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70 out of 88 people found the following review useful:
That's the double-truth, Ruth, 24 May 2005

Author: itamarscomix from Israel

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.

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36 out of 43 people found the following review useful:
There it is..... Love and Hate, 28 February 2008

Author: mstomaso from Vulcan

90% of Spike Lee's masterpiece Do the Right Thing is a perfectly developed character study of a wide range of model personalities who all happen to be in Bedford-Stuyvesant on the hottest day of the summer. What the other ten percent consists of you will have to discover for yourself.

This ingenious film explores extremes, but never gives itself over to stereotypes as its plot cleverly navigates through the politics of inner city life and the struggles of American racism. As an artful and intelligent examination of the ethics of violence and prejudice, Do the Right Thing is unparalleled. It implies a simple profound question - what is the 'right thing'? But steadfastly refuses to supply even a hint of an answer - appropriately leaving its central point entirely up to its audience. Instead, the film points to a different, perhaps more important question "Whose version of right is right for you?" There are a lot of good people, a lot of bad people, and a very realistic majority of people who are usually somewhere in the middle but also somewhat confused throughout this film. African American, Latino, East Asian and Italian American cultures form the dynamics of the relationships that drive the story, and conflict is their medium. Drawing from two incisive but different comments on violence from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, Lee extrapolates his story and the ideas he wants to explore by showing us characters that are as real as they are exaggerated and somewhat unpredictable events that they create, are swept into or actively or passively participate in. Although the point of the film is not really critique, nobody is left unscathed.

I am not going to tell you what the film says - I can't, because it is, more than most films dealing in such a direct manner with the subject of race, open to interpretation. And what you bring to it will influence, but not determine what you take away from it. It is just that powerful.

Instead, I will simply give Do the Right Thing my highest recommendation.

Superbly written, edited, directed and filmed. Well acted (Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Spike Lee and Richard Edson really stood out for me) and very nicely soundscaped, Do the Right Thing is the perfect film for a solitary night of reflection or for sharing with an intelligent group of friends. However, be forewarned, the film hits hard, and will disturb some people a great deal - especially those who feel a need for closure and resolution.

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53 out of 79 people found the following review useful:
Spike Lee's best work! A mind-blowing masterpiece of cinema! @, 30 April 2001

Author: mattymatt4ever from Jersey City, NJ

"Do the Right Thing" is a powerful, uplifting, visually stunning masterpiece. It's a movie that I can watch over and over again, and deservedly takes the Number 7 Spot of My Favorite Movies Of All Time. This was one of Spike's debut efforts, and until this day--the best one. Spike gives us an honest, unflinching look at the Bedford-Stuyvestant area of Brooklyn on the hottest day of the summer. He perfectly displays the racial tensions that go on between everybody from blacks to whites to Koreans. Yet he never gets preachy, which is one of the brilliant things about this movie. Some of Spike's best work is demonstrated in his shots of Radio Raheem, played excellently by Bill Nunn. RR doesn't say much, but he has this violent gaze which sums up his feelings without a word being said. Spike gives us some great angles of his face, demonstrating the pure rage brewing inside of him. He also has a great scene in which he sums up the meanings of love and hate, in Spike's trademark poetry-in-motion style. RR constantly carries around a boombox, playing the same song "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy. That song is one of the best musical themes in movie history, perfectly summing up racial tension among inner cities. This movie doesn't tell its audience that black people are better than others, nor does it say that Hispanics are, or whites, or Asians. It just gives us a raw look at what happens when we let racial quarrels get out of hand. We learn how sometimes it's appropriate to preach against racism, and sometimes we're just overreacting.

The cast is terrific, and they deliver memorable performances. I really wish Danny Aiello picked up the Oscar for his role as Sal, because that is definitely the pinnacle performance of his career and one of the best I've ever seen. Other noteworthy performances are by John Turturro, Ossie Davis and Giancarlo Esposito.

