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IMDbPro

Summer of Sam

  • 1999
  • R
  • 2h 22m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
43K
YOUR RATING
Summer of Sam (1999)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer2:34
2 Videos
99+ Photos
Serial KillerTrue CrimeCrimeDramaRomanceThriller

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 Northeast Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and di... Read allSpike 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 Northeast Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another.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 Northeast Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another.

  • Director
    • Spike Lee
  • Writers
    • Spike Lee
    • Victor Colicchio
    • Michael Imperioli
  • Stars
    • John Leguizamo
    • Adrien Brody
    • Mira Sorvino
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.7/10
    43K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Spike Lee
    • Writers
      • Spike Lee
      • Victor Colicchio
      • Michael Imperioli
    • Stars
      • John Leguizamo
      • Adrien Brody
      • Mira Sorvino
    • 381User reviews
    • 91Critic reviews
    • 67Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 7 nominations total

    Videos2

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:34
    Official Trailer
    Summer of Sam
    Clip 1:46
    Summer of Sam
    Summer of Sam
    Clip 1:46
    Summer of Sam

    Photos214

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    + 208
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    Top cast99+

    Edit
    John Leguizamo
    John Leguizamo
    • Vinny
    Adrien Brody
    Adrien Brody
    • Richie
    Mira Sorvino
    Mira Sorvino
    • Dionna
    Jennifer Esposito
    Jennifer Esposito
    • Ruby
    Michael Rispoli
    Michael Rispoli
    • Joey T
    Saverio Guerra
    Saverio Guerra
    • Woodstock
    Brian Tarantina
    Brian Tarantina
    • Bobby Del Fiore
    Al Palagonia
    • Anthony
    Ken Garito
    Ken Garito
    • Brian
    Bebe Neuwirth
    Bebe Neuwirth
    • Gloria
    Patti LuPone
    Patti LuPone
    • Helen
    Mike Starr
    Mike Starr
    • Eddie
    Anthony LaPaglia
    Anthony LaPaglia
    • Detective Lou Petrocelli
    Roger Guenveur Smith
    Roger Guenveur Smith
    • Detective Curt Atwater
    Ben Gazzara
    Ben Gazzara
    • Luigi
    Joe Lisi
    Joe Lisi
    • Tony Olives
    James Reno
    • Crony
    Arthur J. Nascarella
    Arthur J. Nascarella
    • Mario
    • (as Arthur Nascarella)
    • Director
      • Spike Lee
    • Writers
      • Spike Lee
      • Victor Colicchio
      • Michael Imperioli
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews381

    6.743.4K
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    Featured reviews

    9Becky-9

    The Son of Sam story is an effective backdrop

    I really enjoyed this movie. The Son of Sam killings are just a backdrop to a slice-of-life story in New York City in the summer of 1977. I believe that Spike Lee wanted to tell a story about the seventies - the excesses of sex, drugs and the desperation of the times. He chose a summer that stood out in the minds of the people who lived through it because of the record heat, the murders and the blackout. The Son of Sam killer was in one sense a strongly contrasting back drop and in another sense an extreme sign of the times. David Berkowitz was out of control and driven by invisible demons, but that could be said of the main character Vinnie. The difference between the two could almost be reduced to a matter of degree. I was struck by the part of the story where a group of friends thought the killer was one of their own because he was into punk rock and same-sex sex for money. Their misunderstanding of the killer seemed startling in light of what we know about serial killers today, but was dead on for the time. Spike Lee reminds us with this movie how much damage is done when we allow ourselves to be driven by our ignorance and fear. He makes us uncomfortable, of course, but the lesson rings so true. As far as the direction went, I thought that it was classic Spike Lee with a little taken from some other popular young directors, but if someone imitates something good and does it well, I don't complain. My favorite scene is where the punk rocker character Richie does a porno dance to The Who. The soundtrack is also pretty good, by the way. I gave the movie a 9 out of 10.
    jesasaurus

    This movie is excellent. Hands down.

