Do the Right Thing

Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American comedy-drama film produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, and Samuel L. Jackson, and is the feature film debut of Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. The story explores a Brooklyn neighborhood's simmering racial tension, which culminates in violence and a death on a hot summer day.

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Do the Right Thing (disambiguation).

Do the Right Thing
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySpike Lee
Produced bySpike Lee
Written bySpike Lee
Starring
Music byBill Lee
CinematographyErnest Dickerson
Edited byBarry Alexander Brown
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • May 19, 1989 (1989-05-19) (Cannes)
  • July 21, 1989 (1989-07-21) (United States)
Running time
120 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6 million[2]
Box office$37.3 million[3]

The film was a critical and commercial success and received numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Aiello's portrayal of Sal the pizzeria owner. It is often listed among the greatest films of all time.[4][5][6][7][8] In 1999, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress, in its first year of eligibility, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[9] [10]

Plot

Mookie (Spike Lee) is a 25-year-old pizza delivery man living in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, with his sister Jade (Joie Lee). He and his girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez) have a toddler son named Hector (Travell Toulson). He works at the local pizzeria, and lacks ambition. Sal (Danny Aiello), the pizzeria's Italian-American owner, has been in the neighborhood for 25 years. His older son Pino (John Turturro) is intensely racist, and does not get along with Mookie. Because of this, Pino is at odds with both his father, who refuses to leave the neighborhood, which is increasingly majority African-American, and his younger brother Vito (Richard Edson), who is friendly with Mookie.

Many distinctive residents are introduced, including Da Mayor (Ossie Davis), a friendly drunk; Mother Sister (Ruby Dee), who watches the neighborhood from her brownstone; Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), who blasts Public Enemy on his boombox wherever he goes; and Smiley (Roger Guenveur Smith), a mentally disabled man, who meanders around the neighborhood trying to sell hand-colored pictures of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

While at Sal's, Mookie's friend Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito), known for trouble-making and b-boying, questions Sal about his "Wall of Fame", a wall decorated with photos of famous Italian-Americans. Buggin' Out demands that Sal put up pictures of black celebrities since Sal's pizzeria is in a black neighborhood. Sal replies that it is his business, and that he can have whoever he wants on "The Wall of Fame". Buggin' Out attempts to start a protest over the Wall of Fame. Only Radio Raheem and Smiley support him.

During the day, the heat and tensions begin to rise. The local teenagers open a fire hydrant and douse the street, before police officers intervene. Mookie and Pino begin arguing over race. Mookie confronts Pino about his negative attitudes towards African Americans, although the latter's favorite celebrities are black. Various characters express flowery racial insults to the camera: Mookie against Italians, Pino against African Americans, Latino Stevie (Luis Antonio Ramos) against Koreans, white police officer Gary Long (Rick Aiello) against Puerto Ricans, and Korean store owner Sonny (Steve Park) against Jews. Pino and Sal talk about the neighborhood, with Pino expressing his contempt for African Americans, and Sal insisting that he is not leaving. Sal almost fires Mookie, but Jade intervenes, before Mookie confronts her for being too close to Sal.

That night, Buggin' Out, Radio Raheem, and Smiley march into Sal's and demand that Sal change the Wall of Fame. Raheem's boombox is blaring and Sal demands that he turn it off, but he refuses. Buggin' Out calls Sal and sons "guineas", and threatens to close down the pizzeria until they change the Wall of Fame. Frustrated and angry after being called a "guinea bastard" and threatened by Buggin' Out, Sal calls Buggin' Out a "nigger" and destroys the boombox with a baseball bat.

Raheem attacks Sal, leading to a violent fight that spills out into the street, and attracts a crowd. While Raheem is choking Sal, the police arrive. They break up the fight and apprehend Raheem and Buggin' Out. Despite the pleas of fellow officers and onlookers, one officer refuses to release his chokehold on Raheem, killing him. Realizing that Raheem has been killed in front of witnesses, the officers place his body in the back of a squad car and drive off, leaving Sal, Pino, and Vito unprotected.

