Do the Right Thing (1989)

Starring: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Rosie Perez, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Giancarlo Esposito, John Turturro, Bill Nunn, Samuel L. Jackson, Joie Lee, Robin Harris, Martin Lawrence, Roger Guenveur Smith, Frank Vincent, and Miguel Sandoval
Grade: Classic

In Buggin’ Out’s defense, $2 for extra cheese is outrageous.

Summary

In possibly the greatest opening credits sequence ever, Rosie Perez dances on a stage by her lonesome to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”.

On the hottest day of the year in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, Radio DJ Mister Señor Love Daddy (Jackson) wakes up his listeners to start the morning to talk about how hot it is and how there’s a water shortage. Da Mayor (Davis) wakes up in bed to the DJ talking on his radio and he realizes how hot it is in his home. Following a quick cut to the mentally disabled Smiley (Smith) talking about Malcolm X and Martin Luther King being dead but how they still have to fight apartheid, we see Mookie (Spike) counting some money in his bedroom and going to wake up his sister Jade (Lee), who’s bothered because Saturday is the only day she can sleep in. After he annoys her for a bit, he heads out to work. Driving his Cadillac with his two sons in the car, Sal (Aiello) heads over to the pizzeria he owns. Sal’s son Pino (Turturro) asks if he called the air conditioner guy, but Sal jokingly responds that he won’t come to this neighborhood unless he has a police escort. He tells Pino to get a broom to sweep out in front of the store, but Pino gives the job to his brother Vito (Richard Edson). Vito tells Sal that Pino always does this to him, and Pino starts arguing about how he hates working there. Sal is annoyed to hell with their complaining, though it’s the start of a new workday and they open everything up. Mookie walks to work and a lot of the people in the neighborhood greet him as he walks by. He stops by Mother Sister’s (Dee) window to greet her, and she tells him not to work too hard today on account of the heat.

Mookie is a pizza delivery man at Sal’s Pizzeria. As soon as he enters, Pino has no problem telling him he’s late again, as the two don’t get along. On the other hand, Mookie does get along with Vito, and Vito greets Mookie right after. Sal doesn’t really care that Mookie is late and tells Pino to knock it off. Pino tells Mookie to sweep outside, but Mookie tells him to do it and correctly assumes that Sal asked him to do it when they first got there anyway, which Vito confirms. Da Mayor shows up and wonders if Sal has any work to be done. Pino tries to say some stuff in Italian to Sal, but Sal stops him and says Mayor is a good man. He allows Mayor to grab a broom to sweep outside and gives him a dollar for it. With this, Mayor is happy to clean his sidewalk. Pino is bothered that Sal pays Mayor a dollar every day to do it when Mookie is there and calls out Mookie for not working, but Mookie argues about how his delivery job is a lot of work. They all argue, and Sal tells everyone to shut up. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Cee (Lawrence), Punchy (Leonard L. Thomas), and Ella (Christa Rivers) hang out on Ahmad’s (Steve White) doorstep and Ella calls for him to finally come outside, so he joins them. As they talk, Radio Raheem (Nunn) comes by blasting “Fight the Power” on his boombox, and they all greet him. He even walks by the radio station and Mister Señor Love Daddy acknowledges him. Meanwhile, Mayor flips out on some Asian bodega workers for not having Miller High Life in the fridge. He’s forced to drink Miller Lite and is pissed. He drinks it in front of Mother Sister’s stoop and she’s mad that he’s in the way and calls him an old drunk. For 18 years, these two have apparently had problems, and Mayor calls her out for being the only person who isn’t nice to him. He knows that one of these days they will be civil, though they might be dead and buried by then. Mookie’s girlfriend Tina (Perez) is in her apartment, and she gets in a huge argument with her mother because she doesn’t want to babysit for her. Tina grabs her son and goes into a different room, closing the door behind her. She tells their son how much her mother makes her sick and how Mookie isn’t a real father and a bum.