    This is one of Spike Lee's greatest films. To start, the acting is incredible. Leguizamo and Sorvino, as well as the other actors, give amazing performances grounded in emotion and realism. The story is enthralling, and incredibly original. It pits the people of New York City in the seventies against their fears, desires and each other. Also Ellen Kuras's cinematography is beautiful. It employs an expressionistic use of color, giving the film a very unique and very different look, creating stark contrasts between hues. Any fan of Spike Lee's who hasn't yet seen this film must, and anyone else who hasn't should. It is brilliant, simply brilliant.
    Buddy-51

    intriguing disappointment

    Spike Lee's "Summer of Sam," like most of his films, emerges as an intriguing but, nevertheless, regrettable failure. Using as his background the long, hot summer of 1977, when the serial killer known as the Son of Sam held New York City in the grip of terror, Lee spins a tale of drug abuse, infidelity and violence among a group of Italians living in a Bronx neighborhood. Unfortunately, Lee's meandering take on the subject robs it of much of its potential drama as he searches for a focal point that will make it compelling to the audience. He only occasionally succeeds and that is when he concentrates on the two lead characters: Vinny, whose deep religious convictions and sincere devotion to his wife cannot compel him to resist his womanizing compulsions, and Dionna, his beautiful but longsuffering wife, who suspects his infidelities and desperately struggles to satisfy Vinny's strong sexual needs but who runs up against the roadblock of her husband's strange misapprehension about what exactly constitutes the extent of marital relations. Vinny, in particular, as he struggles against the demons that plague him and the guilt they impose on him, suggests a complexity of character that makes him a compelling center for this otherwise sprawling story.

    Unfortunately, many of the subsidiary characters, who surround these two and keep pulling us away from them, emerge as little more than ethnic and sexual stereotypes, from the neighborhood mob boss (Ben Gazarra) to the loving-father drug dealer to the punk rock iconoclast to the local flaming "fairy." Not even strong performances by a game cast can infuse these roles with the depth and humanity necessary to justify their inclusion in the film.

    Stylistically, this film is much less visually flashy than previous Lee works with less elaborate camerawork and only the occasional near-subliminal quick cuts (used to convey memories) to distract us. Lee should, also, have avoided at all costs the temptation to cast himself as an on-site news reporter. Even more egregiously, why oh why did Lee feel compelled to visualize literally (through animatronics) the demon dog that Berkowitz reportedly cited as the motivation for his crimes actually barking out instructions to the crazed psychopath?

    The risk in these docudramas is that the moviemakers will not be able to match, in their narrative, the compelling nature of the actual events upon which they are based. Lee's film is no exception, for just as the killer is captured, the fictional side of the story resolves itself in a flurry of heavy handed "Ox Bow Incident" melodramatics, scarcely credible even for a cadre of characters as lacking in common sense as these are. "Summer of Sam" is notable for the performances of John Leguizamo and Mira Sorvino in the central roles, its disco-drenched soundtrack and its letter-perfect recreation of a particular moment in recent American history. What a shame, then, that the film never really coheres into a satisfying whole.
    8Flagrant-Baronessa

    You can almost feel the heat and dirt on your clothes as if you were right there in hot New York City

    With films like 'Inside Man' and the upcoming 'Selling Time', it appears as though Spike Lee is departing from his gritty streetwise films on racial prejudice, and into the pleasant commercial world of Hollywood. He stills touches upon the odd racial issue today, as is his trademark, but they seem more like mandatory inclusions than anything else, being left unexplored and unimportant. This is not saying Summer of Sam is a lecture on racism or anything (in fact, it steers away from the topic), but it fits the gritty crime-infested streets style that Lee used to do so well.

    Summer of Sam brutally zooms in on an Italian-American South Bronx neighbourhood in the summer of 1977 -- the hottest summer ever, a real killer. Lee does not shy away from sex, drugs, raunchy dialogue or violence in his portrayal of the events which are based on reality of the summer nights when Sam murdered women on the streets. As the Bronx inhabitants grow anxious and suspicious of the murders, Summer of Sam focuses its story on Vinny (John Lequizamo), his marriage with Dionna (Mira Sorvino) and his friends and we see how the killings affect their lives, while plating the "Son of Sam" himself in the backseat to make room for these dynamic characters.

    I can admit that there is no strong point or focus in this film, but I don't think it's entirely necessary. It's a portrayal, and a realistic one at that -- it is also a portrayal of an era, the 1970s and this is most apparent in the flashy 54-styled nightclubs that Vinny and Dionna go to. It occasionally drags on, but this is good because it emphasizes the terrible heat and anxiousness of the city, making it almost nightmarish. It is so realistic that you can almost feel the heat and dirt on your clothes as if you were right there in steaming hot New York City. I therefore feel that a great deal of praise is due to a film that succeeds in being haunting without actually dealing with the murders head-on.

