Summer of Sam (1999)

                      Directed by Spike Lee

                      Writing credits:
                      Victor Colicchio & Michael Imperioli

 I am really NOT a fan of Spike Lee. In fact, in many ways, his
 films turn me off. Not so, THE SUMMER OF SAM, which took me back
 to that special decade in New York which was the 1970s, a decade
 in which the innocence of 20th century Americans ended.

 It was the decade that saw the evolution of hippyism into the
 spiritualism that is the New Age. It was the decade of open sex
 best opitimized by PLATO'S RETREAT. It was the decade of EST. It
 was the decade of Jesus Freakism and Neo-Orthodoxy among Jews.
 It was a decade of promise. But it was also the decade that saw
 the eruption of violence during a summer blackout that paralyzed
 New York City for the second time in 20 years. Unlike the first
 New York City blackout in 1965 in which people drew closer together
 in the spirit of cooperation, this 1977 blackout tore the city
 apart with looting and mass hysteria. It was also the summer that
 witnessed the craziness that was in the mind of David Berkowitz who
 is forever engraved in the history of New York City as the Son of
 Sam.

 Spike Lee uses the murders commited by the Son of Sam as a background
 to several stories about the lives of fictional New Yorkers which might
 very well have been based on reality. David Berkowitz did more than
 just end the lives of young people by bloodshed. He inspired a true
 aura of paranoia in the City That Never Sleeps that drove many people
 to act almost as out of control as he himself acted in his mad response
 to a neighbor's dog who ordered him to kill.

 The movie is not so much a story about Berkowitz, or even so much about
 his victims (whose families feel victimized by this movie) as it is the
 story of a group of friends, spouses, and lovers whose very
 realtionships are torn apart by the murders. As if the afore-mentioned
 violence were not enough, Lee adds sequences of rioting and looting
 that was part of the summer blackout. For added spice, Lee also throws
 into the brew a story based on a rumor that went around during that mad
 time that the New York City Police Department secretly enlisted the aid
 of the Brooklyn based Mafia to help them find the Son of Sam.

 The re-enactment of the capture of Berkowitz by New York City's Finest
 is very accurate as I persoanlly remember reading about it at the time.

 The capture of David Berkowitz ended a nightmare for New York.
 Dramatically, it helped bring the decade of the 1970s to a close. What
 followed was the Reagan Era, ultra-conservatism, and AIDS, all of which
 killed far more people in spirit as well as in body than the Son of Sam
 ever could.

 The direction and cinematography are adequate. The performances of the
 actors is of a slightly higher degree, sufficient to make the film
 interesting to watch. Regardless of the quality of the directing and
 acting, the film is highly emotional, actually gripping, for anyone who
 lived in New York City at that time and remembers it well. As a native
 New Yorker, that means I qualify. Out of towners who were not so
 closely involved with the Berkowitz madness may be less affected, and
 the movie may not hold as great a fascination for them. I know many New
 Yorkers who have refused to see the movie for the same reasons that
 many World War Two vets refuse to see SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. They do not
 wish to be vividly placed back into the situation.

 Michael Badalucco, whom many know as "Jimmy" on the TV show, THE PRACTICE,
 gives a fair performace in the role of David Berkowitz.

                         Cast:
                         John Leguizamo      ....  Vinny
                         Adrien Brody        ....  Ritchie
                         Mira Sorvino        ....  Dionna
                         Jennifer Esposito   ....  Ruby
                         Michael Rispoli     ....  Joe T
                         Saverio Guerra      ....  Woodstock
                         Brian Tarantina     ....  Bobby Del Fiore
                         Al Palagonia        ....  Anthony
                         Ken Garito          ....  Brian
                         Bebe Neuwirth       ....  Gloria
                         Patti LuPone        ....  Helen
                         Mike Starr (I)      ....  Eddie
                         Anthony LaPaglia    ....  Detective Lou
                                                   Petrocelli
                         Roger Guenveur Smith....  Detective Curt Atwater
                         Ben Gazzara         ....  Luigi
                         Michael Badalucco   ....  David Berkowitz

           Also Known As: Son of Sam, The (1998) (USA working title).
           Rated R for strong graphic violence and sexuality,
           pervasive strong language and drug use.

           Running time: 141 minutes.

Scarsdale, New York
9-6-99