Elsewhere, Sweet Dick Willie (Harris) sits with ML (Paul Benjamin) and Coconut Sid (Frankie Faison). Willie calls Mike Tyson a bum and how he remembers when Tyson mugged someone on Lexington Street, doubling down and saying, “Fuck Mike Tyson” and how he can kick his ass. After ML talks about how hot it is and talks about the polar ice caps melting, Willie and Sid make fun of him for taking crazy.

Back at Sal’s Pizzeria, Buggin’ Out (Esposito) gets his pizza slice from Sal. Despite coming there at least three times a day according to Sal, he still asks how much it is. Sal reminds him it’s $1.50, so Buggin’ Out demands more cheese. Sal says that extra cheese is $2. Buggin’ Out pays the $1.50 and just sprinkles the cheese from the counter on to it until Sal takes it away from him. Buggin’ Out calls him cheap, takes his slice, and sits down to eat. He folds up his slice, but he stops before he takes a bite after looking at Sal’s “Wall of Fame”. There are framed pictures of Frank Sinatra, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and many others, but Buggin’ Out is bothered that there aren’t any black people on his wall. He asks Mookie about why this is, but Mookie is talking to some girl and tells him to ask Sal. Immediately, Buggin’ Out turns to ask Sal, and Sal says it’s his place and he does what he wants. He only wants American Italians on his wall. Buggin’ Out points out how he rarely sees American Italians eating there. Since his customers are mostly black people, he figures they should have some say. To further his point, he crumbles up a napkin and throws it on the ground. Sal questions if he’s trying to be a troublemaker and grabs his bat. Buggin’ Out doesn’t back down as Sal threatens to bust his head. Pino stops Sal and takes the bat. Trying to calm down, Sal tells Mookie to kick him out, so Mookie does. Buggin’ Out grabs his slice and tells everyone to boycott Sal’s while Mookie walks him out the door. Outside, Mookie asks what he’s trying to do. Buggin’ Out argues that it’s between him and Sal, but he starts to calm down after Mookie stresses that he works there and it’s fucking him up when he does stuff like that. Buggin’ Out apologizes, so Mookie tells him to wait a week so they can squash things. He’s annoyed by this, but he agrees to it. As Mookie walks back into Sal’s, Buggin’ Out reminds him, “Stay black!”. Inside, Mookie confirms that Buggin’ Out is his friend when Sal asks, so Sal tells him that if he doesn’t behave, he doesn’t want him there anymore. Mookie doesn’t think he can do anything with him, so Pino suggests he talk some “Brother talk” to him.

Mookie is annoyed by this comment but continues on about how people are free to do what they want, but Sal argues that it’s not free when it comes to his business, as he’s the boss and what he says goes. With this, he has a pizza delivery for Mookie to make. On his route, Mookie walks by Mayor who stops Mookie and tells him, “Always do the right thing”. Mookie moves on and enters an apartment complex, and he runs into Smiley on the staircase who is trying to sell his photographs of black historical figures. Each one ranges from $1 to $2. Mookie points out the one he wants for later and tells Smiley that he’ll give him the money when he gets paid that night. Mookie gets up the stairs but stops because of how tired he already is. Jade does Mother Sister’s hair on the stoop as the two talk. Mayor walks by and compliments her hair, but Mother Sister doesn’t want to hear it. Still smiling, Mayor continues on his way, stumbling before he continues his walk. Jade laughs and asks Mother Sister why she’s so mean to Mayor, and she reveals that he reminds her of her two least favorite people – her tenant and her ex-husband. Now, the heat is only getting worse. After a quick shot of Tina sticking her head into a bowl of ice water and Jade spraying her face with water from a shower, other people around the neighborhood try their own ways of beating the heat. A group of guys are drinking some ice-cold Miller High Life, and someone opens a fire hydrant for everyone to enjoy. A couple of the guys open the bottom of some cans and put it in front of the water shooting out of the fire hydrant to make it shoot upwards. Ahmad even picks up Ella and runs in front of it and they both get drenched. They even bring Smiley into it, and Mister Señor Love Daddy watches and smiles from his building. Cee and Punchy are there too, but they stand in front of the fire hydrant when Radio Raheem walks by. He’s not in the mood and walks around everyone who is having fun. Charlie (Vincent) drives by in his convertible and tells Cee and Punchy not to mess with the water because he has to drive through the street they are splashing the water onto. They tell him they’re not going to do it, so he drives through.

