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Summer Of Sam [DVD] [2000]
 
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Summer Of Sam [DVD] [2000]

DVD ~ John Leguizamo
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.38 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Customers buy this item with The 25th Hour [DVD] [2003] DVD ~ Edward Norton

Summer Of Sam [DVD] [2000] + The 25th Hour [DVD] [2003]
Price For Both: £8.36

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  • This item: Summer Of Sam [DVD] [2000] DVD ~ John Leguizamo

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • The 25th Hour [DVD] [2003] DVD ~ Edward Norton

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    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions


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Product details

  • Actors: John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito, Michael Rispoli
  • Directors: Spike Lee
  • Writers: Spike Lee, Michael Imperioli, Victor Colicchio
  • Producers: Spike Lee, Jeri Carroll-Colicchio, Jon Kilik, Michael Imperioli
  • Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
  • Language English
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: MGM Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 24 Jul 2000
  • Run Time: 136 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00004TT7D
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 11,468 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

It's important to note that Spike Lee's drama is not titled Son of Sam. Summer of Sam doesn't chronicle the killer as much as the times: the blistering hot summer of 1977 when the Big Apple's psyche was taken hostage by the lone gunman. We spot the killer (Michael Badalucco) in his mad ramblings but the film centres on two friends from the Bronx: Vinny and Ritchie (John Leguizamo and Adrien Brody). Vinny and his wife, Dionna (Mira Sorvino), bury a bad marriage (he cheats at a drop of a hat) in the disco halls of the area. Ritchie returns to the neighbourhood sporting punk hair, punk clothes and a British accent that immediately infuriates the neighbourhood boys oozing far too much testosterone. Cops, local mob leaders and the guys on the street all have ideas who the killer is: everyone from neighbourhood loners to Reggie Jackson (in the midst of World Series heroism) are on their misguided lists of suspects. When the film looks at how the citizens faced the fearful times, Lee scores with his energetic camerawork and pop soundtrack. Yet the film is banal in its domestic dramatics, taking large detours into Vinny's home sex life (stagnant) and Ritchie's extracurricular activities. One of the marriage arguments--though real and well acted--is so long and cliché-ridden you wonder if someone fell asleep in the editing booth. Add the point-blank killings and non-stop vulgarity and you have Lee's most unpleasant film. --Doug Thomas


Special Features

1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 5
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Original Theatrical Trailer
Production Notes
Directors Commentary
Behind The Scenes Featurette
Interviews
Photo Gallery
Cast Biographies
TV Spots
English

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars M-U-R-D-E-R . . . Murder, 18 Nov 2000
By A Customer
This film is a fantastic portarait of a community under attack from drugs,intolerance, a heat wave and, oh yeah, a serial killer. This is all the background to the story of two friends and how they move apart from one another. One is a punk getting a bit of money working in a gay strip club while the other is a guilt ridden adultorous disco man, who treats his wife like a queen but only the dance floor. As suspicions fly as the body count rises (shown in some of the most disturbing murder scenes I've seen) suspicions fly as a community turns in on itself leading to disaster.

A great film, very well directed and with a fantastic sountrack (see the medley of madness to The Who's Baba O'Riley). It also shows a brilliant bit of journalist impartiality in the epilogoue. Go see.

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14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Spike Lee's best film so far..., 10 Oct 2001
By Jason Parkes "We're all Frankies'" (Worcester, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
Spike Lee is a film-maker often like Ken Loach: brilliant, but weighed down by the politics of the piece. Sometimes characters seem to represent an ideological persepctive in too forced a manner ('Jungle Fever' feels like the forced-ideologies of Carson McCuller's 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter'). The problem often is Lee being too CLOSE to his subject- 'Malcolm X' came across as pious and reverential, like the terminally-dull 'Gandhi'. His best work up til now had been 'She's Gotta Have It', 'Do The Right Thing' and 'Clockers'. It is the latter, with its extension on De Palma/Scorsese styled perspectives that this emanates from (bear in mind the nadir of 'Girl 6', though we would have the sub-'Hoop Dreams', 'He Got Game'). Lee focuses on an Italian-American neighbourhood in the summer of 1977- and captures,albeit in fictional form, the zeitgeist. His distance from the subject, whilst retaining an empathy for the characters works well. Because there are few overt points about race, though the joke about the reporter Lee plays being seen in a black-neighbourhood works well, we do not feel like we are being lectured to...