The film is put together with such fast-paced editing that it doesn't once get boring, doesn't have any low points. This is a gritty, memorable film that I wish can be considered more prominent in the eyes of the average moviegoer, because it really deserves great recognition for its unique, unforgettable style.

Spike definitely knows how to do the right thing.

My score: 10 (out of 10)

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32 out of 48 people found the following review useful:
practically the definition of a must-see movie, 6 April 2001

Author: diffusionx from New Jersey, USA

I have heard people describe Spike Lee as a second-rate filmmaker; all I have to say is that second-rate filmmakers do not make films like this. Do the Right Thing is a masterpiece in both style and substance, and Im hard pressed to think of a more powerful, earth-shattering film.

But first, let's talk about the style. The color palette of the movie is wonderful; while its mostly deep reds, they manage to bring home the feeling that the residents of Bed-Stuy must have been feeling on that day. The cinematography is excellent... it features a lot of weird viewpoints and angles, but they are used to great effect and manage to work within the style of the film. One thing that really managed to impress me about the film is the razor sharp dialogue... each character has their own style of talking, and it really works well. This is a masterfully written film.

Now the substance... this movie manages to spiral into a truly spectacular ending. Throughout, its easy to see the necessary elements building, and, when it happens, it hardly seems like a surprise, but that doesn't make it any less shattering. The way that each character acts defines this movie throughout, especially at the end! Spike Lee does a brilliant job here. The movie is interesting and well-made throughout; each of the characters are three-dimensional and feel like real human beings - their motivation is understood throughout.

Do the Right Thing is a brilliant movie that never lags and never lets up. It manages to be vastly entertaining and vastly powerful at the same time. It's truly an amazing achievement in film, and its a shame it was not recognized more for its obvious brilliance when it was released in 1989.

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46 out of 76 people found the following review useful:
An underappreciated masterpiece, 20 April 2000
Author: Vlad W.

I find it a tremendous oversight that this film gets so little recognition. The American film institute couldn't find one place in one hundered American films for this cinematic masterpiece that pulls no punches . It got no academy award and most importantly I could not find one friend who had heard of it. I call this a tremendous oversight because the film is wonderful. I know that Spike Lee is a rather eccentric personality and is not well liked by everyone, but his films are brilliant and this is no exception.

For about the first two thirds of the movie the plot meanders around a section of New York City as the characters awaken and start their days. For this first two thirds we have a comedy that is funny because of the eccentric and wonderfully developed characters. The audience is pulled into the story by the rich dialogue and inventive cinematography. There is just some quality about this film that makes it seem so real. This all sets up for the imminent tragedy to be all the worse as a result of the connection the audience has with the movie.

Then the film explodes. Those who have seen it know what I mean and those who have not should see it. This last third of the film should not be explained, it must be experianced. In fact this whole film should be experianced. I can't say enough.

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41 out of 71 people found the following review useful:
excellent drama with a message, 10 December 2004

Author: The_Void from Beverley Hills, England

If I had to make a list of the top ten things that I find most boring, racism would be right at the summit along with economics and The Blair Witch Project. For that reason, I have avoided Do the Right Thing up until now for fear that it would be a lecture on racism...but actually, I don't know what I was afraid of, as this film is really good. Spike Lee's racial drama is actually more a film about the feebleness of racial divides and how violence only breeds violence, as opposed to a film ABOUT racism. In fact, the film can be best described as a cinematic materialisation of Martin Luther King's famous "an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind" speech.

For this movie, Spike Lee has put together a terrific cast, that includes many actors that have gone on to become big names in the movie industry, people such as Samuel L. Jackson, John Turturro and Martin Lawrence, not to mention smaller stars such as Ossie Davis. The cast comes together excellently and the neighbourhood that Spike Lee has created for this film feels very real, and through the multiple personalities that inhabit it, it manages to stay interesting and realistic throughout. The atmosphere of the neighbourhood is also of note, and you really do get the feeling that someone could say 'biatch' or 'dogg' at any time. Spike Lee delights in showing us many different people, and at different times - including their reactions to certain events and their interactions with each other, and it all helps to build up both their own characters and the neighbourhood that they live in. This proves to be invaluable to the film as it has no real plot and therefore relies on the characters and the neighbourhood that it has created to build itself, it's scenario and therefore it's message, up.

