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Do the Right Thing
Directed by Spike Lee
Produced by Spike Lee
Written by Spike Lee
Starring Danny Aiello
Ossie Davis
John Turturro
Ruby Dee
Richard Edson
Spike Lee
Bill Nunn
Rosie Perez
Giancarlo Esposito
John Savage
Music by Bill Lee
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) Flag of France May, 1989 (première at Cannes)
Flag of the United States June 30, 1989
Running time 125 minutes
Language English
Budget $6,500,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Do the Right Thing is a 1989 film produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee. Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20 1957 is an Emmy Award -winning and Academy Award -nominated American Film director, Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20 1957 is an Emmy Award -winning and Academy Award -nominated American Film director, Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20 1957 is an Emmy Award -winning and Academy Award -nominated American Film director, Daniel Louis Aiello Jr (born June 20, 1933) is an Academy Award -nominated Emmy Award -winning American Actor who has appeared in Ossie Davis ( December 18 1917 – February 4 2005) was an American Film Actor, director, John Michael Turturro (born February 28, 1957) is an American Actor noted for his performances in To Live and Die in L Ruby Dee (born October 27, 1924) is an American Actress, Poet, Playwright, Screenwriter, Journalist Richard Edson (born 1954 is an American Actor and Musician. Edson was born in New Rochelle New York. Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20 1957 is an Emmy Award -winning and Academy Award -nominated American Film director, Bill Nunn (born October 20, 1953) is an American Actor. Biography Early life Nunn was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Rosa María "Rosie" Pérez (born September 6, 1964) is an Academy Award -nominated American Actress, Dancer, Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (born April 26, 1958) is an American film and television actor ---- John Savage (born John Youngs; August 25, 1949) is an American film Actor, producer, Production manager, William "Bill" James Edwards Lee III (born July 23 1928) is an American musician Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios) a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is a major Global American The Cannes Film Festival (le Festival de Cannes founded in 1946 is one of the world's oldest most influential and prestigious Film festivals alongside Venice, Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, is defeated and killed by troops of the Usurper Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Events Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton Georgia for $20 million A film producer is a person who creates the conditions for making movies. Screenwriters or scenarists are Scriptwriters who write the Screenplays from which Films and Television programs are made A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film. Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20 1957 is an Emmy Award -winning and Academy Award -nominated American Film director, The film tells a tale of bigotry and racial conflict in a multi-ethnic community in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, on the hottest day of the year. A bigot is a person who is intolerant of opinions lifestyles or identities differing from his or her own and bigotry is the corresponding state of mind Bedford-Stuyvesant (pron \ˈstī-və-sənt\ (also known as Bed-Stuy) is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City, USA, borough Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. It stars Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, and John Turturro. Daniel Louis Aiello Jr (born June 20, 1933) is an Academy Award -nominated Emmy Award -winning American Actor who has appeared in Ossie Davis ( December 18 1917 – February 4 2005) was an American Film Actor, director, Ruby Dee (born October 27, 1924) is an American Actress, Poet, Playwright, Screenwriter, Journalist Richard Edson (born 1954 is an American Actor and Musician. Edson was born in New Rochelle New York. Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (born April 26, 1958) is an American film and television actor Bill Nunn (born October 20, 1953) is an American Actor. Biography Early life Nunn was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania John Michael Turturro (born February 28, 1957) is an American Actor noted for his performances in To Live and Die in L Do the Right Thing marks the feature film debuts of both Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence (born April 16, 1965) is an American Actor, Comedian, director and producer. Rosa María "Rosie" Pérez (born September 6, 1964) is an Academy Award -nominated American Actress, Dancer, Samuel L. Jackson plays DJ Mister Señor Love Daddy, an alternative voice of the author to Spike Lee's character. Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21 1948 is an American Academy Award -nominated and BAFTA -winning actor Writer's voice is a literary term used to describe the individual writing style of an Author.

In 1999, the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry one of three films to do so in its first year of eligibility. The Library of Congress is the De facto National library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress The National Film Registry is the registry of Films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of . A Criterion Collection DVD of Do the Right Thing has been released: it is no. The Criterion Collection is a Privately held company that distributes "authoritative" consumer versions of "important classic and contemporary films" DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is 97 in the Criterion series. In 2007, the American Film Institute listed the film as the 96th greatest American Movie in Film History. The American Film Institute ( AFI) is an independent Non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967

The song "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy is a recurring aural motif in the film, as blasted from a huge ghetto blaster toted by Radio Raheem (Nunn). For The Isley Brothers song see Fight the Power Pts 1 & 2 " Fight the Power " is a 1989 song by the hip-hop Public Enemy, also known as PE, is an influential hip hop group from Long Island New York, known for its politically charged Lyrics, criticism BoomBox is an American Rock band, which was founded in 2004 by singer/songwriter Zion Godchaux on the Guitar / Lead vocals and producer/DJ It appears 15 times in the film.

