Details
Movie Description
SUMMER OF SAM, Spike Lee's sizzling interpretation of the summer of 1977 in New York City, when thermometers shattered and a serial killer terrorized the city, focuses on an Italian-American community in the Bronx--specifically, Dionna (Mira Sorvino) and Vinny (John Leguizamo), a couple whose marriage is threatened by Vinny's obsession with other women. After Vinny returns home one night to find a killer has murdered two local women, he promises to mend his cheating ways, albeit unsuccessfully. As the media exploits the murders and a blackout threatens to unleash anarchy on the city, its inhabitants begin to look for a scapegoat who will release them from the reign of terror created by the chilling figure known only as the Son of Sam (Michael Badalucco). Lee's ambitious film does more than re-create the events that unfolded during the summer of 1977; in addition to being an entertaining time capsule, it also deals graphically with the concept of the mob mentality.
Synopsis
Spike Lee's sizzling, fictionalized re-telling of the events of the summer of 1977 in New York when a serial killer stalked the streets, terrorizing an entire city and its environs. The story focuses on a Bronx couple (Mira Sorvino and John Leguizamo) whose marriage is threatened by the Son of Sam's reign of terror and the husband's obsession with other women. When their friends (James Brody and Jennifer Esposito) return to the city as newly outfitted punk rockers, tensions begin to boil as the fear continues to grow in the community.
Film Notes
Theatrical release: July 2, 1999.
Shot on location in New York City.
Lee trimmed almost two minutes of footage from the film so it could receive an R rating from the MPAA.
Industry Reviews
"...[See it for the] bravura sequence set to the tremble and throb of The Who's 1971 anthem BABA O'RILEY....Glee alternates with gloom..." -- Rating: B
Entertainment Weekly - p.75 - Troy Patterson
"...[A] tenaciously gripping film..."
Rolling Stone - p.80 - Peter Travers
"...Furiously enthralling....SUMMER OF SAM is loaded with visual energy..."
New York Times - p.E1 - Janet Maslin
"...Energetic, inventive....Lee's hand with actors has never been surer....A truly remarkable achievement..."
Premiere - Glenn Kenny (08/01/1999)
"...Lee's feeling for the material, as expressed through his usual visual pyrotechnics, is undeniably effective..."
Box Office - Wade Major (09/01/1999)
"...Lee's best films thrum with a wound-up energy, and SUMMER OF SAM vibrates with fear, guilt and lust..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (07/02/1999)
"...One of Spike's best joints in years. This is confident movie-making..."
Total Film - Will Columbine (10/01/2000)
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