Do the Right Thing is a portrait of how multiple cultures live together in modern day America and it also succeeds in being a stark and potent portrayal of how violence never gets anyone anywhere. Spike Lee has shown his talents as an actor, director and a writer with this film, and even though majority opinion of him seems to be that he's a disagreeable old crone; at least he's one that has talent.

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20 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
A masterpiece full of sound and fury, 5 December 2001

Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Do the Right Thing begins with girls dancing over the opening credits, and the dance is sure to make you laugh. It's extraordinarily dated, having been copied in a billion rap videos and even The Cosby Show, and, today, it seems very silly. As the film progresses, you're likely to notice dozens of other instances of severe dating that might make you giggle. Heck, if you didn't know that he was in it already, you're sure to laugh a little when you see that Martin Lawrence is in the film. Why did this dating happen? Well, simply because the film was so influential that other artists co-opted pieces of it all over the place. This would destroy a regular movie. Fortunately, Do the Right Thing is no ordinary movie.

This truly is one of the best films ever made. It's a masterpiece by one of the most talented and, unfortunately, most maligned directors alive. Spike Lee does not have the answers to the questions he poses, and sometimes I do object to the way he handles the situation. Sometimes I do ask the questions, when I am watching one of his films, "why does he have to be so angry about everything? Why doesn't he try to think these things out?" But I have great empathy for all emotions, and Lee is great at expressing his feelings on film. When I watch his films, I sympathize with what is happening.

Do the Right Thing is pitched at a feverish pace, and it's filled with enormous joy and, simultaneously, with enormous anger. This ambiguous mood is expressed most directly by the character Radio Rahim in a scene adapted from the great film Night of the Hunter, where Radio recites Robert Mitchum's "The Battle Between Love and Hate" speech. Immediately in the film we see that the races are capable of getting along. One black man is angry that Sal, who owns the local pizzeria, only hangs up pictures of Italian Americans on his wall, but no African Americans. Other African Americans find his objection somewhat ridiculous and respect Sal very much. Some African Americans object to a Korean couple who have successfully opened a grocery store on a certain corner, but others believe they are just savvy businessmen. On the other hand, there is a great amount of tension between the same races. Sal is basically a good man, but he has grown very hard and his temper is short. Radio Rahim walks in and, yes, rudely leaves his radio blasting while he tries to buy some pizza. However, did Sal really have to swear and order him to turn the radio off? Couldn't he, as Radio wonders later on, have at least said please?

Lee's feelings about the entire situation are clearly ambiguous. The entire film is felt deeply, and there is never any intellectualizing in the script. It is vitally important that Lee casts himself as Mookie, a young, shiftless man who works as a deliveryman for Sal. It is Mookie who has the choice of whether to do the right thing or not.

Perhaps some will be less forgiving about the film's late 1980s trappings. Even if they find it silly or unwatchable, I will guarantee that in 30 years, when the 1980s and even 1990s are far behind us, Do the Right Thing will be considered one of America's greatest films, as it more than deserves to be right now, in 2001. 10/10.

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27 out of 49 people found the following review useful:
Lets you be as racist as you want to be..., 15 October 2008

Author: banquo-6

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This movie is really just anti-white propaganda... Spike Lee knew when he made this movie that a overwhelming majority of the black people that saw it would believe Mookie was the hero at the end. (I saw this movie in a theatre and was one of about 20 white people there and I felt LUCKY to make it to my car w/out incident with all the hate that was thrown at me after (but not before) the movie. Most of the people in the theatre stood up and screamed and cheered when Mookie threw the garbage can through the the ONLY message they took away from that movie was this:

"White guy in a black neighborhood better do WHATEVER the black people want. Cop killed a black guy = justification for anything after that."