Do the Right Thing remains one of the few films to retain a 100% "Fresh" rating on the critics' site Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes is a Website devoted to reviews information and news of Movies. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

Do the Right Thing is set on a single street in Bed-Stuy, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. Bedford-Stuyvesant (pron \ˈstī-və-sənt\ (also known as Bed-Stuy) is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City, USA, borough Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. The street is populated primarily by African-Americans and Puerto Ricans. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa Puerto Ricans in the United States (also referred to as the "Puerto Rican Diaspora," " Nuyorican " "Stateside Puerto Ricans" "mainland At one end of the street is a pizzeria run by an Italian-American family and a Korean owned corner store. An Italian American is an American of Italian descent and/or dual citizenship

The film features a multitude of characters. The main character in the film is Mookie (Lee), a young man who lives with his sister and works as a pizza delivery man for the local pizzeria. Sal (Aiello), the pizzeria’s Italian-American owner, has owned the shop for twenty-five years. An Italian American is an American of Italian descent and/or dual citizenship His older son Pino (Turturro) "detests the place like a sickness" and holds racial contempt for the neighborhood African Americans. His younger son Vito (Edson) is friends with Mookie, which Pino feels undermines their fraternal bond.

The Bed-Stuy street corner, which the characters populate, is filled with distinct personalities, most of whom are just trying to find a way to deal with the intense heat and go about their regular day-to-day activities. A philandering drunk called Da Mayor (Davis) is constantly trying to win both the approval and affection of the neighborhood matron, Mother-Sister (Ruby Dee). Three unemployed men on the corner. . . Sweet Dick Willie, Coconut Sid and M. L. continuously crack jokes. M. L. detests the presence of a Korean owned and run market in their African American neighborhood, when they as African Americans are jobless. African American neighborhoods or black neighborhoods are types of Ethnic enclaves found in many cities in the United States. The character of Sweet Dick Willie replies that he will go to the market and that one of them(Coconut Sid/Frankie Faison) "came off the boat", not long ago. Mookie's girlfriend, Tina (Perez), is constantly nagging him about caring for their young son, Hector, and stopping by more often. A young man named Radio Raheem (Nunn) lives for nothing else but to blast Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" on his boombox wherever he goes. Public Enemy, also known as PE, is an influential hip hop group from Long Island New York, known for its politically charged Lyrics, criticism BoomBox is an American Rock band, which was founded in 2004 by singer/songwriter Zion Godchaux on the Guitar / Lead vocals and producer/DJ He wears a "love" and "hate" four-fingered ring on either hand which he explains in one scene to symbolize the struggle between the two forces. A mentally handicapped man named Smiley (Roger Guenveur Smith) constantly meanders about the neighborhood, holding up hand-colored (with marking pens) pictures of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.. Mental retardation is a generalized triarchic disorder characterized by subaverage cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors with onset before the age Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19 1925 February 21 1965 also known as El-Hajj Malik El- Shabazz, was an African American Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader Mookie's sister, Jade (Joie Lee, the director's real life sister), and the local DJ, Mister Señor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson) round out the cast of characters. Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21 1948 is an American Academy Award -nominated and BAFTA -winning actor

Buggin' Out (Esposito) makes sure his points are heard by whoever is in ear shot. Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (born April 26, 1958) is an American film and television actor Upon entering Sal's shop, he notices that Sal's "Wall of Fame" is decorated with dozens of pictures of celebrity actors, athletes, etc. --all of them Italian. Buggin' Out questions Sal about the "Wall of Fame" and demands he place some pictures of African-American celebrities on the wall (since, he explains, Sal's pizzeria is situated in a black neighborhood and sells pizza to black people). African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa Sal replies that it is his store, he is proud of his Italian heritage, and that he isn't going to put anyone but Italians on his wall. Buggin' Out attempts to start a protest over the "Wall of Fame", but no one will support his protest, until Radio Raheem, who got into an argument with Sal about playing his boombox loudly in the store.

