Summer of Sam (1999)
Directed by: Spike
Lee.
Written by: Victor
Colicchio & Michael Imperioli & Spike Lee.
Starring: John Leguizamo (Vinny), Adrien
Brody (Ritchie), Mira Sorvino (Dionna), Jennifer Esposito (Ruby), Michael
Rispoli (Joey T), Saverio Guerra (Woodstock), Brian Tarantina (Bobby Del
Fiore), Al Palagonia (Anthony), Ken Garito (Brian), Bebe Neuwirth (Gloria), Patti
LuPone (Helen), Mike Starr (Eddie), Anthony LaPaglia (Detective Lou
Petrocelli), Roger Guenveur Smith (Detective Curt Atwater), Ben Gazzara
(Luigi), Joe Lisi (Tony Olives), James Reno (Crony), Arthur Nascarella (Mario),
John Savage (Simon), Jimmy Breslin (himself), Michael Badalucco (Son of Sam), Spike
Lee (John Jeffries), Lucia Grillo (Chiara), Michael Imperioli (Midnite), John
Turturro (Voice of Harvey the Dog).
10 years
after Spike Lee’s masterpiece, Do the Right Thing, he made Summer of Sam –
another film about a New York neighborhood, in the summer heat, where fear and
violence thrum underneath the surface, just waiting to explode. This is a
different neighborhood, in a different time period, and the reasons the
violence is going to explode is different as well – but the feeling is the
same, and Lee captures it all. Do the Right Thing is a rare perfect film –
Summer of Sam is not. It is long and messy, and strikes out in many directions
at once. That’s a major part of the reason why it works as well as it does.
This is
the first film by Lee with no major black characters – the two black characters
with the most screen time – Roger Guenveur Smith’s detective and Lee’s own
roving reporter – are really only glimpsed in passing, although they are there
to point out that even if this movie is not about race and racism per se – it’s
still very much there below the surface. The film takes place in a working
class neighborhood of the Bronx – where everything is Italian American. It is
an insulated community, fearful of outsiders. It’s the summer of 1977, and the city
is gripped in fear of the Son of Sam killer – a maniac with a .44 revolver who
shoots couples in cars, and has been sending bizarre, terrifying letters to
famed reporter Jimmy Breslin. The killer is seen throughout the film – normally
in his dark apartment, most often from behind, as he wails in pain and
frustration, and also occasionally on the streets, where violence erupts
shortly after he arrives. In the film, he is a pathetic character -
impressively played by Michael Badalucco – and that is kind of the point. The
man who everyone so feared was this weak, pathetic shell of a man.
No one in
this Bronx neighborhood knows that however. The men gather on the street and
gossip about the killer – convinced that it is someone in their very own
neighborhood. Of course, they come up with a list of suspects – and it’s all
the strange people – those who do not fit in – that make the list. There’s the
long haired Vietnam vet who drives a cab, maybe the priest. Then there’s
Ritchie (Adrien Brody).
Ritchie
is a neighborhood kid who moved to Manhattan a while ago, discovered punk, and
has now returned with spiked hair, weird clothes and an affected British
accent. In theory, everyone knows him – but they now look at him differently.
Why would he want to look like that? He doesn’t help his reputation by starting
to date Ruby (Jennifer Esposito), who is known as the neighborhood slut. But
unlike the rest of the men around, Ritchie doesn’t use her – he genuinely cares
about her, and the pair seem like perhaps a good match. He doesn’t much care
about her past – that was before him after all. This is a modern attitude that
the lunkheads in the neighborhood don’t seem capable of grasping.
The
leader of the lunkheads, in some ways, is Vinny (John Leguizamo). He’s married
to Dionna (Mira Sorvino) – but seemingly fucks every woman who isn’t Dionna –
her cousin from Italy for example, or his boss at the beauty salon, Gloria
(Bebe Neuwirth). He’s got the classic Catholic Madonna/Whore complex – he isn’t
able to ask Dionna to do the types of things sexually that he wants because he
would disappointed if she said yes. He cannot get it up with her anymore, but
can with everyone else. They will end up at an orgy at one point – where Dionna
does what she thinks her husband wants, who of course, will chastise her for it
later, calling her a whore.
Vinny
isn’t always there when the neighborhood guys do their gossiping – and unlike
the others, he remains friends with Ritchie, even if he thinks he is weird.
Still, the guys look to him for permission to single him out – as if they feel
that unless everyone is unanimous on this, they cannot act. Spinning out of
control on drugs, his failing marriage and desperation, Vinny eventually gives
into the groupthink.
Summer of
Sam doesn’t have a plot in a traditional sense – it’s like Do the Right Thing
that way. It mainly focuses on Vinny and Ritchie, both together and separate,
over the course of this summer of fear. It’s about Vinny becoming unglued, and
losing his idea of himself, while Ritchie finds his own identity. Ritchie isn’t
portrayed as a saint by any means – he is more than a little delusional about
his “show business career” – but he’s trying to overcome the limitations of
where he came from. But it’s about the neighborhood as well – the detectives
who will go to the local mob boss (Ben Gazzara) because he has his fingers and
everything, and may be able to help find the killer. We see TV reports, mostly
by Lee’s John Jefferies, who is awkward on camera (this is Lee’s intention) – as
he interviews mostly black people, who question why no one cares about all the
black people being killed, and mock Jefferies himself (“What are you doing
here? I thought you didn’t like black people”).
All of
this is wrapped up in an overheated mixture of sex, violence, paranoia and fear
that pulsates throughout the film. The plot is ragged and messy, but Lee excels
at creating that overheated atmosphere in the film. Summer of Sam doesn’t get
mentioned very often in relation to Lee’s best films – perhaps because it is
overlong and messy, and has a few other problems (Lee doesn’t really solve his
normal problem with female characters – although Sorvino does her best with the
role, Esposito’s role is too underwritten). But every time I see it, I get
wrapped back in its atmosphere of fear, paranoia, sex and violence. This is one
of Lee’s best films – and perhaps his most underrated.
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