Do the Right Thing (1989)

On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.

Director:

Spike Lee

Writer:

Spike Lee

Stars:

Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Danny Aiello	...	Salvatore 'Sal' Fragione
Ossie Davis	...	Da Mayor
Ruby Dee	...	Mother Sister
Richard Edson	...	Vito
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Buggin' Out
Spike Lee	...	Mookie
Bill Nunn	...	Radio Raheem
John Turturro	...	Pino
Paul Benjamin	...	ML
Frankie Faison	...	Coconut Sid
Robin Harris	...	Sweet Dick Willie
Joie Lee	...	Jade
Miguel Sandoval	...	Officer Ponte
Rick Aiello	...	Officer Long
John Savage	...	Clifton

Storyline

It's the hottest day of the year in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, and tensions are growing there, with the only local businesses being a Korean grocery and Sal's Pizzeria. Mookie, Sal's delivery boy, manages to always be at the center of the action.

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Plot Keywords:

bedford stuyvesant | violence | pizzeria | hate | korean | 

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Taglines:

It's the hottest day of the summer. You can do nothing, you can do something, or you can...

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian Spanish

Release Date:

30 June 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Heatwave

Filming Locations:

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,500,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$27,545,445 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The key scene when Danny Aiello and John Turturro talk alone approximately midway through the film was partly improvised. The scripted scene ended as the character Smiley approached the window. Everything after that until the end of the scene was completely ad-libbed.

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Goofs

When Buggin Out is bumped into by the man with the bike, he gets hit on his left side, but when he looks at his sneaker, the scuff mark is on the outside of his right shoe. This is to further illustrate the mentality of these characters. They will look for a fight in any scenario and they are not concerned if their actions are justified. The man in the Larry Bird jersey didn't really scuff up Buggin' Out's shoe, but Buggin' Out was just such a loose cannon that he was waiting to be set off.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mister Senor Love Daddy: Wake up! Wake up! Up you wake!

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Connections

Spoofed in The Critic: Miserable (1994)

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Soundtracks

"Lift Every Voice and Sing"
Music and Lyrics by James Weldon Johnson and Rosamond Johnson

User Reviews

That's the double-truth, Ruth

In all likelihood Spike Lee's most important achievement - as director, writer and actor (though to my taste Mo' Better Blues is just as good a picture) and one of the strongest films you'll see about race relations, 'Do The Right Thing' looks dated at times, but it lost none of its impact and relevance. The movie takes place in a particularly hot day in a primarily African-American neighborhood in Brooklyn, and follows the various personalities who live there throughout the day; the center of the story is Sal's Famous Pizzeria - its owners, some of the few white people living in the neighborhood: Sal (Oscar nominated performance for Danny Aiello) and his two sons (John Torturro and Richard Edson), and Mookie (Spike Lee himself), the black delivery boy. What starts out as a light, entertaining movie with some amusing characters and light humor, gradually builds up tension to the point of being unbearable, up to the dramatic and tragic climax. Spike doesn't put as much emphasis on the characters themselves as he does on the relationships and the tension between them; and in this image of a very specific and small frame in time and place, makes a strong and important message about racism and race relations in general. The film is populated with many different characters, all of them very memorable and each one a representative of a certain belief, mode of behavior or state of mind - on both sides of the conflict. From the uninhibited anger of Buggin Out (Giancarlo Esposito) and Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) on one side and Pino (John Torturro) on the other side, to Jade (Joie Lee, Spike's sister in the film and in real life) and Vito (Richard Edson), who are trying to connect and live at peace with the other side, to Da Mayor (Ossie Davis), in his isolated but peaceful state of mind, living in complete peace with the world around him, and Smiley (Roger Smith), living in his own isolated existence. Then there's Mookie, who is stuck in the middle, torn between his commitment and responsibilities to both sides. Finally we have Mister Senor Love Daddy

• played gorgeously by the one and only Samuel L. Jackson, in one of

his finest performances - half active character and half all-knowing narrator - who represents the voice of reason in the conflict, the reason which is bound, ultimately, to collapse. Each and every character plays an important part in the climatic and dramatic conflict to which the movie builds up, and though it's the radical ones - Buggin Out and Radio Raheem - who trigger the events that cause the tragedy, they are not necessarily the ones who finish it. It is Mookie and Sal, in fact, who ultimately play the main part.

Do The Right Thing is not an easy watch; it's a mesmerizing, tense, difficult film that breaks many taboos and slaughters many holy cows. But in the end of it - hopefully - you'll be wiser than you were in the beginning, and that's what Lee have always tried to achieve in all his films. Watch it to get a real view on racism that doesn't duck the difficult issues and isn't afraid to tackle the real problem, and to see a master director at work. It's one of the best films of its time.