Buggin' Out's own angst from gentrification comes to the front when he verbally attacks a white bicycler (John Savage), who knocks him in the back without apologizing and unknowingly scuffs his shoe. Buggin' Out begins to harass the man, regardless of the man's apology, telling him to "go back to Massachusetts. " The small crowd continues to harass him and they unanimously object by exclaiming "Awwwww!" when he replies that he was born in Brooklyn.

Radio Raheem and Buggin' Out march into Sal's and stage a sit-in, protesting that Sal change the pictures on the wall. Radio Raheem's boombox is blaring, as always, Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," at the highest volume possible in lieu of their protest. Sal demands that they turn the radio down or leave the shop, which the two men refuse to do. Reaching his wit's end, Sal snaps and destroys Radio Raheem's boombox with a baseball bat. Radio Raheem's prized possession destroyed, he becomes enraged and begins choking Sal. Vito and Pino jump onto Radio Raheem in attempt to pull the men apart, at which point the other African American men in the restaurant join the scuffle. A fight ensues between Radio Raheem and Sal on one side and Buggin' Out and Pino on the other, with Vito and Mookie trying to break it up. The fight spills out into the streets, to a crowd of spectators cheering on the fight. White policemen arrive at the scene and begin to apprehend Radio Raheem and Buggin' Out. Radio Raheem is placed in a choke hold that kills him (a reference to a 1983 incident where graffiti artist Michael Stewart was apprehended for defacing public property and killed by the arresting officer in a similar manner). Graffiti (singular graffito; the plural is used as a Mass noun) is the name for images or lettering scratched scrawled painted or marked in any manner on property [2] An underlying issue in this series of arrests is that of six officers present in this mostly African American neighborhood, only one officer on the scene is black and the rest are white. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa Buggin' Out yells angrily "You ain't gonna give a fucking beatin' to Pino, huh? Or Sal!?", and "you can't kill us all!" as he is arrested. Officers continue to beat him from the front seat of the car as they drive him away from the scene.

The fight drew a large crowd of onlookers, all of whom are enraged about Radio Raheem's death. Deciding that the floodgates are going to burst open eventually, Mookie grabs a trash can and, screaming "HATE!", slings it through the window of Sal's restaurant. The angry crowd becomes an angry riotous mob, and rushes into the restaurant and destroys everything within and Smiley starts a fire. The crowd yells "Burn it down!" as the fire spreads.

From there, the mob of black people. . . lead by M. L. begins to head for the Korean's market. "It's your turn now, mothafucka!" yells M. L. But Sunny, the owner tries to fight them off with a broom all while yelling, "I no white! I black! You. . . me. . . same! We same!", trying to explain he is one of them. The mob spares his store realising that he too is a racial minority, and begins to disperse with Coconut Sid saying to M. L. , "Leave the Korean alone! He's alright!"

Firefighters arrive and begin spraying Sal's building as the crowd are held back by riot patrol. The firefighters turn their hoses on the mob (much like how Blacks were hosed during Civil Rights Movements in the 1960s) which further enrages the mob.

When it is all over, Sal's pizzeria is burned beyond recognition, while Sal and his two sons were saved by Da Mayor just before the riot started. Smiley, with no one else around to see, wanders back into the smoldering restaurant and, sympathetic to Buggin' Out's cause, hangs on what's left of Sal's "Wall of Fame" one of his pictures of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. shaking hands.

The next day, Mookie, who has been at Tina's goes to Sal's, where Mookie gets his weekly pay he had earlier been demanding to receive early. He and Sal cautiously reconcile.

The film ends on an ambiguous note due to two quotations. The first, from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., argues that violence is never justified under any circumstances. Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader The second, from Malcolm X, argues that violence is "intelligent" when it is self-defense. Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19 1925 February 21 1965 also known as El-Hajj Malik El- Shabazz, was an African American

Characters

Mookie (Spike Lee)

Sal (Danny Aiello)

Da Mayor (Ossie Davis)

Mother Sister (Ruby Dee)

Vito (Richard Edson)

Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito)

Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn)

Pino (John Turturro)

ML (Paul Benjamin)

Coconut Sid (Frankie Faison)

Sweet Dick Willie (Robin Harris)

Tina (Rosie Perez)

Officer Ponte (Miguel Sandoval)

Officer Gary Long (Rick Aiello)

Mister Senor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson)

Jade (Joie Lee)

Smiley (Roger Guenveur Smith)

Sonny (Steve Park)

Ahmed (Steve White)

Cee (Martin Lawrence)