But the message that's downplayed (seems a lot of literate rational people on these boards picked up on it and say "Why" though) is that the whole pivot of this movie is that "The community" was wrong in the first place, Spike (midget racist that he is) can always fall back on that and say "well if you question the riot you must be racist" (ie meaning that you're interpreting the message wrong). Which is why he define the message as an absolute in the movie, that lets him stay a coward and hide behind the vague. The quotes that follow it though make it 100% clear, Spike wrote this with Mookie as the Hero.

Consider the main characters here:

1. Sal: Sal OWNED his pizzeria, as such he had a right to decorate it ANY way he saw fit. The only legal, rational, or civilized response to not liking the decor is Sals would be one of 2 things. A. Sitting down with Sal in a reasonable manner and describing the issue. (ie If they had made presents of pictures of MLK and MX, to Sal and explained how they enjoyed Sals pizza, they enjoyed his place and would appreciate if he would hang those gifts as a nod to the community like civilized people this may never have happened.) Or B. if that didn't work, if Sal completely within his rights said "Gee,..thanks but no, these are pictures of people who have influenced MY life and that's what I want in MY pizzeria." then a boycott (ie not even ENTERING the establishment) would have been the next logical step (and it was even mentioned in the movie)

Anything beyond that puts you in the wrong instantly. Radio Raheem OBVIOUSLY went into Sal's to instigate a confrontation. He went into someone else's place of business and disrespected them, refused to leave, and disrupted business. Sal damaged a SMALL piece of property in return (when he could have directly assaulted Raheem) and all the while he was still just trying to get him to leave.

In this movie Sal had proved himself to be a kind upstanding man: He put up with and paid Mookie despite Mookies crappy work ethic and attitude. He did so against the peer pressure of the people around him who were more racist in their attitudes and obviously gave him grief because he didn't share their racist views. He obviously enjoyed being a part of the community and providing a service to everyone as well. Sal was closer to a hero in this movie than mookie was. Even after everything that happened, he still didn't engage in violence. He was "the better man" in every sense of the word. (I personally would have dragged him into the burnt remains of my pizzeria and left a fresh bloody corpse in there.)

Sal's ONLY negative action was to damage the property of an angry, uncivilized thug who was forcing a confrontation on Sal's property.

2. Mookie: Mookie was shown to be taking advantage of Sal, He was shown to be lazy, he was shown to be irresponsible, was shown to be a racist, and later shown to be a complete puppet of racist mob mentality. At no point in this movie did Mookie "Do the right thing" he is considerably closer to villain than hero.

3. Radio Raheem,.. Violent, stupid, unintelligent thug period. 100% driven by kneejerk reactions (as so many thugs are)

4. The Community: Again,..collective stupidity. They wanted to FORCE their desires on a business owner. There was no legitimate beef with Sal. Even after the cops killed Raheem at BEST they should have rioted against "the police" this wasn't a "killed him because he was black" crime, this was a "killed him because I'm a stupid cop" crime.

5. Da Mayor: This is the only true hero in the movie and yet again Spike Lee gets to hide behind this to push his racist tripe "Well see I mean HE was the do the right thing guy, but I'll never SAY that,..I'll just allude to it when people catch me in my racism. "

Spike Lee has a very distorted view of the world, I don't know if he was raped by some white guy when he was a kid or something but his racism seems to extend to being an anti-semite as well so I don't know,..

White or black I find that the people that find Mookie the Hero are generally less intelligent, and in most cases are as useless as Mookie, and as deluded as Spike Lee (VERY fitting that he played that part in the movie).

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8 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
No more good guys., 17 December 2001

Author: zeeboe82 from United States

"Do the Right Thing" takes place in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, New York on one of the hottest days in the summer. The story follows the adventures of a young African-American man named Mookie who works as a delivery man for a middle-aged American-Italian man named Sal who owns the local pizza parlor, "Sal's Famous Pizzeria."

