A movie released in 1999. Directed by Spike Lee. Written by Victor Colicchio, Michael Imperioli, and Spike Lee. Players: John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito, Anthony LaPaglia, Bebe Neuwirth, and more.

It Was A Time They'd Never Forget

It was a hot summer in New York City back in 1977 and there was a serial killer on the loose. This is the story of an Italian neighborhood during that time. Paranoia over the identity of the Son of Sam strikes the community as the killings continue.

I thought this was a really good movie. I wasn't expecting it to be so it surprised me. I don't typically like Spike Lee movies, but I did like this one. Maybe it was because of the violence, profanity, and sex. I liked that the Son of Sam was incidental. Human conflict at a raw level. The whole movie was pretty raw and gritty. I liked that. I'll give it 3.5 out of 4.0.

Movie by Spike Lee about New Yorkers (specifically a group of Italian-Americans in the Bronx) during the hellish summer of 1977. Story lines involve infidelity, promiscuity (hetero and homo), the Son of Sam serial killer, and the growth of the punk music underground in America. It's 2.5 hours of nasty sex, deranged violence, and denser profanity than South Park that's poorly edited and just drags on and on. There are too many separate story lines, too little development of any of the characters, and the Son of Sam is disappointingly incidental to the whole film. The only things it has going for it are the funky 70's soundtrack and a montage set to The Who's awesome anthem Baba O'Reily. Spike Lee is in general a great director, but the is one to miss.

I must disagree with soren.harward. I thought this movie was excellent. Yes, the Son of Sam was actually rather peripheral to the main plots, but the movie is called Summer of Sam, not Son of Sam, and is more about the New York City of that era than Berkowitz specifically. To that end, I thought it was a brilliant portrayal of that era and contrasted poignantly with the New York of our era.

In the movie we saw the ethnic tension and the three day blackout and accompanying riots that plagued New York that year. The serial murders along with the blackout were immensely symbolic, showcasing locally and to the nation the decline of New York City into dirty chaos. Also we saw the cultural tummult that was New York and America, as this Bronx Italian community was coming to terms with prejudice, sexual liberation, their own isolation, and the new vulgarity of mainstream culture. In the midst of it all, the punks were creating a vibrant scene that questioned the very basis of American society.

Contrast this with the New York of today, the safest and most prosperous big city in North America, but a city that seems so much less vibrant. Where there was a cutting edge Punk scene on the Lower East Side that questioned the fundamentals of our lives, there are now $20 a drink Martini lounges. Were there were sex clubs in Times Square, there's now a Disney Store, a TGI Friday's, and innumerable other vapid institutions that are in every mall in America. Where there were decades old ethnic communities, there are now no reminders of these one time inhabitants. I thought this movie vividly brought up all of this.

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