    8/10
    jbelkin800

    pointless and long

    Not sure what Spike was trying to say - that Son of Sam was a product of the craziness of NY and the heat of 1977?

    While movies don't have to have endearing characters, you have to relate to them on some level to empathize with them. So that even if the circumstances of their lives or are not ours but we have find a connection on some level to be interested in them - in this movie, there are no such characters.

    Some of them we are just tired of them because this movie is so long and enough already. The scary thing is we can relate to Son of Sam's breakdown more than any of the characters because we are starting to wonder if this dreary mess is ever going to end. Each character is unpleasant because they lead small, petty lives and are just whiners - we get it - let's move on Spike. Not interesting. And any characters we care about just dissolve into a pornographic and sleazy means.

    Spike was a great director for exactly two movies - Spike, what happened? - he starts the movie by placing his characters in front of a sign that reads Dead End - as if that's not bad enough, in case we didn't get the pan on it or the lingering closeup, he cuts back to that sign about 50 times. In a local community college film class, you'd be derided as a rank amateur - let along a big budget movie.

    Spike also appears in the film as a TV announcer - we know Spike can act - he choose not to act for his role - why? Who knows?

    This movie is pointless, tiresome and dreary.

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    Related interests

    Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in Se7en (1995)
    Serial Killer
    Lee Norris and Ciara Moriarty in Zodiac (2007)
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    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Spike Lee was facing a lot of negative feedback from the family members of the victims who didn't want a film being made which might glorify the killer in some manner. As a result, the script had to be changed which focused more on the community than the killer himself. "Son of Sam" was rumored to be the original working title.
    • Goofs
      At the beginning of the movie, set in the summer of 1977, characters are seen dancing in a disco to the song "There But For the Grace of God Go I" by Machine. The song wasn't recorded until 1979.
    • Quotes

      Vinny: Come on, get in the car. Please, baby.

      Dionna: Baby? Don't you dare "baby" me! I'm gonna wait here! I'm gonna wait here until somebody comes along. You know what? I'm gonna wait here until some soul brother comes along in his big black Cadillac. And you know and I know that he's got a big black dick too.

      Vinny: Don't talk like that, just get inside the car.

      Dionna: Oh, fuck you!

      Vinny: Please, please, don't make me have to beg you. Get in the car. Come on- don't make me have to hurt you.

      Dionna: Hurt me? Don't you even fuckin' lay a pinkie on me! I'll get him to kick your ass and then I'll fuck 'em! You wanna watch Vinny? Will that turn you on Vinny? You linguine dick mother fucker. You wanna watch while I suck a big black dick in the back of a big black cadillac?

    • Crazy credits
      The credits are in the form of newspaper headlines.
    • Alternate versions
      After they are refused entry into Studio 54, the sex scene between Dionna (Mira Sorvino) and Vinny (John Leguizamo) included more explicit shots in the original cut. This scene was edited a bit after the MPAA threatened the film with an "NC-17" rating.
    • Connections
      Edited into Doggiewoggiez! Poochiewoochiez! (2012)
    • Soundtracks
      Fernando
      Written by Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson and Björn Ulvaeus (as Bjorn Ulvaeus)

      Performed by ABBA

      Courtesy of Polar Music International AB

      Under license from Universal Music Special Markets

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    FAQ26

    • How long is Summer of Sam?Powered by Alexa
    • Is "Summer of Sam" based on a book?
    • Who was the "Son of Sam"?
    • If David Berkowitz was the "son" of Sam, who was Sam?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 2, 1999 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Italian
    • Also known as
      • La noche del asesino
    • Filming locations
      • Bronx, New York City, New York, USA(On Morris Park Ave. between Williamsbridge Rd. and Bronxdale Ave.)
    • Production companies
      • Touchstone Pictures
      • 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
      • Hostage Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $22,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $19,288,130
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $5,952,452
      • Jul 4, 1999
    • Gross worldwide
      • $19,288,130
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 2h 22m(142 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
      • SDDS
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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