The onlookers, enraged about Radio Raheem's death, blame Sal and his sons. Mookie grabs a trash can and throws it through the window of Sal's pizzeria, sparking the crowd to rush into the restaurant and destroy it. Smiley finally sets it on fire, diverting violent revenge against Sal. Da Mayor pulls Sal, Pino, and Vito out of the mob's way. Firemen and riot patrols arrive to put out the fire and disperse the crowd. After police issue a warning, the firefighters turn their hoses on the rioters, leading to more fighting and arrests. Mookie and Jade sit on the curb, watching in disbelief. Smiley wanders back into the smoldering building and hangs one of his pictures on what is left of Sal's Wall of Fame.

The next day, after an argument with Tina, Mookie returns to Sal. He feels that Mookie had betrayed him. Mookie demands his weekly pay, which leads to an argument. The two men cautiously reconcile, and Sal finally pays Mookie. Mister Señor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson), a local DJ, dedicates a song to Radio Raheem.

The film ends with two quotations that express different views about violence, one by Martin Luther King and one by Malcolm X. It fades to a photograph of the two leaders shaking hands. Prior to the credits, Lee dedicates the film to the families of six victims of police brutality or racial violence: Eleanor Bumpurs, Michael Griffith, Arthur Miller, Jr., Edmund Perry, Yvonne Smallwood, and Michael Stewart.

Cast

Production

Lee first got the idea for the film after watching the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Shopping for Death," in which the main characters discuss their theory that hot weather increases violent tendencies. He was also inspired by the 1986 Howard Beach racial incident, in which an African-American man was killed; and also the shooting of Eleanor Bumpurs by police.[11] Lee wrote the screenplay in two weeks.[12]

The original script of Do the Right Thing ended with a stronger reconciliation between Mookie and Sal than Lee used in the film. In this version, Sal's comments to Mookie are similar to Da Mayor's earlier comments in the film and hint at some common ground, and perhaps Sal's understanding of why Mookie tried to destroy his restaurant. Lee did not explain why he changed the ending.[13]

Casting

Lee campaigned for Robert De Niro to play Sal the pizzeria owner, but De Niro had to decline due to prior commitments. Aiello eventually played Sal and his son Rick played Gary Long, the police officer who kills Radio Raheem. The character of Smiley was not in the original script; he was created by Roger Guenveur Smith, who was pestering Lee for a role in the film.[14]

Four of the cast members were stand-up comedians: Martin Lawrence, Steve Park, Steve White, and Robin Harris. Lee originally wanted Nunn to play the role of Mister Señor Love Daddy, but later recast him as Radio Raheem. The acting couple Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were friends of Lee's father Bill; they were cast as Mother Sister and Da Mayor.[11] Perez was cast as Mookie's love interest Tina after Lee saw her dancing at a Los Angeles dance club. Perez decided to take the part because her sister lived four blocks from the set. She had never been in a film before and became upset during the filming of Radio Raheem's death scene.[11]

Filming

The film was shot entirely on Stuyvesant Avenue between Quincy Street and Lexington Avenue in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The street's color scheme was altered by the production designer, who used a great deal of red and orange paint to convey the sense of a heatwave. The Korean grocery store and Sal's pizzeria were built from scratch on two empty lots. The pizzeria was fully functional and the actors cooked pizzas in the ovens. During filming, the neighborhood's crack dealers threatened the film crew for disturbing their business there. Lee hired Fruit of Islam members to provide security.[11] Jackson later revealed that he spent much of his time on set sleeping as he has no scenes outside.[11]

Reception

Critical reception

Film critics acclaimed Do the Right Thing. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 92%, based on 90 reviews, with an average rating of 9.16/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Smart, vibrant and urgent without being didactic, Do the Right Thing is one of Spike Lee's most fully realized efforts – and one of the most important films of the 1980s."[15] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 92 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "universal acclaim", and placing it as the 68th-highest film of all-time on the site.[16]

Both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert ranked the film as the best of 1989, and later each ranked it as one of the top 10 films of the decade (No. 6 for Siskel and No. 4 for Ebert).[17] Ebert later added the film to his list of The Great Movies.[18] According to online film resource They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?, Do the Right Thing is the most acclaimed film of 1989.[19] New York Times film critic Wesley Morris has called Do the Right Thing his favorite film.[20]

