagonists' lives, is shown as

pathetic man obsessed with talking dogs. Protagonists, on the other

hand, are less characters and more collection of every 1970s nostalgia

cliche available - Vinnie, as philandering disco king interested in

group sex, is given its antipode in Richie who manages to be punk

rocker, male prostitute and porn actor at the same time. All that is

accompanied with plenty of baseball and other historical references

hardly comprehensible to anyone who haven't lived or remembered

1970s New York.

On the other hand, Spike Lee manages to compensate lack of proper

content with superb form. Despite disappointing plot and characters,

SUMMER OF SAM functions as a coherent whole, often making

audience believe that they watch an epic film of great importance.

Lee directs many scenes with great skill, especially in the scenes that

show his ability to recreate 1970s. The acting is good and many

talented performers like Leguizamo, Sorvino and Gazzara manage to

breathe some life into their one-dimensional roles. Adrien Brody is

especially effective, because he makes audience sympathise with the

character who could otherwise end up like pathetic caricature.

Although a failure, SUMMER OF SAM is not only watchable but at

times very entertaining reconstruction of history.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

Review written on August 11th 2004

Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax

http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in

Croatian

http://www.ofcs.org - Online Film Critics Society

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X-RT-RatingText: 5/10