Naturally, Cee and Punchy use the cans to direct the water straight at Charlie and they soak his car completely. Officer Marco (Sandoval) and Officer Gary (Rick Aiello) pull up, so Charlie gets out of the car and demands the guys get arrested, but the cops aren’t very concerned with his complaint, especially because Cee and Punchy ran away. Gary turns off the hydrant as Charlie yells at Marco, who is either not understanding his sarcasm or is being a massive dick. Charlie points out Mayor as a witness and leads Marco and Gary to question him about it, but Mayor gives them a vague, philosophic response. Mookie tells the cops that Mayor doesn’t know anything, and he walks Mayor away. Charlie flips out on their handling of things as Gary threatens everyone over the hydrant, and Marco suggests to Charlie that he get back in his car before everyone in the neighborhood strips it clean. At Sal’s, Sal is told that Mookie left his last delivery a half hour ago. Mookie shows up right after Sal hangs up, so he gives Mookie food to deliver to the radio station. Vito goes with him, so Sal tells him to keep an eye on Mookie to make sure he stays focused. The two walk together, and Mookie tells Vito to fight Pino the next time he starts something. Vito doesn’t think it’s any of his business though. As they talk, Smiley tries to interrupt to sell his pictures, but Mookie tells him off, so he starts crying. Finally, Vito starts to listen a little more to what Mookie is saying because he thinks it will do him a lot of good to fight Pino. At this point, they’re outside the radio station and Mister Señor Love Daddy sees them and invites them inside. Mookie gives him his food, and he invites Mookie to say something live on the air. Though he doesn’t want to at first, Mookie decides to dedicate the next song to Tina. It’s a salsa song. Some of the Hispanic members of the neighborhood sharing a beer can’t wait to hear it, and they are pissed when Radio Raheem walks by playing “Fight the Power”. Steve turns up his boombox as a response, so they can hear the salsa music. Hearing this, Radio Raheem turns up his boombox louder.

Steve gives in first, and Radio Raheem takes his victory and goes the other way pumping his fist as Steve’s friends all yell at him. As Mookie and Vito argue about who’s better between Dwight Gooden and Roger Clemens, Buggin’ Out greets Mookie. However, he’s bothered by Vito being there. Mookie defends Vito though, saying he’s down. They shake up before Mookie and Vito walk back to work, but Buggin’ Out refuses to shake up with Vito. Once Mookie and Vito leave, a white guy in a Larry Bird t-shirt accidentally bumps into Buggin’ Out and scuffs his brand-new Air Jordans. Buggin’ Out is furious and stops the guy outside of his apartment to let him know. The guy apologizes, but Buggin’ Out continues with all the neighborhood guys joining in on the conversation, and he starts flipping out over the guy’s audacity to live in his city and on his block. He even questions why the guy wants to live in a black neighborhood anyway, and the guy uses the free country argument, which only incenses Buggin’ Out further. The other guys like Cee and Punchy point out how fucked up his Jordans are now and how he should throw them out, so this only adds fuel to the fire. Ahmad instigates even more by saying the guy did it on purpose and was even talking about Buggin’ Out’s mom. Everyone around Buggin’ Out try to escalate the situation and tell him to whip the guy’s ass and take his bike, but Buggin’ Out tells the guy that he’s lucky that he’s a “righteous black man”. Otherwise, he’d be in serious trouble. He tells the white guy to go back to Massachusetts, but the guy was born in Brooklyn, and they all throw their hands in the air. At Sal’s, Sal tells Mookie that he should send Vito with him all the time because of how fast he got back to the store. Pino piles on, saying there won’t be any more 90-minute delivers that are only around the corner. Mookie argues he works just as hard as everyone else, and Vito agrees, so Pino comes from behind the counter and gets in Vito’s face for defending Mookie. Mookie tells Vito to slap Pino like they talked about, but Sal puts a stop to this talk. Even so, Pino tells Vito to remember who he is, “Your name is Vito Frangione, not Vito Muhammed”. Once Vito leaves the two, Pino tells Mookie to stay out of his business.