Controversies

After release, many reviewers protested its content. Some columnists opined that the film could incite black audiences to riot.[21] Lee criticized white reviewers in turn for suggesting that black audiences were incapable of restraining themselves while watching a fictional motion picture.[22] In a 2014 interview Lee said, "That still bugs the shit out of me," calling the remarks "outrageous, egregious and, I think, racist." He said, "I don't remember people saying people were going to come out of theaters killing people after they watched Arnold Schwarzenegger films."[23]

An open question near the end of the film is whether Mookie "does the right thing" when he throws the garbage can through the window, inciting the riot that destroys Sal's pizzeria. Some critics have interpreted Mookie's action as an action that saves Sal's life, by redirecting the crowd's anger away from Sal to his property, and others say that it was an "irresponsible encouragement to enact violence".[24] The quotations by two major black leaders used at the end the film provide no answers: one advocates nonviolence, the other advocates armed self-defense in response to oppression.[24]

Spike Lee has remarked that only white viewers ask him if Mookie did the right thing; black viewers do not ask the question.[25] Lee believes the key point is that Mookie was angry at the wrongful death of Radio Raheem. Viewers who question the riot are explicitly failing to see the difference between damage to property and the death of a black man.[22]

Lee has been criticized for his representation of women. For example, bell hooks said that he wrote black women in the same objectifying way that white male filmmakers write the characters of white women.[26] Rosie Perez, who was in an acting role for the first time as Tina in Do the Right Thing, said later that she was very uncomfortable with doing the nude scene in the film:

"My first experience [with doing nude scenes] was Do the Right Thing. And I had a big problem with it, mainly because I was afraid of what my family would think — that’s what was really bothering me. It wasn’t really about taking off my clothes. But I also didn’t feel good about it because the atmosphere wasn’t correct. And when Spike Lee puts ice cubes on my nipples, the reason you don’t see my head is because I’m crying. I was like, I don’t want to do this."[27]

In June 2006, Entertainment Weekly magazine placed Do the Right Thing at No. 22 on its list of The 25 Most Controversial Movies Ever.[28]

Awards and nominations
List of awards and nominations
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients and nominees Result
Academy Awards March 28, 1990 Best Supporting Actor Danny Aiello Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Spike Lee
Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics 1990 Grand Prix
Boston Society of Film Critics 1990 Best Supporting Actor Danny Aiello Won
Cannes Film Festival[29] May 23, 1989 Palme d'Or Spike Lee Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association 1990 Best Picture Won
Best Director Spike Lee
Best Supporting Actor Danny Aiello
Golden Globe Awards January 20, 1990 Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Danny Aiello
Best Director – Motion Picture Spike Lee
Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Los Angeles Film Critics Association December 16, 1989 Best Film Won
Best Supporting Actor Danny Aiello
Best Director Spike Lee
Best Screenplay 2nd place
Best Music Bill Lee Won
MTV Movie Awards June 6, 2006 Silver Bucket of Excellence
NAACP Image Awards December 11, 1989 Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture Ruby Dee
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Ossie Davis
National Society of Film Critics Awards January 8, 1990 Best Director Spike Lee 3rd place
New York Film Critics Circle January 14, 1990 Best Film 5th place
Best Screenplay Spike Lee 4th place
Best Cinematography Ernest Dickerson Won
The 20/20 Awards 2010 Best Picture Nominated
Best Director Spike Lee Won
Best Supporting Actor Danny Aiello Nominated
John Turturro
Best Original Screenplay Spike Lee
Best Film Editing Barry Alexander Brown Won
Best Original Song "Fight the Power"
Music and Lyrics by Chuck D, Hank Shocklee, Eric Sadler, and Keith Shocklee

American Film Institute lists

Home media

Do the Right Thing was released on VHS after its theatrical run, and on DVD by The Criterion Collection on February 20, 2001.[30] It was released on Blu-ray on June 30, 2009 for the 20th anniversary. A special edition Blu-ray with a 4K restoration of the film was released by The Criterion Collection on July 23, 2019 for 30th anniversary.[31]

