July 3, 1999

I wasn't around in the seventies, so I can't attest to the power and grip which pop music held on the general human population. But based on Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, it was omnipresent. So many scenes are dominated by the music of the era--vicious killings are offered a macabre and twisted counterpoint by songs like Abba's "Fernando." Could Spike be saying that maybe the cruelty that gives life to such a nasty murderer is actually present in the culture, seeping beneath the surface of a seemingly innocent tune? Or is it just really fucking bizzare to see two people shot while "Fernando" plays in the background?

A few academic-type articles could easily be written about the relationships between the songs and the scenes in Sam, but no pairings are more evocative than Lee's use of two songs by the Who, off their stellar Who's Next disc: "Baba O' Reilly" and "Won't Get Fooled Again." They're easily the most gripping sequences in the film, especially the use of the latter tune. While "Won't Get Fooled" wails and flails in the background, Lee's camera follows a group of crazed New Yorkers on their mission to "capture" their former friend Richie, who they believe is the "Son of Sam" because he's transformed into a Brit-esque punk rocker. These shots are offset by footage of the actual killer being delivered to police headquarters while thousands of angry civilians scream and rage behind police barricades. Never realizing that the real killer is already behind bars, they beat Richie to within inches of his life, essentially using a murder spree to justify their confusion over Richie's new lifestyle. All the while, Roger Daltry screams behind their rage..."Meet the new boss...same as the old boss."

A torrent of questions and conflicts arise from this pairing, and you begin to really understand the power and weight which great filmmaking can bring to great songwriting--and vice-versa. Pete Townshend's angry anthem of teen disgust accompanies the tragic beating of a kid who is trying to live out Townshend's ideals. He's literally beaten down by the misunderstanding of a society that's not prepared for its young to expect more from life than they're offered. The rage of punk as a lifestyle, the rage in David Berkwitz's heart as he murdered in cold blood, the rage of Richie's friends as they destroyed him based on a sliver of evidence that he was a killer..."Meet the new boss...same as the old boss."

At least, that's what it means right now, off the top of my head. Such brilliance deserves more than one viewing, and even though there are long boring stretches at the heart of Summer, there's more power in the best ten minutes of this film than in any other movie released this year. The viewer is lulled into a false sense of security with the characters, then led along a dark path toward a twisted climax that is as inevitable as it is unexpected. It's impossible to say at this point whether the music gave birth to the era or the era gave birth to the music back in 1977, but we might find the answers behind the soulless seventies if we could figure out that catch .22 of meaning.