Summer of Sam (1999) on Netflix
The .44 Caliber Killer is shooting young couples in New York in the summer of 1977. In the Bronx, hairdresser Vinny, his wife Dionna and their friends grow suspicious of one another.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.7/1044,534 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes51%
Trailer
Plot summary
Vinny, a hairdresser in a Bronx neighborhood of Italian-American families, spends the summer of 1977 cheating on his wife Dionna: with her cousin Chiara, and with Gloria, who owns the salon where he works. Across the city, the .44 Caliber Killer is shooting young couples. Vinny parks with Chiara on a residential street one night, and the killer shoots a couple who park behind them; shaken, Vinny decides that God spared him so he can mend his ways. His old friend Ritchie comes back to the neighborhood with spiked hair, punk clothes and a British accent, and the men he grew up with want nothing to do with him. Ruby, a local girl, is drawn to Ritchie.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Summer of Sam (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Spike Lee spent months trying to persuade Leonardo DiCaprio to play the punk character Ritchie before DiCaprio turned it down; Adrien Brody took the role instead and learned to play guitar to prepare for it.
SPOILER
Adrien Brody actually broke his nose while filming the climactic scene in which his character Ritchie is beaten by his friends.- Real-life journalist Jimmy Breslin, who had actually received letters from the real Son of Sam during the killings, plays himself in the film, opening and closing it directly to the camera.
- The orgy scene set at Plato's Retreat originally contained more explicit footage but had to be trimmed after the MPAA threatened the film with an NC-17 rating.
- The role of Dionna was originally written for actress Jennifer Esposito, but a last-minute cast reshuffle gave the part to Mira Sorvino and moved Esposito into the role of Ruby instead.
- Although most of the Son of Sam murders actually took place in Queens, the double shooting that Vinny narrowly escapes has been called an accurate depiction of a killing of two victims in the Bronx in April 1977.
- The film drew some criticism from the family of one of the killer's victims because it was filmed near the Bronx neighborhood where her murder took place, and Spike Lee responded publicly to the accusations of exploitation.
