Film Review: Do The Right Thing

Posted on the 05 September 2013 by Donnambr @_mrs_b
About Do The Right Thing (1989)Spike Lee’s study of racial tensions takes place on the hottest day of the year in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. The film charts the increasing tension between a black pizza delivery boy (Spike Lee) and his Italian bosses, the local folk and yuppy newcomers, and builds inexorably to a violent confrontation.

Starring: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Giancarlo Esposito

Directed by: Spike Lee

Runtime: 120 minutes

Studio: Universal Studios

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Review: Do The Right Thing

Spike Lee’s tense drama takes place in Brooklyn where Mookie (Spike Lee) is a young father who works at a local pizzeria where he delivers to the locals. The pizzeria owner Sal (Danny Aiello) has been in business for 25 years and has maintained a good relationship with the black community. His son Pino (John Turturro) doesn’t share his father’s tolerance though and despises the neighbourhood. On a sweltering day in Brooklyn, an argument between Sal and one of Mookie’s friends, Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito), over the absence of black men and women on the pizzeria’s hall of fame is the catalyst for a complete breakdown in race relations between Sal and the rest of the community.

This neighbourhood in Brooklyn is filled with memorable characters. Mookie goes about his business earning for his family and annoying his girlfriend, Tina (Rosie Perez), who seldom sees him. A much-loved drunk Da Mayor (Ossie Davis) wanders the neighbourhood and has designs on Mother Sister (Ruby Dee) who watches the locals from her window. A mentally disabled man named Smiley (Roger Guenveur Smith) sells pictures of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) wanders around with his ghetto blaster playing just one song, while local DJ Mister Senor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson) keeps the neighbourhood updated on the weather and comments on the passersby. The intense heat leads to mounting tensions as fire hydrants are relieved of their water, arguments ensue with a Korean family making their living in the area, but finally as the sun begins to set we return to the pizzeria where the conflict erupts into violence.

Lee’s drama has created an intricate and fascinating neighbourhood in Brooklyn where Sal’s business has been much-loved, with one of the characters commenting that kids are raised on food from the pizzeria. The heat gets to everyone though and in trying to stay cool the atmosphere becomes more volatile. When violence does finally break out at the end of a long day there is tragedy around the corner. The title is said to refer to a decision Mookie makes at the end when Sal and his sons are fighting the locals led by Buggin’ Out and Radio Raheem. There are no smiles and handshakes in the aftermath, just a neighbourhood scarred by the intense battle. It is an apt conclusion and though controversial it is a realistic depiction of how tense race relations remain throughout the world.

Do The Right Thing is an excellent depiction of how everyday people living together in seeming harmony can see the peaceful equilibrium deteriorate. While this neighbourhood in Brooklyn is home to a mostly black community, there is no suggestion that white people are not welcome, and the carefree nature at the outset holds no hint of the violence that is to come. Race relations remain delicate, especially in America, and Spike Lee’s film, though more than twenty years old, remains an apt reflection of modern society.

Verdict: 4/5

(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)

About the Author:

I was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England and have always been a bookworm and enjoyed creative writing at school. In 1999 I created the Elencheran Chronicles and have been writing ever since. My first novel, Fezariu's Epiphany, was published in May 2011. When not writing I'm a lover of films, games, books and blogging. I now live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, with my wife, Donna, and our six cats - Kain, Razz, Buggles, Charlie, Bilbo and Frodo.

David M. Brown – who has written 840 posts on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave.