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Laramie Movie Scope:
Summer of Sam

Sex and violence make a nasty combination

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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July 4, 1999 -- "Summer of Sam," is supposed to be a film about the effect of a serial killer on the lives of people in New York City in the record hot summer of 1977, about how it makes them paranoid and crazy. Instead it comes across like an exploitation film about sex and violence.

Directed by Spike Lee, one of the best directors around, the movie roars off the screen like a series of out-of-key jazz riffs. There's color and power, horrible violence, madness and lots of sex. You've got people doing it in the missionary position, canine style, sitting up, in the bedroom, in the car and in the hair salon.

Although we don't get very much insight into the madness of David Berkowitz, except he can understand what one dog says, we do get to know more than we really wanted to know about the sexual hangups of Vinny (John Leguizamo of "Spawn") and his lovely wife, Dionna (Mira Sorvino of "Mighty Aphrodite").

Vinny likes to have sex in different, ah, positions, but feels these urges are sinful, so he only acts upon them when he is with women he is not married to. I've heard of such sexual hangups, but never thought I'd be seeing them played out during a movie about a serial killer. These two themes seem to mix about as well as oil and water, but there's more.

In addition to the steamy sex scenes between Vinny and his several partners, we also have kinky gay dancing by Ritchie (Adrien Brody) who has to do some very seamy stuff, including male prostitution, in order to raise money for a Fender Stratocaster. Ritchie wants to be a punk rocker. Although the subplot with Ritchie and his girlfriend seems to be as far out in left field as Vinny and his problems, it does get shoehorned back into the story line at the end.

More interesting is another subplot with the local Mafia, led by Luigi (veteran actor Ben Gazzara in a fine performance). Luigi correctly sums up the situation, "the cops don't know what's going on," and decides to take matters into his own hands. He takes care of his own people in some interesting ways.

Lee does a good job of showing the rising racial and ethnic tensions in the city brought on by heat, the Son of Sam and a power outage. A small group of local toughs draws up a list of suspects. Pretty soon, just about everybody who seems even slightly out of place is on the list. Some of this rising tension and paranoia is shown using mock television news footage.

Lee makes a real mistake, here, I think, by casting himself in the role of a television reporter. He is not convincing at all in the role. He seems entirely too self conscious and his delivery is way too slow for a newsman. There's even a line from a person who lives in a black neighborhood about how Lee doesn't like to come around those neighborhoods. The movie is supposed to be about the killings, not about Spike Lee.

This is not one of Spike Lee's better efforts, but it does have some power, and Lee still knows how to set up some good camera shots and how to use music to good effect. Leguizamo, Sorvino and Brody all turn in fine performances and there are good performances in most of the supporting roles as well. The credits are neat. They're done in newspaper style. Look quick for heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield in a riot scene. The great writer Jimmy Breslin does some narration, but looks like a fish out of water doing it. This is a real hit and miss movie, but mostly, it misses. This film rates a C-.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 1999 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]