Punchy (Leonard L. Thomas)

Ella (Christa Rivers)

Stevie (Luis Ramos)

Kim (Ginny Yang)

Clifton (John Savage)

Charlie (Frank Vincent)

Production

Spike Lee wrote the screenplay in two weeks. The original script of Do the Right Thing ends with a stronger reconciliation between Mookie and Sal. Sal's comments to Mookie mirror Da Mayor's earlier comments in the film and hint at some common ground and perhaps Sal's understanding of why Mookie was motivated to destroy his restaurant. It is unclear why Lee changed the ending. [3]

The film was shot entirely on a real street in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood. The street's color scheme was heavily altered by the production designer, who used a great deal of red and orange paint in order to help convey the sense of a heatwave.

Spike Lee campaigned for Robert De Niro as Sal the pizzeria owner, but De Niro had to decline due to prior commitments. Robert Mario De Niro Jr (born August 17 1943 is a two-time Academy Award -winning American Film Actor, director and producer The character of Smiley was not in the original script; he was created by Roger Guenveur Smith, who was pestering Spike Lee for a role in the film. Roger Guenveur Smith (born July 27, 1959) is an American writer director and actor [4] In contrast to the serious nature of the film, three of the cast members were stand-up comedians -- Martin Lawrence, Steve White, and the late Robin Harris. Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence (born April 16, 1965) is an American Actor, Comedian, director and producer. Robin Hughes Harris ( August 30, 1953 – March 18, 1990) was an American Comedian and Actor, best known

Controversies

Sal and Mookie in the aftermath of the riot
Sal and Mookie in the aftermath of the riot

The film was released to protests from many reviewers, including Joe Klein in New York magazine; it was openly stated in several newspapers that the film could incite black audiences to riot. Joe Klein (born September 7, 1946) is a longtime Washington D New York is a weekly magazine concerned with the life culture politics and style of New York City. [5] In the event, no such riots occurred, and Lee criticized white reviewers for assuming that black audiences were incapable of restraining themselves while watching fiction. [6]

For many viewers, one of many questions at the end of the film is whether Mookie 'does the right thing' when he throws the garbage can through the window, thus inciting the riot that destroys Sal's pizzeria. The question is directly raised by the contradictory quotations that end the film, one advocating non-violence, the other advocating violent self-defense in response to oppression. However, Lee himself has stated that only white viewers ask this question. He believes the key point is that Mookie was angry at the death of Radio Raheem, and that viewers who question the riot's justification are implicitly valuing white property over the life of a black man. [7] Mookie tells Sal to "Motherfuck a window. Radio Raheem is dead".

In June 2006, Entertainment Weekly magazine placed Do the Right Thing at #22 on its list of "The 25 Most Controversial Movies Ever". Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated as EW) is a Magazine published by Time Inc

Political allusions

The film contains several allusions to then-recent race-related violent acts.

In the scene in which Mookie shows frustration with his sister for getting too close to Sal, "Tawana told the truth!" is spray painted on the bricks in the rear of this shot, referring to the 1987 Tawana Brawley rape incident. Tawana Brawley is a black woman from Wappingers Falls New York. Towards the end of the film, at the peak of the riot that ensues after Radio Raheem's death, the gathered characters begin to chant "HOWARD BEACH! HOWARD BEACH!" referring to the 1986 Howard Beach incident. Howard Beach is a middle class neighborhood in the southwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York City.

Awards & nominations

1989 Academy Awards

1989 Cannes Film Festival

1990 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards

1990 Golden Globes

1991 NAACP Image Awards

1989 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

1989 New York Film Critics Circle Awards

AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies

National Film Preservation Board

MTV Movie Awards

Connections with other Lee films

In popular culture

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/do_the_right_thing/
  2. ^ "Spike Lee's Bed-Stuy BBQ", interview with Lee by Marlaine Glickman, 1989, rept. in Spike Lee Interviews, ed. Cynthia Fuchs (University Press of Mississippi, 2002), p. 17.
  3. ^ Original script for Do the Right Thing
  4. ^ Do The RIght Thing DVD Audio Commentary
  5. ^ Klein, Joe. "Spiked?" New York 26 June 1989: 14-15.
  6. ^ 'Spike Lee's Last Word', special feature on the Criterion Collection DVD (2000)
  7. ^ 'Spike Lee's Last Word', special feature on the Criterion Collection DVD (2000)
  8. ^ Features - Esquire

References

External links

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