synopsis : it's 1977 in a small italian american neighborhood in new york . disco music is popular , and the sexual revolution is on , but the people of new york are not happy . in fact , they're terrified . as in spike lee's do the right thing a heat wave has the city in its grip , and peoples' tempers are flaring . the cool of night offers no respite : the neighborhood is being terrorized by a nocturnal psychotic killer who calls himself the son of sam . no one knows who the son of sam is , and no one is safe . all around new york people are different . aside from cultural groupings and ethnic neighborhoods there are differences between individuals . in the italian american section of town a philandering husband named vinny ( john leguizamo ) tries to hide his trysts and sexual behavior from his long suffering newlywed wife dionna ( mira sorvino ) . vinny's friend ritchie ( adrien brody ) hates disco , works at a gay strip club and doesn't want any of the neighborhood folks to know . ritchie's girl ruby ( jennifer esposito ) is trying to escape a reputation as a slut . everyone's different , but nobody in the film wants to be framed as " alien " to the community . unfortunately , the killings help create a climate of suspicion pits neighbor against neighbor . opinion : director spike lee's summer of sam is not about a psycho killer . nor is it about cops trying to apprehend him . it's about differences and how , given the right conditions , even close neighbors can fan the hostile flames of irrational suspicion . one thing i found interesting in summer of sam was the use of sex . in other movies sex is glamorized . for example , james bond gets a sexual reward for winning . or boring made-for-video " suspense " movies are spiked with gratuitous lingerie scenes just to keep the audience awake . and every movie or soap opera character in these flicks seems to have expert sexual prowess . not so with summer of sam . in a very gutsy move director spike lee shows sex without fantasy . sex is there , but it isn't gratuitous or titillating . in fact , some of the main characters are downright lousy in bed . sex is in the film because ( sexual ) deviance is part of the film's major theme of " difference " breeding hostility . in my opinion this kind of movie sex is cutting edge for 1999 , as rare and thought-provoking in american cinema as showing a spanking .
