THE SUMMER OF SAM – The Blu Review: The Spike Lee Joint Collection Volume 2

In the summer of 1977, I was 15 years old and seeing STAR WARS over and over in my comfy St. Louis suburb, but I do vividly recall the newscasts announcing that serial killer David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz had finally been collared by the NYPD, ending a year-long reign of terror that left six victims dead and seven others wounded. Spike Lee has always been one of the best directors at evoking a time and place, and he captured that summer so well in his 1999 film SUMMER OF SAM. It was the first time Lee had tackled a subject outside the black experience (it boasts an almost all-white cast), and it’s been one of my favorite of his films. I hadn’t seen it since it was new so was excited when the Blu-ray popped up in my mailbox the other day and I’m pleased to say the film holds up well and the new hi-def transfer looks fantastic.

SUMMER OF SAM was not an in-depth analysis into the psychological workings of a serial killer. The Son of Sam killings were but a sub-plot and Michael Balducci’s role as David Berkowitz was small one. Lee’s film was more a slice of life in New York that looked at the small-minded bigotries and mob-mentality that descend on people when there is somebody a little different in their midst. Mira Sorvino, John Leguizamo, Adrian Brody and Jennifer Esposito played the main characters in SUMMER OF SAM that also took a look at disco, the rise of the punk scene (a key scene takes place at the seminal CBGB club), the Italian Mafia, gay clubs, drug dealers, and swinger’s clubs (specifically Plato’s Retreat). Lee introduced many characters, but really the freaky punk rockers (led by Adrian Brody) were the most sympathetic and moral. Everyone else was crude, prejudiced, and stupid. Lee also created a realistic sense of panic and fear, showing how a city of millions could be literally brought to its knees by one madman with a gun.

SUMMER OF SAM makes its Blu debut on a double feature package called The Spike Lee Joint Collection Volume 2, where it is paired with his 2008 WW2 epic THE MIRACLE OF ST. ANNA (Volume 1 contains THE 25^th HOUR and HE GOT GAME and will be reviewed here soon). The SUMMER OF SAM MPEG-4 AVC Blu-ray transfer really delivers. While its palette is bleak – most of the film takes place at night and is full of grimy close-ups, the Blu features vibrant colors, stable contrast, even flesh tones, and deep blacks. On a technical front, the presentation also doesn’t suffer from any considerable artifacting, crush, source noise, or print damage. It looks great. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1-channel soundtrack is clean and often aggressive, boosting Terrence Blanchard’s moving score and Lee’s well-chosen use of period tunes (The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again is used to amazing effect). The one extra on SUMMER OF SAM is a newly recorded audio commentary featuring director Lee and his star John Leguizamo.

I saw Spike Lee’s WWII opus MIRACLE OF ST. ANNA when it was new and was disappointed. I found it uneven, overlong and unimaginatively directed. Though it well-showcased the underrepresented role of  black servicemen, it still seemed like a job for hire for Spike Lee (OLDBOY seemed like an odd choice for Lee as well, but it was one of my favorite movies of last year). MIRACLE OF ST. ANNA lacked Lee’s ear for dialog and it seemed like he was trying for a mystery and war epic rolled into one with tonal shifts that were all over the map. Was it Spike’s war movie? A film with a message? A love story? A mystical tale of faith? …or all of the above? I watched it again on this Blu and it still did not work for me. MIRACLE OF ST. ANNA does feature some quality acting, cinematography and a fairly good soundtrack but lacked momentum and badly needed some editing. MIRACLE OF ST. ANNA made its Blu debut in 2009 and this is the same transfer, although Spike Lee did sit down for a new commentary along with James McBride who wrote the source novel and screenplay.

The image is so much different than the set’s co-feature but the presentation is just as impressive. The intentional de-saturation of the color gave the film a raw quality, but color levels are still solid and the detail on firearms and soldiers’ faces is first rate. The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, especially during the battle scenes, provides every bit of the surround experience you would hope for in a war film. Bullets whiz by, and you can hear the grunts and feel the breath of the soldiers as they crawl through the mud. The Blu also includes the extras that were part of the 2009 release: 20 minutes of deleted and extended scenes; “Deeds Not Words,” a roundtable discussion with Lee, McBride, and a number of black veterans or WWII; and “The Buffalo Soldier Experience”, a short feature about the history of black soldiers.

The Spike Lee Joint Collection Volume 2 is worth a purchase as it well-illustrates the diversity and range of Spike Lee as a filmmaker.