Do the Right Thing

Name: Do the Right Thing
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: June 30, 1989
Duration: 120 min
Rating: 93
Cast: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee

1989

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Universal acclaim based on 26 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 220 Ratings

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8.2

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8.2	User Score Universal acclaim based on 220 Ratings

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Do The Right Thing

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 30, 1989 | R

Starring: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee

Summary: Set on the hottest day of the summer, the film examines various personal, social and economic issues through the eyes of an ensemble of neighborhood characters on a Bedford Stuyvesant block in Brooklyn.

Director: Spike Lee

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 120 min

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Critic Reviews

100

James Berardinelli

One of Lee's great successes with this film is that he is able to present every character, regardless of race, gender, or age, with three-dimensionality and a degree of sympathy. No one is demonized or lionized. No one individual is blamed or exonerated for the events which transpire. Each individual with significant screen time is shown to have good and bad qualities, and we come to understand what motivates them, even if we do not agree with them. Read full review

100

Sheila Benson

Stirred up impassioned debate everywhere; it would seem the greatest compliment that could be paid a stunning entertainment. [30 June 1989, Calendar, p.6-1]

100

Mike Clark

This is a fascinating movie experience. [30 June 1989, Life, p.1D]

100

Helen O'Hara

Lee creates a remarkably even-handed and nuanced portrait of the way that violence can flare, and how bigotry can build to something much worse Read full review

Hal Hinson

A movie made by filmmaker working in sync with his times -- an exciting, disturbing, provocative film. Read full review

Rick Groen

Lee has forged a work of art in the classic sense -- art that delights and instructs. Read full review

Richard Corliss

To accept the film, though, one must first understand its point of view, and that is maddeningly difficult. All we know for certain is that Do the Right Thing is not naturalistic. [July 3, 1989]

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User Reviews

KellyJ.

Mar 2, 2007

This movie is a fantastic look at what race relations are like in areas where there is diversity and heavy interaction. It's real and it's right on the mark.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

AndrewBurge

May 10, 2018

I'm pretty sure I forgot to breathe during some parts of Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing'. Not only because the way it penetrates the mind and soul of any sensible viewer, but also because I felt ashamed by the approach I took to this movie. With a stunning Public Enemy soundtrack, II'm pretty sure I forgot to breathe during some parts of Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing'. Not only because the way it penetrates the mind and soul of any sensible viewer, but also because I felt ashamed by the approach I took to this movie. With a stunning Public Enemy soundtrack, I expected this film to be a Black Power Movement propaganda. Was I wrong!

It is 1989, a 32 year-old black man decides to make a film about race and discrimination. His approach, though, is as impersonal as it gets. He fills a Brooklyn Street during a single steaming hot summer day with every single racial representation of American immigrants. There is a Korean grocery store and an American-Italian Pizzeria, ran by the father Sal (Danny Aiello) and his two reluctant sons Vito (Richard Edson) and Pino (John Turturro) all set in a neighborhood dominated by African-Americans and even Latinos. There are no heroes and no villains among them.

The plot is far from your average structure. It manages to deconstruct and implode upon itself in a slow and procedural manner like few films achieve. By keeping the location small, Lee succeeds in presenting us all the characters in a great, great level of detail, unraveling the hatred and subconscious cultural manners and views that are in every one of us through slow and wise writing and directing. Lee often lets these characters express themselves in a unique approach which I have never seen in any other film. Often they would be filmed from the front, and in a brilliantly executed subtle transition they would talk about themselves and their beliefs as if the entire film would decompose and it was just you and them. It is this technique alone, which allow the very essence of their personality to be revealed.

There is a scene, in which Lee lets nearly every character spew racial slurs, almost signaling that through this hot day something waits to happen! And it does. It all builds up after Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) claims that among the Italian heroes there should be pictures of some 'black folks' on Sal's Pizzeria, to which Sal disagrees. From this rather banal issue, Spike Lee created a sprawl of hatred which ends in tragedy. But, it is not the issue which fuels the hatred, but it is the self-loathed delivery of their characters, each of them believing their truth to be the truth. The only exception is Da Mayor (Ossie Davis); an old man filled with regrets, wondering around the streets like a preacher of sorts. But, in the end, he is the only man which transcends race and eludes true love to all the characters, even though most of them despise him.

