SUMMER OF SAM

US, 1999, 142 minutes, Colour.
John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito, Michael Rispoli, Bebe Neuwirth, Patti Lu Pone, Mike Starr, Anthony La Paglia, Ben Gazzara.
Directed by Spike Lee.

By the time Summer of Sam was released in the summer of 1999, Spike Lee had created a very strong career and reputation in the United States and beyond. With his She’s Gotta Have it in 1986 followed by Do the Right Thing in 1989, he made a number of significant films during the 1990s including Jungle Fever and Malcolm X. His career during the first decade of the 21st century was erratic, doing a number of commercials, television concerts, television films and documentaries. However, he made several feature films including The 25th Hour, She Hate Me and, his most popular, Inside Man. He then won awards with a television miniseries documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.

With Summer of Sam, Lee is interested in its portrait of New York rather than an exploration of the psychology of a serial killer. However, he does present the serial killer and an exploration of his motivations.

The film really focuses on what New York was like, in the South Bronx, in 1977. It was the disco era. It was the era of the Mafia. It was the era of drugs and permissiveness. All this is presented, sometimes quite graphically. John Leguizamo is the central character – who can be seen in some ways as parallel in character to the Son of Sam killer. Adrien Brody (at the time that he made The Thin Red Line and before his Oscar-winning performance in The Pianist) is a friend but is also a suspect of being the killer. Mira Sorvino is Leguizamo’s wife.

There is a very strong cast of supporting actors including Ben Gazzara as a Mafia chief, Anthony La Paglia as a detective.

Lee knows the South Bronx of New York very well and evokes an atmosphere, a location and a neighbourhood, evokes the feelings of the people at this time, especially the paranoia associated with fear of a serial killer.

1. American cinema and the tradition of films about serial killers? Case studies? The American psyche? The New York psyche?

2. The work of Spike Lee, his knowledge of Brooklyn and the South Bronx? The media? Lee’s perceptions of black and white Americans? His standing back from his usual African American themes? A picture of the white New York community?

3. The portrait of New York, the detail of the neighbourhoods, the Bronx? Brooklyn? The Bowery? Water in the summer, on the streets? Club 54 and disco? The hardness of the people? The Mafia types? The authentic look?

4. 1977 and the cinematic style, the camerawork, grainy? The period, the clothes, the dance, the disco, the punk and the change – the range of songs? From the period? Groups like The Who? The dances to accompany the music?

5. 1977 and the title, the effect of the Son of Sam on New York City, in fear, behaviour, paranoia, suspicions? The killer as a scapegoat? The vigilante sense? The atmosphere of heat, power and the loss of power?

6. David Berkowitz as the Son of Sam? In himself? Not seen? The killings? The agony and the screams? Saliva, the dog, the room? Stalking and shooting? The notes and the letters? The interviews with columnist Jimmy Breslin? The open and close of the film? The shooting of the dog? Madness? Defiance and escape? The ticket? The arrest? Enjoying celebrity? Information about him? American madness, compared with other serial killers? The serial killer theme not so emphasised – rather the context of New York City?

7. The emphasis on the city, people’s reaction, the heat of the city? The victims, their families? The police and their efforts? The Mafiosi types and their power? The groups, vigilante sense? The influence of the media? Brooklyn, the arrest and the crowds?

8. The portrait of the Mafia, their activities, restaurants? Police and protection? Codes, help, the party and the blackout? The assistance to the vigilantes and gangs?

9. The police, the personnel, the detectives? Handling of the media? The arrest and interrogation?

10. Vinnie and Dionna as the focus? The irresponsibility of the Son of Sam? A catalyst for irresponsibility for others? Vinnie and Dionna being married for two years? The disco, the betrayal of the cousin, promises, the sex relationship, sexual behaviour, relationships? Seeing the bodies? Issues of God, church, fear? Dionna and sexuality, natural? The form? Dionna and love, suspicion? The killings? Forgiveness? The attempts for sex, her reactions? The restaurant, fear? The father and the wig? Going to the flat for Richie, Club 54, the orgy sequence, the fight, the surfacing of all the shadow aspects of character? Going to her father? With Gloria? Leaving, the final fight? Her future?

11. Vinnie, the gang, an individual, but peer pressure, ignorant, yet self-aware, self-ignorance? The talk of fear, fear of being killed? Richie and defending him? Ruby? The help in the past, the relationship with Dionna? Richie ousted from the diner? The pressure on him concerning Richie, the truth? At home? Luring Richie, yet running? Witness and disillusionment? His future?

12. Joey T: the divorce, drugs, the standards, leadership, lazy, macho, homophobic, conservative, paranoid? With his friends? In the streets, the cafés? Luigi and the vigilante approach? The lists, the scapegoat? Bobby? Information? July, the taxi, the priest, the confrontation with Richie, the end?

13. The gang, their activities, Bobby’s role?

14. Richie, the punk, his past, suspicions about him, reactions, his accent? His mother and Eddie? Moving to the garage, a mother’s boy? With Ruby? His sexual advance? The speech about double life? The gig? Lured and bashed? Victim?

15. Ruby, the way that she was treated, the gang? With Richie, Dionna? Asked about sex, Vinnie? The gigs, love? The ending?

16. Eddie and his mother, Richie, privacy, the cards and money? The end and the gun?

17. The disco clubs and their place in New York, disco consciousness, music? The gigs, the male stripper and the clients, pornography? 54 and its symbolism?

18. Issues of sex, promiscuity? The contrast with religion? Bewilderment?

19. The place of drugs, dealing, taking?

20. The media, Spike Lee’s approach to the media, the police, types?

21. The psychological themes, the Jekyll and Hyde in each character, the shadow side of character, repression, religion,?

22. The bookending with Jimmy Breslin and The Naked City.