This is just the beginning of the racial tension in Bed-Stuy. Despite the closeness of everyone in the neighborhood and how well they know each other and who they are as people, this tension will reach a boiling point.

My Thoughts:

Every once in a while, audiences are gifted a film considered to be generational due to a seamless amalgamation of vision, style, presentation, content, characters, and above all else, a transcendent story that speaks to everyone in different, but ever-important ways. Sometimes, viewers and critics can recognize it upon release while others don’t get their due until well after the fact. Though the Academy didn’t give it the respect it deserved at the time, cinema purists knew the impact and overall greatness of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, the should-have-been Best Picture winner of 1989. In just his third feature, the enigmatic filmmaker gave audiences an artistic triumph that solidified Spike Lee as one of the most important voices in American cinema. Honest, angry, authentic, and original, the often analyzed and discussed racially-charged dramedy is just as relevant today as it was back then. Only a select group of films feel special when you view them for the first time. These certain movies feel like an event that you’re lucky enough to be a part of. Purely because of the watchful eye of a filmmaker with a vision and style all his or her own, these films radiate a special energy about them that just aren’t felt in regular Hollywood productions. Do the Right Thing is one of the films that belong in this elite group. It’s unmistakable. The fact that this movie didn’t even get nominated for Best Picture, let alone win the award without question, is something that the Academy should be ashamed of to this very day. Right from the credits sequence with Rosie Perez’s fiery dance number, you can feel that this is a movie like no other.

The film’s biggest trait is its attitude, as it hooks your attention right from the opening. In representing such an attitude and confidence, no group of musicians can better emulate this than Public Enemy and the proud and controversial lyrics of rapper Chuck D. The iconic “Fight the Power” plays over the opening sequence and throughout the movie as an anthem that dually represents the energy exuding from the narrative and the production as a whole. If you’re thinking about tuning in to see Spike Lee’s finest work, just watch the opening sequence. It’s the perfect example on how to grab a viewer’s attention, albeit in a rather unorthodox way.

Unabashedly New York, Do the Right Thing is fearless in its portrayal of racial tensions in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, an area in which many different cultures and races clash due to their own prejudices that have developed over time, whether realized or unrealized. The African American Mookie has a Latina girlfriend in Tina, and their son’s name is Hector, something that bothers him already (“English! I want my son to speak English! Bad enough his name is Hector”). It doesn’t help that he has a rocky relationship with her either. He works at the Italian-owned Sal’s Pizzeria and has to not only deal with the racial prejudice of Sal’s son Pino, but he stands in-between as a pseudo liaison between them and the residents of the predominately black neighborhood because he needs the job. Radio Raheem preaches love over hate but yells at the Korean store owners to speak English when he tries to buy batteries for his boombox (“Learn to speak English motherfucker!”). Pino hates working in Bed-Stuy because of his outwardly racist views towards their African American clientele, but his brother Vito isn’t like that, and neither is their father, Sal. Even so, Sal is a complicated figure in the narrative, despite his acceptance of everyone. Behind closed doors, he is accepting of the people around him and regularly defends African Americans to Pino. He enjoys the neighborhood and likes how a lot of the kids there grew up eating his pizza. They’ve been there for 25 years. Why move? Plus, they can’t open a pizzeria in their neighborhood because there’s already too many as it is. Bed-Stuy might be a little more aggressive in nature, but Sal is known and liked by most of the people in the area, and he likes to interact with everyone. He feels the love and gives it back. He talks openly about wanting to rename the pizzeria to honor his sons and tells Mookie that he will always have a job there because he has been like a son to him, and he says this well after Mookie and him have had contentious arguments like when Mookie accused Sal of being flirty with his sister.