In the end, Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing' is more than just the racial infighting that has been present since the dawn of man. It is also about the real and harsh acceptance of the fact that given the smallest catalyst, man will engage in chaos and violence, and also how important leaders are, from Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X to the humble so-called Mayor.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GregePorter

Aug 31, 2015

Bottom line: With Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee is able to start a conversation about race in America, pointedly and brilliantly.

In Do the Right Thing, we watch an urban New York neighborhood during a heat-wave. Racial tensions smolder before erupting into violence. It is one of thoseBottom line: With Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee is able to start a conversation about race in America, pointedly and brilliantly.

In Do the Right Thing, we watch an urban New York neighborhood during a heat-wave. Racial tensions smolder before erupting into violence. It is one of those movies that’s difficult to summarize; there are numerous characters whose plot lines intertwine but the core of the movie looks at the larger issue of racism. We have the Italian American, Sal (Aiello), who has owned the neighborhood pizza shop for twenty-five years. On one wall, he has a “Wall of Fame” which features photos of Italian-Americans. He refuses to put up any African or African-American photos. His son is a racist. We have the patron, a militant black power character, who vows to boycott Sal’s until there are Africans represented on the wall. Meanwhile, we have the brutal, white police officers. We have the Chinese owners of a local grocery store. We have the Hispanic community. We have Radio Raheem (Nunn) who blares Public Enemy on his boombox.

Spike Lee is able to present the complexity of this issue, and this film-world, with coherence and harmony. This is what makes Do the Right Thing so good. The important part about this movie is that there is no one completely at fault. It may not sound like much, I mean, we have antiheroes all the time, right? Here though, the purpose is to spark a dialog about race in America. The movie closes with two quotes. The first is a warning from Martin Luther King Jr. about the dangers of violence. I thought, “Alright, I get it. All of the destruction in the movie could’ve been avoided by choosing peace.” Then comes a statement by Malcom X saying that while he doesn’t condone violence, violence might be necessary in self-defense and he does condone self-defense. Even in conclusion this movie presents more than one perspective.

In Do the Right Thing, the message is as ambiguous as the film’s title. What is the “right thing?” Of course, we all want to do that but how do we know what it is? Even if we do know the right thing, it’s a lot easier said than done.

Aside from a story perspective, Spike Lee fully uses the medium of film. It is a very hot summer day so he shows three old men sitting in lawn chairs partially covered by an umbrella. They sit in front of a fire-engine red brick wall. The color in and of itself makes the audience feel the warmth of that summer day. It reminded me of a Rothko painting.
In other situations, Lee uses a wide-angle lens pushed close up to the actors who speak directly into the camera. It is an uncomfortable angle to watch and listen to someone scream at you. That’s the point. Our proximity to the characters removes any chance we have of escaping the situation. It’s as if the film is telling us that we have to address these issues.

I just finished listening to an audio version of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. It is about tackling the resistance that is preventing you from doing what you truly dream. At one point, he explains that in writing this book, his own demons of resistance fought him. He said to himself, “I am a fiction writer. Shouldn’t I, instead of writing a nonfiction book like this, cloak the same message in metaphor? I could write a story about a soldier’s trials and tribulations as he undertakes a mission.” Do the Right Thing is like The War of Art in the sense that it is not a message hidden in a film, it a direct message in and of itself. Spike Lee uses jump cuts help develop this idea.

A jump cut is where the camera moves slightly between two shots. It moves in such a way that you can tell there was a cut. I have a bunch of jump cuts in my review videos, if you want to see an example. Up until around the 1960’s, cut jumps were considered more a mistake than anything. They are jarring and make you aware of the camera so it breaks some level of immersion. So, by using a couple jump cuts, Lee is able to address the audience and the audience’s interaction with the film. That is, we aren’t going to get too caught up in the plot that we lose sight of the fact that this is a movie with a message. Do the Right Thing is a cinematic representation of a speech or an editorial; it not only tells you but it shows you.