This film is a film about films also: references to 'Goodfellas' & 'Serpico' & 'Taxi Driver' & 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' & 'Casino' & 'Do the Right Thing' & 'Natural Born Killers' & 'Saturday Night Fever'& 'Se7en' & 'The Godfather' (and much more) abound. But, unlike with Tarantino, they are detail- not the whole. The use of music is very Scorsese- the montage scenes that use 'Baba O'Riley' & 'Won't Get Fooled Again' are excellent (The Who were kinda punk- though the band with Ruby & Richey front are a bit dubious!). The vigilante theme is depicted brilliantly, tying into the background of the Son of Sam killer, the heatwave and the movement of disco, drugs and punk...This is not about the Son of Sam killer, he is just a peripheral character and a cause of much of the paranoia. This is a much better depiction of the era than 'Boogie Nights', which celebrated the period in a Scorsese manner and 'Dead Presidents'- which was merely dull...The theme of turning on your own id interesting & pertinent & the dialogue (written by Victor Colliccio, Michael Imperioli and Lee) is excellent. Anthony La Paglia is sadly underused and the sex/orgy scenes seemed tame compared to those in 'Requiem for a Dream' or 'Salo'. The camerawork & editing are fantastic- and you will want to go out and buy the soundtrack because of it...This film is quite under-rated- it never got raved over- and the 1st time I saw it I wasn't bowled over. The 2nd time has revealed what a great film this is: Spike Lee's best film so far.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Long Hot Summer, 13 Sep 2000
By A Customer
The murders of the serial killer 'Son of Sam' provide a backdrop for the main part of this film, essentially a story about two friends and their increasingly different lifestyles. There is a randy husband who despite having a beautiful wife can only find sexual release with other women. At the same time his friend becomes an outsider in the neighbourhood they have grown up in by liking british bands, the punk scene and not being afraid to participate freely as a dancer (amongst other things) in a gay bar. The story of these two and the people around them is gripping and simply intertwined with the serial killings taking place at the time in their town. The married man becomes increasingly desperate in his attempts to come to terms with himself whilst his friend, essentially an innocent, becomes a victim of predjudice, betrayed by those around him. Both men, you cannot help but feel, have their fates tied and trussed to the Son of Sam. The sex scenes have been exaggerated in the press of course and form an essential part to the development of the married couple. The seventies soundtrack is great and the acting is excellent throughout. I thought it was the most humane of all the Spike Lee films I'd seen.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A Summer Never Forgotten
Spike Lee's look at a community in fear of a serial killer is both interesting and yet compelling, even though we really don't get much of a view of the serial killings, we do... Read more
Published 3 months ago by DL Productions UK

3.0 out of 5 stars Sweaty and Authentic
As an evocation of New York in that summer just as disco began to sink and punk to rise this film is hard to beat. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Charles Vasey

5.0 out of 5 stars Multi-layered and colourful
This is about the summer of sam not the son of the sam solely. Therefore, it is about the landscape in the light of the 1977 killer. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Rhoobarb

2.0 out of 5 stars pretty poor
I'd been keen to see this for some time and was disappointed with the end result after viewing. It was a weak story and all the characters appeared to be disjointed which always... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Ms. F. I. Macdonald

3.0 out of 5 stars It has its merits..............................
Brilliantly directed and superbly cast and acted with an outstanding and varied soundtrack, but I was disappointed. Read more
Published 22 months ago by L. Hay

5.0 out of 5 stars Suprisingly different
When I rented this film I hadn't heard too much about it. I knew of Spike Lee's reputation although I had never seen any of his films. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars a pleasant surprise
I had never seen a Spike Lee film before this one and, to be honest, hadn't really wanted to. I had heard rumours that his films were too self-reverential in tone. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2001 by mann_child2@hotmail.com

5.0 out of 5 stars M-U-R-D-E-R . . . Murder
This film is a fantastic portarait of a community under attack from drugs,intolerance, a heat wave and, oh yeah, a serial killer. Read more
Published on 19 Nov 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars one of spike lees best, in your face entertainment
As far as i can see from the reviews on this page this film is not liked by a large number viewers. It seems to me that they cant handle its abruptness and real life action. Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2000

1.0 out of 5 stars Complex and obscene.
Not a pleasent experience. Lacks coherence. Has more bad language and sex scenes than are necessary for the story line.

Could be a much better film if it was simpler. Read more

Published on 3 Aug 2000

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