<Tl»v Ravilani» ©bseruer
August 4, 1999
Focus
Page 3
Çiimmet Öf £
It d id n ’t get any hotter th an the
sum m er of 1977 in new York City.
As tem peratures soared well into
the h undreds for endless days, the
city was seared by its own heat, sweat
and energy.
With the unrelenting swelter, things
started to change in the city and it
made everybody a little tense and crazy.
Looters poured into the streets as a
blackout plunged New York into d ark ­
ness and fear; a m ysterious psycho­
path began gunning down strangers in
the night at random .
D ubbed “Son of Sam " by th e tab ­
loids that luridly rep o rted his killing
spree, the .44-caliber killer te rro r­
ized the city w ith a steady streak of
grisly slayings. W ith the m ed ia play­
ing an in tegral role in fueling th e
fear and p aran o ia, the w hole city
becam e a h o tb ed o f suspicion and
p an ic, c a p tiv a tin g n o t only New
York, but also the e n tire w orld.
W ith tradem ark virtuosity, film­
maker Spike Lee goes into the throb­
bing heart of the Bronx during this
unbelievable sum m er to paint a por­
shot alm ost entirely in the C ountry
C lub section of the Bronx in New
York City where the first of the m ur­
ders took place. T he production was
very careful to m ake the families and
the neighborhood as com fortable as
possible with the film’s locations.
Lee explains further, “O u r
film is not just about Son of Sam.
Yes, Son of Sam is a large part of
it - we’re n o t trying to duck that
- but it’s not everything. It’s about
the Sum m er of 1977 in New York.
It was one of the hottest sum m ers
on record; consequently you had
the blackout with all sorts of
people looting. Also, during this
tim e, the Yankees won the W orld
Series; Reggie Jackson hit three
hom ers in game six against the
Dodgers; it was the first sum m er
of disco; punk rock was going
strong; and there were places like
Studio 54 and Plato’s R etreat that
epitom ized all that was going on.
- •.. ?
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As serial killer Son of Sam terrorizes New York
City, four friends from the Bronx, (left to right)
Ritchie (Adrien Brody), Ruby (Jennifer
Esposito), Vinny (John Leguizamo) and Dionna
(Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino), find
their relaitonships tested by pressure, infidel­
ity and paranoia, in Touchstone Pictures'
drama, "Summer
of Sam."
...... .............
t
Photo by David Lee
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m er of Sam ,”
Photo by David Lee
h i c _ _ h
c h r o n i c l e s While filming "Summer of Sam," director Lee (right)
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Sam ’s plague
ofterrordisintegratedaneigh-
b o rh o o d , tu rn e d frie n d s
against each other and trans­
formed trust into dread.
T he process started with a
conversation between direc-
to r/w riter Spike Lee and
Michael Imperioli, an actor
who has appeared in several
of the filmmakers’ previous
films. Imperioli and his friend
Victor Colicchio co-wrote the
script and approached Lee to
be involved as executive pro­
ducer, rather than as a direc­
tor. Lee agreed. Imperioli and
Colicchio searched unsuccess­
fully for a director who might
be able to help them realize
their vision. T heir fortunes
changed when Lee decided
to take a second look at the
project himself.
“Sum m er of Sam ” was
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