Even though Sal could have his sons or Mookie sweep outside his pizzeria, he happily pays local legend Da Mayor to do it because he’s a nice guy and he knows Mayor appreciates the work. After Pino yells at Smiley for trying to sell his pictures, Sal goes out of his way to apologize on his son’s behalf to give money to the poor guy. He enjoys what he does and likes the diverse neighborhood and all the characters that inhabit it. At the same time, he also takes pride in his Italian heritage, which is why his “Wall of Fame” in his pizzeria only consists of American Italians. It’s not personal, but to someone like Buggin’ Out, it comes off as racially bias. The already abrasive and name-accurate Buggin’ Out approaches the Italian business owner and demands to know why he doesn’t have black people on the wall, suggesting that his customers should have a say in this because they are predominantly black. Since we are able to see Sal at his most vulnerable and private, we know he doesn’t mean anything by it, even though his explanation and verbiage could be a little better. Not putting anyone black on the wall doesn’t have to be automatically assumed as standing in opposition of the African American people, it’s just an Italian who likes to shine a light on other Italians. It’s not hating. It’s rather a person celebrating his or her people. This isn’t controversial either, as it is very accurate for those that have a rich and defined background and culture that they are proud of and were raised within to try and prop up anyone who represents it in a celebratory light. Humanity is wired this way, whether we like to admit it or not. Another human tendency is when those who look alike go against the ideals of another, they are looked at as if they are turning their backs on their people. Pino thinks Vito listening to Mookie is turning his back on their family or Italians in general. Buggin’ Out does the same when he questions where Mookie’s loyalty is at when Mookie tells him to leave the Sal situation alone when he was with Jade, especially when Jade tries to tell Buggin’ Out to redirect his energy into something positive. Jade’s point is a good one, but Buggin’ Out gets defensive asking, “What? You ain’t down?”.

It’s just how we are as people. Onscreen, it makes Buggin’ Out seem outrageous because of his aggressive reactions, but he does represent a huge majority of people and the way they think. In a movie, it’s clear where the compromise should be as we are the level-headed viewers who understand all sides of it, but in real life, we are much more hard-headed and similar to Buggin’ Out than we’d like to admit. It’s yet another reason why this screenplay is so authentic and true to life. Some of these elements might be a bit cynical and negative, but it is accurate. Another accurate tendency of humanity that Spike Lee captures within the narrative is how a majority of people only desire speaking and hanging out with like-minded people and get easily frustrated with those that think differently. Sound familiar? Considering the current political climate, of course it does. Think about it though. When we’re happy, we want to be around positive people. When we’re angry, we want to talk to someone who is also angry because we want the release. This is why Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem start vibing over the fact that they don’t appreciate Sal’s antics towards them, prompting Radio Raheem to agree to help with the boycott because of the lack of black representation on the wall. Even if certain people don’t intend on positioning themselves as superior because of how they champion their people or culture, some may think otherwise if they don’t know them on a personal level. This is the initial igniter to the turn of events, as Buggin’ Out sees from this other perspective and lashes out when Sal gets defensive. When you combine an already abrasive personality with the summer heat, inside a local pizzeria no less (if you’ve been in one, you know how hot it gets in there), things have a potential to reach a boiling point, and it sure does here. It’s not like Buggin’ Out is one of the many who are pissed off at Sal. When he tries to get people to join him on his boycott of Sal’s simply because of his Wall of Fame, it doesn’t go as swimmingly as he’d hope. Cee and his group laugh it off, Mayor isn’t interested, and Sweet Dick Willie jokes that he should boycott the barber that fucked up his haircut.