I’ve mentioned this before, I’m sure, but I’ll say it again. A good movie might tell you, a bad movie will probably tell you again, but a great movie will show you. Do the Right Thing is a great movie that I highly recommend. I’m only sorry it’s taken me so long to see it.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

wololooo

Jul 5, 2012

In Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee has painted an astonishingly honest and human depiction of racial prejudice and ignorance. Lee presents us with a multitude of complex characters from a wide spectrum of racial and cultural backgrounds and portrays their involvement and experiences with raceIn Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee has painted an astonishingly honest and human depiction of racial prejudice and ignorance. Lee presents us with a multitude of complex characters from a wide spectrum of racial and cultural backgrounds and portrays their involvement and experiences with race issues on an very personal level.
The ending in particular was extremely though provoking - we're given no answers to the issues dealt with in the film, and this is in no way a mistake on the director's part, but a deliberate calculation that heightens the effectiveness of the film. The cast is brilliant, especially John Turturro, Giancalro Esposito and Lee himself. Do The Right Thing is a timeless masterpiece with timeless messages and a provocative insight into race relations.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

KeithDow

Jun 30, 2019

Its characters combine to create a wonderful collage of the prototypical city streetscape, its language is consistently raw, and it takes a complicated view of race-related tensions. Overall, it's an alluring and invigorating film in many ways with a generous helping of humor and intelligence.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Compi24

Oct 14, 2015

"Do The Right Thing" is a refreshingly objective look at ignorance and intolerance on all sides of multi-cultural America, featuring great directorial work from Spike Lee and devoted performances from the likes of Danny Aiello, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, and even Lee himself.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Broyax

May 19, 2020

Un film social très étrange et très SJW (évidemment...) mais qui ne sait pas lui-même sur quel pied danser, entre provocations répétées, racisme flagrant ou victimisation hystérique...? tout en citant à la toute fin deux messages contradictoires de Luther King... et Malcolm X, l'un aprèsUn film social très étrange et très SJW (évidemment...) mais qui ne sait pas lui-même sur quel pied danser, entre provocations répétées, racisme flagrant ou victimisation hystérique...? tout en citant à la toute fin deux messages contradictoires de Luther King... et Malcolm X, l'un après l'autre !

Alors, que cherche Spike Lee dans son film, on se le demande encore...? d'un côté, on a ces Noirs de Brooklyn, très agités, vindicatifs, revanchards, colériques, haineux, racistes envers les Italiens de la pizzeria, racistes envers cet homme blanc à vélo, racistes envers les Asiatiques de la supérette (parce que vietnamiens ?) et qui veulent imposer des photos de personnalités noires dans le restaurant dont les murs ne comptent que des personnalités blanches d'origine italienne...

D'un autre côté, on a une arrestation musclée qui se termine mal... alors que les Noirs viennent de saccager le restau et d'y mettre le feu... mais Spike Lee joue encore sa victime et en l'occurrence le porte-drapeau (comme il l'a toujours fait par la suite) de la victimisation et de la paranoïa des Noirs péersécutés par les méchants Blancs, la Police, l'Etat américain et le monde entier, la galaxie complète et l'univers infini et au-delà...

Enfin bref, du classique pour ce type-là dont le discours de Caliméro a toujours été très discutable... et de toute façon, son film ici présent reste d'un ennui et d'une caricature de tous les instants avec tous ses personnages que l'on dirait sortis d'une mauvais bd récupérée au fond d'une poubelle.

La meilleure chose à faire, c'est de ne pas regarder ce film ou alors seulement en accéléré d'abord parce qu'on va s'endormir, ensuite parce qu'il en sait pas ce qu'il fait ; enfin parce que franchement, il nous soûle avec ses conneries.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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