OCTOBER 17, 2014 2:20PM
Sam Explains it All
SUMMER OF SAM
Released: July 2, 1999
Director: Spike Lee
Writer: Spike Lee, Victor Colicchio, Michael Imperioli
Notable Cast: John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino,
Plot: Spike Lee's take on the "Son of Sam" murders in New York City during the summer of 1977 centering on the residents of an Italian-American South Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another. (source: imdb.com)
Commentary: Summer of Sam is not anything like a horror movie, although it deals with horrors and does depict David Berkowitz's murders very graphically.
There's quite a lot to talk about here. It's my second viewing of the film, and for me it stands up as a great study in what fear will drive individuals and entire communities to do.
It's amazing how in love the late 1990's pop culture was with the 1970's. Boogie Nights. The Last Days of Disco. 54. That 70's Show. It's understandable. The glamour, art, sex and grit of the era somehow resonated with our dotcom Gilded Age.
And as many no doubt realize, the summer of 1977 was dark and eventful for New York City. The Son of Sam was kicking his murder spree into full gear, there was a blackout and looting, there was the garbage strike, punk was happening hard down in The Bowery, and Elvis died.
Spike Lee takes us through this historical summer through the lens of some very flawed and very interesting characters.
Leguizamo's Vinnie is an Italian-American hairdresser too broken to stop his serial philandering and see his wife Dionna (Sorvino) as a whole person.
Sorvino had an amazingly understated performance and character arc here, and on revisiting this film I wonder why the "Oscar curse" took hold of her.
Adrien Brody, meanwhile, plays Richie, part of the same Bronx Italian circle that Vinnie and Dionna come from. He turns to the punk scene, affects a horrible fake British accent (deliberate) and supports himself by performing at a bizarre live snuff porn porn show. Why? That's masterfully left for you to figure out. Does he want to be anything but an Italian from the Bronx? Is he a mad tortured would-be musician? How far does he want to escape from himself?
Now, as a period piece, I'm not entirely satisfied. The disco scene side of the equation was fine. More than anything the soul/disco tracks Lee et al chose were excellent. And a scene in the notorious NYC swingers club Plato's Retreat was a perfect mirrorball cocaine glittered shock (also serving for some painful character growth for Vinnie and Dionna).
But as many people observed, Lee and the writers had absolutely no grasp of the 1970's punk scene. Richie's adulation of The Who isn't wholely out of place, but why wouldn't a character like him be crazy about the Sex Pistols, The New York Dolls or The Ramones?
And the punks in the CBGB scenes looked and acted not like New York punks in 1977 - most who dressed fairly normally for the time ...
(I don't see a lot of nose rings and wild fashion in that crowd. Do you?)
and maybe a little closer to the Bromsley Contingent punks of the U.K.
Mostly they looked and acted like attendees of a late 1990's Warped Tour concert, extreme caricatures complete with multiple piercings, vile attitude and other stereotypical trappings ...
(not the best example, but images of the key scene are scarce)
or better yet, like 90's versions of Quincy punks.
("For God's sake, what will it take to get these kids to stop listening to that HATE filled music!!!!!")
All that said, it doesn't matter. Lee's interest in punk rock was only so far as how it makes a character like Richie a suspect outsider in his own family and community.
One is tempted to observe that angry violent "guidos" are stock Lee villains, like Nazis or zombies in other films. But look deeper, especially in this movie. While the Angry Guido is there in full force, there's also nuance and actual, faceted human Italian-Americans.
What We're Afraid Of: This movie is precisely about the "What We're Afraid Of." It's about the witch hunts and the moral panics that follow once a real bit of horror is experienced in a community. It's about what a community chooses to define as an outsider, a scapegoat and the source of evil. Mob rule and a bit of groupthink.
Richie became his community's sacrificial lamb, and the - forgive my lack of a more sophisticated term - Guido Vigilante Mob - shook down anyone and everyone that would fit their own idea of what the Son of Sam was - devil worshipper, queer, pedophile, punk rocker, what have you.
What do you let yourself, your community, your country become when you're faced with a bit of (justified?) fear?
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Comments
Excellent metaphor for America's response to Ebola and ISIS/ISIL... R&R ;-)
And another canine themed movie, though more obscurely here.
I was out of NYC during the summer of 1977. My parents shipped my sister and I off to a sleepaway camp far from the city.
I watched "Summer Of Sam" a few times. I found it to be an inconsistent film, very good at times, not so good at others.
The people of NYC lived under a heavy burden of fear during the summer of 1977. Fear and horror are close cousins.
RATED
I watched "Summer Of Sam" a few times. I found it to be an inconsistent film, very good at times, not so good at others.
The people of NYC lived under a heavy burden of fear during the summer of 1977. Fear and horror are close cousins.
RATED
Thanks littlewillie for
your comments. I can't imagine what it must have been like to live in
the City during that summer. The stories at camp must have been
incredibly creepy.
Anarchy in the UK!! ~flees into the thorn bushes~
@Tink - if Sam had been a cat instead of a dog, would David Berkowitz have become a ballet dancer instead of a serial killer?
The 1970's...a decade that just...won't...stay...dead....
I've always wanted to
see this but haven't gotten round to it yet, although as is pointed out,
most find it inconsistent. As for the getting the punk rock stuff
correct, yep, this is completely wrongedy-wrong-wrong but seemingly
nobody gets those scene on both sides of the Atlantic right when
attempted. I am sitting here trying to think of a film that gets it
right (the early scenes in "Control" perhaps).
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