The only person that joins initially is Radio Raheem who sees it from Buggin’ Out’s perspective. Cee’s group joins in during the climax, but it’s only after the battle lines are drawn and the slurs come out. Tensions and internal feelings whether negative are positive always exist within and rise to the surface when exterior things and other circumstances bring it out by force. Situations that are considered to be regular occurrences can be taken in a whole different and negative direction in bad weather, when a comment is taken the wrong way, or to a less important but more common scenario of when someone is hungry. People get restless when they are uncomfortable, and misunderstandings happen all the time. In one example, Da Mayor saves some kid named Eddie from getting hit by a car, and Eddie lies and tells his mother that Mayor knocked him down. She starts hitting Eddie for lying, but Mayor tries to get her to stop because it was more just Eddie reacting differently from such a traumatic event. Not knowing about Mayor’s gentlemanly nature, she flips on him for trying to question how she raises her son. Instead of making things worse with an argument, he agrees with her and takes off his hat to show respect. This is a calmer resolution that could have escalated in an instant had Mayor decided to take it there. Instead, he took it upon himself to stop things before they got worse because he knew his place with these random people. Sadly, it doesn’t always go down that way, and Spike Lee is fearless in showing each side of the equation with wildly different personalities and how they would react. Obviously, the biggest example of the opposite end of this is the beginning of the rising tensions between Mookie and Sal. Though Mookie knows Sal well and doesn’t seem to have a problem with him, the circumstances surrounding the day make him question certain things and bring out emotions he may have not shown around the pizzeria beforehand. Now, he sees Sal looking at his sister Jade and notices how he’s being extra nice to her to the point where it’s a bit suspicious. Mookie assumes he’s flirting heavily with Jade and has ulterior motives with his overly nice treatment of her. On a regular day, this probably wouldn’t be that big of a deal. They know each other, Sal knows Mookie can be a bit of a knucklehead and wastes time on the clock with the snail’s pace he walks at, and Sal knows Jade is a sweetheart with her head on straight.

At one point, Jade even makes a joke to Mookie and how he’s on one of his “two-hour lunch breaks” and mentions how she carries Mookie and that’s why she doesn’t want him to lose his job because they can’t afford it (“You can hardly pay your rent and you’re gonna tell me what to do?”). Basically, it’s well known by all involved who is the more focused of the two. I suppose it helps that Jade is incredibly beautiful as well, but that’s why Sal acts like this towards her. She’s a nice presence to have in the room, and he can’t help but compliment her. Unfortunately, Mookie takes it the wrong way because of everything leading up to it, his (at times) contentious working relationship with Sal’s family, and because Mookie has a good relationship with his sister and is protective of her. Tensions are rising in Bed-Stuy and the heat is on literally and figuratively. It’s not just about race either. Mother Sister can’t stand Da Mayor, and he just wants to be friendly with her. It’s not his fault he reminds her of an ex-husband and a tenant of hers, but the anger inside of Mother Sister can’t just leave her. If anything, it’s only magnified with Mayor’s insistence combined with the ungodly heat. He is just trying to be the voice of reason for the locals and a friend to all. Even so, Cee’s friend group in the summer heat don’t want to hear it, and they criticize Mayor for being a drunk who failed as a family man, lambasting him for being this self-appointed leader in one of the rougher scenes of the movie. He tries to bring up the real struggle he has faced in his life that these young adults could never know, mentioning his five kids that he couldn’t feed, and calls them disrespectful. However, Punchy lays in on him and agrees that he has no respect for Mayor, but it’s only because he respects people who respect themselves. By the time Punchy goes in on how he would have gotten a job had he had all those kids instead of walking around drunk all the time, even Cee pulls Punchy back a bit because he gets a little too dark and demeaning with his criticisms.

As crazy as it sounds, this is a major positive of Do the Right Thing, one of the most accurate depictions of not only race relations in cinema in a major city, but also how people can generally be towards each other. It can be ruthless, it is a bit more cynical, there is a bit of a roughness to real-life people, there is a lot of mistrust and disrespect, and sometimes, people do overstep their boundaries, whether giving advice or insulting others with their own personal philosophies. This is America. If a viewer considers the content of Do the Right Thing too harsh or negative, then they don’t understand the realities real Americans face every day, plain and simple. This is what we are talking about when we tell people how uninformed they are about the issues lower-income families or people of color face. Because they haven’t seen it in person, they refuse to admit it exists.