Mookie's heart is not into his job at all, and doesn't take it very seriously and often slacks off from it much to Sal's dislike. Mookie also has a three-year old son with his girlfriend Tina, but is too scared to settle down.

"Sal's Famous Pizzeria" has been standing proudly in the neighborhood for twenty-five years. Sal, and his two sons Pino and Vito are the only white men who work in the area which is mostly African-American.

Sal's oldest son Pino, is a huge racist and hates having to work in a black neighborhood. Pino makes it very clear that he doesn't enjoy his job and that he hates black people. Sal's other son, Vito is more open toward blacks and just the opposite of Pino, and has a good friendship with Mookie.

One of Sal's regular customers, "Buggin' Out" notices that Sal's wall of fame in the restaurant only has Italians. He asks Sal why there are no black people on the wall, and Sal tells them that this is his place, and Italian people are to be all the wall only. Buggin' Out argues that because mostly black people spend their money in there that they do have some say. This does not go over too well with Sal, and he kicks Buggin' Out to the streets. Buggin' Out then plans to organize a boycott of Sal's pizzeria and goes on a quest to find those who will join him.

There are other little story lines and characters within the film, but the one I described above is the main plot of the story.

It's an interesting, thought provoking film that I think everyone should see. It's a little disturbing and not a feel good movie. It's also just a tiny bit dated, kinda cheesy in some parts, and there's some reverse racism that goes on that is intended to be comical to black audiences, but I found it to be offensive.

On that note, in many of Spike Lee's movies he often has his Italian characters as either being racist bullies that the audience is suppose to hate, or unintelligent people who the audience is suppose to laugh at, and we see both of that in the characters of Pino and Vito.

There are no good guys in this film. Not even the main character Mookie. He doesn't set a very good example for the audience. He's a complete slacker when it comes to his job, and only cares about getting paid, and yet he doesn't do much to earn money.

Spike Lee presents a very realistic and honest look at culture clashes that sadly exist in the United States of America. Now while it's true that I personally haven't been involved with too many race conflicts, thank goodness...all one has to do is observe history, read a newspaper or watch the news to see the realism in "Do the Right Thing".

The thing about this film is that almost no one is nice. Almost everyone is a very rude jerk with no manners. Some might think this movie stereotypes New Yorkers, but there were mostly New York actors in it. I can see why NYC has the rep that it does for it's rudeness, and this movie does not deny it. In most cases, anytime a person is rude to another person, that person will often react by also being rude, and that happens often in this film, and so much violence and drama could have been avoided in this picture if one person could have turned the other cheek, swallowed their pride, been polite and unselfish. I think the movie is very realistically because in real life, the exact same thing I said above applies to everyday violent human events.

The title "Do the Right Thing" is interesting...because no one does the right thing.

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7 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
I only watched it because of class, 8 December 2010

Author: Krys P from New York, US

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This review contains spoilers.

The only reason why I watched this movie was for film class. However the constant use of foul language in every single point of the movie was an immediate turn off and I had to take a break from all of the swearing. The foul language was not the worst part of this movie. What truly made me hate this movie was the fact that Sal and his sons ran a respectable business and had it for years. Sal had the right to decorate his own pizzeria the way he wanted to.

*spoiler* Sal was only angry because both Buggin Out and Radio Raheem come in with a loud radio and try to intimidate him. At most because Sal destroyed the radio it was destruction of property. Radio Raheem tried to strangle Sal. Yes it was sad when the police accidentally killed him but he would not calm down and continued to fight them.

Mookie had no respect for Sal, the person who employed him and gave him a job. He took forever on deliveries, saw other people and took showers even though he still was on the clock and got paid. He threw the garbage can through the window which inevitably ended in the pizzeria to get destroyed and came back in the end for his money. That shows no respect.

Tolerance? What kind of tolerance did African Americans show the Italian Americans in the end of the movie? This movie is racist, violent and was extremely hard to sit through. I would not recommend it to anyone I know.

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