Soundtrack

The film's score (composed and partially performed by jazz musician Bill Lee, father of Spike Lee) was released in early July 1989 while the soundtrack was released in late June 1989 on Columbia Records and Motown Records, respectively. The soundtrack was successful, reaching the number eleven spot on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and peaking at sixty-eight on the Billboard 200.[32]

On the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, the Perri track "Feel So Good" reached the fifty-first spot, while Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" reached number twenty, and Guy's "My Fantasy" went all the way to the top spot. "My Fantasy" also reached number six on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart, and sixty-two on Billboard's Hot 100. "Fight the Power" also charted high on the Hot Dance Music chart, peaking at number three, and topped the Hot Rap Singles chart.[33][34]

Do the Right Thing: Original Motion Picture Score
Film score by
Bill Lee
Released1989
RecordedDecember 12, 1988 – December 16, 1988
GenreFilm score
Length35:36
LabelColumbia
ProducerSpike Lee (exec.)

Track listing
Do the Right Thing: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by
Various artists
ReleasedJune 23, 1989[35]
GenreSoundtrack
Length53:14
LabelMotown Records
ProducerGregory "Sugar Bear" Elliott (exec.), Ted Hopkins (exec.), Mark Kibble (exec.), Spike Lee (exec.), Johnny Mercer (exec.)
Singles from Do the Right Thing: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
  1. "Fight the Power"
    Released: July 4, 1989[35]
No.TitleMusicProducer(s)Length
1."Fight the Power"Public EnemyHank Shocklee, Carl Ryder, Eric Sadler5:23
2."My Fantasy"Teddy Riley, GuyTeddy Riley, Gene Griffin4:57
3."Party Hearty"E.U.Kent Wood, JuJu House4:43
4."Can't Stand It"Steel PulseDavid R. Hinds, Sidney Mills5:06
5."Why Don't We Try?"Keith JohnVince Morris Raymond jones larry decarmine3:35
6."Feel So Good"PerriPaul Laurence, Jones5:39
7."Don't Shoot Me"Take 6Mervyn E. Warren4:08
8."Hard to Say"Lori Perry, Gerald AlstonLaurence3:21
9."Prove to Me"PerriJones, Sami McKinney5:24
10."Never Explain Love"Al JarreauJones5:58
11."Tu y Yo/We Love [Jingle]"Rubén BladesBlades5:12

In 1990, the film was parodied in a sketch on In Living Color.[36] Many television series have parodied the trash can scene, including The Boondocks (TV series) , and Bob's Burgers.[37]

In Lee's 2006 film, Inside Man, the police provide Sal's pizza to the hostages.[38]

The scene where Buggin' Out confronts the white Celtics fan about scuffing his Air Jordans is parodied in the music video for the 2008 Nelly song Stepped on My J'z.[39]

In 2016, Air Jordan released a special Radio Raheem sneaker based on the colors of the shirt that he wears in the film.[40]

In 2014, the 25th anniversary of the film Barack and Michelle Obama praised the film, and said they went to see it together on their first date.[41][42][43] This was later referenced in the 2016 film Southside With You where Barack discusses Mookie's motives with a white colleague after seeing the film.

In the second season of Netflix series She's Gotta Have It, based on the film of the same name, Rosie Perez returns to portray Tina once more and it is revealed that not only is she the mother of Mars Blackmon (Anthony Ramos), but that Mookie is Blackmon's biological father.

Mookie makes another appearance in the 2012 film Red Hook Summer, where he is shown delivering pizzas. According to Lee, Sal took the insurance money from his burned pizzeria and reopened the restaurant in Red Hook. He then rehired Mookie, agreeing to include black celebrities on his Wall of Fame.[44]