“Wake up!”

Don’t be that guy. These struggles and these people do exist, and Spike Lee captures it immaculately. In other movies he does as well, but Do the Right Thing is the preeminent example. After watching it, it’s not even a question.

This is a bad area in New York, and the citizens that live in it every day don’t want to hear or see the bullshit. They all live their own lives and do not want to hear from others who are impeding on their lifestyle, especially from those they perceive to be lesser than. As normal as Mookie seems, it’s instilled in him too. As soon as he leaves his apartment, he shuns some people trying to sell him something with a strong “Hell no!” or telling locals who get in his way during his route to get a job. At the same time, there’s also big talk of what someone should or shouldn’t do and how it can get a rise out of a realist. A lot of this can be seen in the humorous and undoubtedly authentic conversations between Sweet Dick Willy, ML, and Coconut Sid. ML is mad that a Korean couple are only a year off the boat, but they were able to turn a boarded-up building into a successful business, as he’s angry that his own people weren’t able to do the same thing. He talks about the potential of a black-owned business right there in their neighborhood someday, but Willie hears enough of this constant blabbering about the same thing, “I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna do that. You ain’t gonna do a goddamn thing!”. He even asks ML when he plans on opening his business and gets no response, calling his bluff. He doesn’t have a problem with the Koreans and to agitate his friend even more, he goes over to the Korean corner store to buy a beer before laying in on Sid with, “…and Coconut, you got a lot of damn nerve. You got off the boat too!”.

Just like in real life, everyone has had enough, and they aren’t staying quiet anymore. It’s this “Fuck it” attitude that fuels Do the Right Thing‘s intensity, showcasing people at their best, their worst, and when strong personalities refuse to back down to what they perceive as injustices. That’s when we see the thin line between passion and violence, or when one turns into the other. It’s life, and life consists of the constant, everyday tug-of-war between love and hate. We want love to prevail, but sometimes the hand is forced, which is why hate is so prevalent. Above all else, we want to do the right thing, correct? That’s always the goal in our everyday lives, but perspective and context isn’t always taken into account. Everyone agrees on the general idea of what is right and wrong, but there are gray areas. One of the more contentious points of Lee’s film is if Mookie himself did the right thing. It’s all ambiguous, as is Mookie as a character. He’s a bit of a slacker and a complainer who will regularly take forever on his delivery routes while Sal looks the other way or makes passive aggressive comments towards him. Despite his reputation, Mookie makes demands like wanting his money on the spot instead of at the end of the day and takes it personal when it isn’t given to him. Mind you, this is someone who went home to take a shower mid-shift while stating aloud, “Fuck Sal”. At the same time, he tells Tina how hard he’s been working and that’s why he hasn’t seen her or their son in 4 days. Based off watching his routine though, it doesn’t seem like he’s trying that hard to see them. However, Mookie does try to play peacemaker at the right times like with Buggin’ Out, and he even tries to encourage Vito to stand up to his dick of a brother. Regardless, he’s just as complicated of a protagonist as the ultimate message is. Even with all the context the narrative gives the viewer and an understanding of who he is, and who all the people involved are, Mookie’s motive in the climax is questioned by many, but does it need to be?

