In the summer of 1977, New York experienced its hottest summer yet with temperatures reaching the 100s. It was also during this time that David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) was on the rampage, responsible for several serial, and seemingly, random shootings in the city. This set a wave of fear, paranoia and panic in the 'City that Never Sleeps' and the movie attempts to show these high tension strung moments between individuals in a particular neighborhood at the time. Through four friends, we see how, we as humans, tend to fear the unknown, to react irrationally at events and situtations that we cannot explain, and eventually destroy and hurt those that we most love.

Lovers of drama, action and dare I say it...comedy.

The interaction and dialague between the actors. There were clearly scenes that seemed improvised and it gave the movie an added grit of reality that's lacking in most films today. I think Spike Lee did a great job in capturing the Bronx in all its distorted glory.

I felt the ending was a bit...unfinished...or maybe it's because I wanted to see more, but I would have loved to know what happened to the main characters afterwards. You do tend to grow more attached to them in a way.

And I would have liked to see more special features. Not enough to satisfy my appetite.

Read about David Berkowitz and the entire saga of the 'Son of Sam'.

John Leguziamo, Mira Sorvino, Michael Badalucco, Adrien Brody, Jennifer Esposito, Ken Garito, Ben Gazzara, Michael Imperioli and so much more.

Many have bashed this movie, claiming that director Spike Lee did not do a good job with it. What we tend to forget is that the title of the movie is Summer of Sam and NOT The Son of Sam. So one should not rent or buy this movie intending to see a documentary about David. The movie tells about what happens AROUND the events of that summer and I believe that Spike does a great job showing the degradation of a once tightknit community, all in an attempt to 'protect its own'. And it begs the question...just because someone looks a certain way or acts a certain way...does that necessarily make them a bad person? Curb thy prejudices.

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Created Jan 01, 2009 at 12:05pm • Submit your own review...