See also

References
  1. "Do the Right Thing (15)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  2. "Do the Right Thing (1989) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
  3. "Do the Right Thing (1989)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
  4. "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)". American Film Institute. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
  5. Thompson, Anne. "Lists: 50 Best Movies of All Time, Again". Variety. Internet Archive. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  6. "100 Essential Films by the National Society of Film Critics". National Society of Film Critics. Published by AMC FilmSite.org. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
  7. "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made". The New York Times. April 29, 2003. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Preserving the Silver Screen (December 1999) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin". www.loc.gov. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  10. "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  11. Staskiewicz, Keith (October 25, 2013). "Do the Right Thing: 1989". Entertainment Weekly (1282/1283). p. 42.
  12. Gavin Edwards (June 20, 2014). "Fight the Power: Spike Lee on 'Do the Right Thing'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  13. "'Do the Right Thing' Script (Archived)". Script-O-Rama. April 28, 2007. Archived from the original on April 28, 2007. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  14. Do The Right Thing DVD Audio Commentary
  15. "Rotten Tomatoes 'Do the Right Thing' profile". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  16. "'Do the Right Thing' Metacritic profile". Metacritic. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  17. "Siskel & Ebert 1989-Best of 1989 (2of2)". YouTube. December 17, 2010. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  18. Roger Ebert. "The Great Movies". rogerebert.com. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  19. "The 1,000 Greatest Films (Full List)". They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?.
  20. Fennessey, Sean (August 27, 2019). "'Do The Right Thing' With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris". The Ringer. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  21. Klein, Joe. "Spiked?" New York, June 26, 1989: 14–15.
  22. "Spike Lee's Last Word", special feature on the Criterion Collection DVD (2000)
  23. Edwards, Gavin (June 20, 2014). "Fight the Power: Spike Lee on 'Do the Right Thing'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  24. Mark A. Reid (1997). Spike Lee's Do the right thing. Cambridge University Press. pp. 43–. ISBN 978-0-521-55954-6. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  25. Do The Right Thing DVD, Director's commentary
  26. hooks, bell (October 10, 2014). Black Looks. doi:10.4324/9781315743226. ISBN 9781315743226.
  27. Udovitch, Mim (June 25, 2000). "The Pressure To Take It Off". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  28. "The 25 Most Controversial Movies Ever," Entertainment Weekly (Retrieved 9 Apr 2016).
  29. "Festival de Cannes: Do the Right Thing". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
  30. Do the Right Thing - Criterion Collection. DVDTalk.
  31. Spike Lee’s ‘Do The Right Thing’ Returning To Theaters For 30th Anniversary With 4K Restoration Via Universal. Deadline. 7 June 2019.
  32. "Do the Right Thing (Soundtrack): Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
  33. "Do the Right Thing (Soundtrack): Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
  34. "Fear of a Black Planet: Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
  35. "In the Summer of 1989 "Fight the Power" Saved Public Enemy & Almost Sank 'Do the Right Thing'". Okayplayer. July 11, 2019. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
  36. Hastings, Deborah (April 15, 1990). "Fox's 'In Living Color' is Way, Way Out There". Deseret News.
  37. Steve, Kandell (May 23, 2012). "Pleased to Meat Me: 'Bob's Burgers' Creators on the Finale and Season Two's High Points". Spin.
  38. "R/MovieDetails - in Spike Lee's 'Inside Man' (2006) when the robbers demand food for the hostages the police bring Sal's Pizza, a reference to Sal's Pizzeria in Spike Lee's (1998) classic 'Do the Right Thing'".
  39. "Stepped on My J'z music video". Youtube. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  40. Johnson, Patrick (January 8, 2016). "Do The Right Thing And Cop The Air Jordan 2 "Radio Raheem" Tomorrow". Sneaker News.
  41. Obamas Praise First Date Movie Do The Right Thing
  42. Do The Right Thing Helped President Obama Impress Michelle On Their First Date
  43. Obamas Interviewed Directly About Spike Lee
  44. Lyttelton, Oliver (August 9, 2012). "Exclusive: Spike Lee Explains What Happened To Mookie & Sal After The End Of 'Do The Right Thing'". IndieWire.

Bibliography
  • Aftab, Kaleem. Spike Lee: That's My Story and I'm Sticking to It. England: Faber and Faber Limited, 2005. ISBN 0-393-06153-1.
  • Spike Lee's Last Word. Documentary on the Criterion Collection DVD of Do the Right Thing. 2000.
  • Spike Lee et al. Commentary on the Criterion Collection DVD of Do the Right Thing. 2000.

Further reading
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