Riot or not, a building can be fixed. The death of a human being cannot. Did Mookie need to go that far? Not necessarily, but some people react in anger just as Sal, Radio Raheem, Pino, and Buggin’ Out did. Did Mookie do the right thing? Well, it’s up in the air really. At the end of the movie, there are two quotations from Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and how different the stances they take on violence in getting their messages across. It doesn’t justify anything, but it does gives us two perspectives from two vastly different people to help us understand. Lee has stated before that his job as a filmmaker isn’t to give answers but to pose questions. It’s to bring attention to topics, makes us discuss it and more importantly, think. With this film, the topics are about how some people act with emotion, and others respond strategically in the long-term. It’s not advocating for either. It’s just to remind people that both types of humans exist, and neither can be condemned until the facts are understood. Even then, we have to understand that everyone has a different background and think differently. Nothing is ever black-and-white or right and wrong. It’s just not that simple. We try to fight with love as much as we can, but Radio Raheem is right. It’s like a boxing match between the two, and when you live in a melting pot of people with different perspectives, cultures, races, religions, and philosophies, they will clash because each and every one of us are built differently. We have our own opinions that are developed over time because of our own personal experiences. Sometimes, there is a reason, other times there isn’t, and sometimes emotions can’t be controlled. That’s life. We try to do the right thing and should go about our day with this motto in our head, but it won’t be easy, as this story details for us. Unfortunately, cooler heads don’t always prevail, which is why this fateful, hot summer day in Bed-Stuy is one to remember. Where you stand on the events of the narrative can tell you a lot about who you are as a human being. When a film can do that on the level that Do the Right Thing does, it’s a testament to how good the artist behind the camera was, with the vision he had.

Just that moment alone of Smiley putting up the picture of MLK and Malcolm X on the Wall of Fame post-riot in Sal’s was pure cinema, powerful, bone-chilling stuff.

Do the Right Thing is also just a great summer movie. Even with the more serious content in the movie, there’s a lot of fun to be had, as the movie is riddled with humor, amusing moments, and a certain friendliness that replicates the unexplainable happiness found in the hottest months of the year when interacting with your friends and loved ones. Lee’s distinct direction, especially in his early years, was too innovative to ignore as well. It was just too cool, and it felt like he was breaking rules as a storyteller with his bold and unique presentation with the productions he was involved in. At times, it could have the aura of an art film but dually have scenes that look like a bright-eyed college film student’s thesis like in this daring, narrative-stopping scene of characters taking turns yelling slurs at the camera to intensify the personal prejudices of everyone in this small but diverse neighborhood, or another elongated sequence like when Mister Señor Love Daddy spouts off black musicians for no other reason but to thank them for their contribution for the art form. Lee’s courage and style as a filmmaker to try creative things like this is a big part of why he was meant to become a director from the day he was born and why he should be studied by anyone rising the ranks of Hollywood. The attitude and ego (and I mean that respectfully) Spike Lee had as a young filmmaker in trying to break the mold of what a Hollywood director’s movies should be, especially being one of color during this timeframe, is nothing short of amazing. It took a brave individual to go about a career in the movies like this, but Lee wasn’t scared of anyone or anything and it’s seriously felt in one-of-a-kind productions like this one. The screenplay, which consists of iconic quotes and a million different characters that are well-defined and different from one another, is inarguably award worthy as well. It’s quite impressive how Lee is able to weave all these storylines and subplots together to reach the finale in the ever-important manner that he did. On top of that, the utilization of Ernest Dickerson’s excellent cinematography and the highlighting of the bright colors along cement backdrops allows for the viewer to be placed directly into the heart of this hot day in Brooklyn.

Aesthetically, it’s just as incredible and really helps the audience feel the rising tension between the citizens in the neighborhood just by the look and feel of the film. No matter when you watch the movie, it really does feel like the hottest day of the year.

Thought-provoking, highly entertaining, creative, and funny, the colorful Do the Right Thing is one of those movies that stay with you for a lifetime and is just as much of a technical achievement as it is a narrative achievement. When a movie is selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, the famous quote is that is has to be considered “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”. Do the Right Thing checks all three boxes with ease. It will always be Spike Lee’s magnum opus by a wide margin too. It’s not that he hasn’t continued to make good movies since, it’s just that he raised the bar too high for himself in 1989 when he headed up one of the greatest films of all time.

And that’s the quintessential truth, Ruth.

And with that, we leave you with this parting message:

“Always do the right thing.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“I got it. I’m gone.”

Fun Fact: Spike Lee originally considered Robert De Niro for the role of Sal, but he cast Danny Aiello after De Niro’s suggestion. Lee also originally had Bill Nunn playing Mister Señor Love Daddy but recast him as Radio Raheem instead.